DR . WHO Mark Mugavin , MD by KATHRYN VANCE
Being part of a large Catholic family was what Dr . Mark Mugavin knew growing up . He ’ s one of three children , his mother ’ s one of eight , and his grandma has 18 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren . It ’ s no wonder he ultimately ended up as part of a family style ophthalmology practice here in Louisville .
The first in that large family to go to medical school , it wasn ’ t always such a clear path for him . Interested in the sciences in school , Dr . Mugavin also had entrepreneurial qualities and thought about business as a career . He was President of the Future Business Leaders of America and Speech Club and was a leader on the Trinity High School soccer team . In college at the University of Dayton , it was a toss-up , still – he got his Bachelor of Science in biology and economics . About halfway through college , though , he determined that his true passion lay with medicine .
“ I always knew I wanted to do something hard and wanted to be challenged . But I also wanted to spend my career helping people ,” he said . “ At the end of the day , we ’ re going to work for 30 + years , it ’ d be good to say you had an impact on the people you served .”
After finishing at Dayton , he started preparing for medical school applications and studying for the MCAT but knew he needed clinical experience to improve his application . He moved to Chicago and worked at a local hospital as a unit secretary and certified nurse assistant for a year . While in this transitional period , he also got a
Master of Public Health degree from the University of Louisville .
As one of his capstones , he worked on a project regarding the efficient utilization of health care resources , a topic of special interest to him still . “ I was able to work on a cool project with Louisville EMS where we helped develop a pilot program for getting the non-urgent ambulance calls matched with the appropriate level of service .”
Soon after , he was accepted to the UofL School of Medicine in 2010 and returned home to start his medical education . After four challenging years as a student , he remained in town to complete an internship in internal medicine and three additional years in ophthalmology residency .
“ I chose ophthalmology for several reasons but in one word : impact . I wanted to be in a field where we had a big impact on our patients . If you could help patients with their vision dramatically , you could have a lot of satisfied patients and feel really good about the job you did when you come home from work ,” he said . “ Also , the lifestyle is great . You have to work hard , but at the end of the day you can come home and still be a dad and coach your kid ’ s soccer team , which was a priority for me .”
While ophthalmology was a clear choice for Dr . Mugavin , he said it ’ s really brand-new information when you enter residency . “ Ophthalmology residency is very tough because you ’ re utilizing some of your internal medicine background but you ’ re also learning a whole new world when it comes to the eye . We don ’ t learn much
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