DR . WHO Kelly McMasters , MD , PhD by KATHRYN VANCE
Honoring his youth in the Garden State , Dr . Kelly Mc- Masters always took a liking to the fields and woods over anything else . He looked up to explorers like Daniel Boone and could often be found picking wild berries and plants and building forts and treehouses . Always exploring , his curious nature of always wanting to know more would follow him through life , later to medical school and a surgical career .
“ As a boy , I always got up early in the morning – which has served me well in my surgical career – and often would run around in the woods , chasing birds and squirrels and rabbits , making slingshots and bows and arrows , building shelters and preparing to live off the land , should the need arise ,” he said .
He grew up in Atco , New Jersey , a little town halfway between Philadelphia and Atlantic City , alongside his twin sister Michele and his younger siblings Kenny and Dina . His father , Walter , had a carpet business and his mother , Janet , was a bookkeeper . While there was no pivotal moment when he discovered he wanted to go into medicine , by the time he reached college he knew he wanted to go to medical school .
After attending Colgate University in upstate New York and obtaining a degree in Biology , he came back to his home state to attend Rutgers Medical School ( now UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson ). Because of an interest in research acquired by working in a laboratory during college , he decided to enter their combined MD /
PhD program . By 1988 he had his PhD in Cell & Developmental Biology and would finish his MD a year later .
As our luck would have it , Dr . McMasters had a mentor as a fourth-year medical student who was a trauma surgeon very familiar with the legacy of excellence that Louisville held for future surgeons . It felt like a perfect match .
“ I knew I didn ’ t want to stay on the east coast for residency and my mentor knew all about Dr . Hiram Polk and Dr . David Richardson and encouraged me to come here . I interviewed all over , but when I came to Louisville , I loved the place and knew it was where I wanted to train .”
He excelled in the general surgery program and was named Administrative Chief Resident in his final year . Along the way , he found his area of interest and prepared for a fellowship .
“ At various points in my training I thought I might be a trauma or transplant surgeon or a vascular surgeon . Eventually , by my fourth year of training I realized I really enjoyed the challenge of taking care of patients with cancer because it was really rewarding and had a lot of great research opportunities . I found that that was my calling .”
Dr . McMasters headed south for fellowship at the University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston , one of the top cancer training programs in the U . S . Fortunately , as much as he had fallen in love with Louisville , the feeling was mutual , and a job was
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