Mark Umphrey, DO ‘11 has had COM students precept with him in Massachusetts in Family Medicine. Like a number of UNE COM students, he didn’t grow up knowing he wanted to be a doctor. “I was going to go down an engineering path, or maybe become a professor, so I kept it open. As I went through undergrad, I got more and more into medicine; it's really a field in which we get to help people directly. I felt like that was something I really wanted to do.” For Dr. Umphrey, it wasn’t until an advisor in his premed program explained osteopathic medicine to him that he really thought about the possibility of becoming a DO. “I started learning more and more about it and I was like, I really like the whole patient approach.” Although he never had a formal mentor, a physician at his first rotation in his third year of medical school fulfilled that role. “He might still be practicing, Dr. David Cromley. He was at the pediatric site down in Rhode Island. I did some extra weekends with him on my own, because I wanted to get a little more practice, and he was more than willing to help. He kind of mentored me a little bit through that transition part, which was really helpful.”
Since Dr. Umphrey moved back to the area about four years ago, becoming involved with his almer mater has been on the back of his mind. When he saw the ad to sign up for Speed Networking, returning to campus was certainly a draw, but he had other motivations as well: “Thinking back, all the doctors that you rotated with and shadowed, they all gave, you know, part of their time to help further you and your education as part of this camaraderie within the medical community. I felt like I wanted to do my part to continue that.” He attests that there are lots of opportunities for students to shadow or precept with other alumni who are happy to help students learn. “I think we can bring them perspective on things… show them there's life after med school- we're all testimony to that,” he says. He recalls something Dr. Willard said when students asked why they had to know something if it wasn’t on the exam. “Medicine is cumulative for the rest of your life,” he told them. Dr. Umphrey finds himself repeating the same phrase to students he sees in his clinic. “You're learning it because you need to know it to treat your patients. When you're a student, that builds the foundation… once you've been practicing long enough, you don’t have to think about it; it becomes like second nature, like how you drive a car. Dealing with all the other things in medicine, the social aspects, and social economic aspects that they don't teach you in school, that becomes the more difficult part.”
Although there was no formal mentoring program when he was a student, Dr. Umphrey remembers that the idea permeated everything they did. That spirit still lives on today, which is why events like Speed Networking are windows of opportunity that make a difference for students eager to absorb as much as they can and become the best physicians for their patients. “Even if you only meet someone once,” he says, “that one little thing they said can really change your perspective. So maybe something said to the students today, they'll remember and pass it on to some students in 10 years.”
Whether it is through formal mentoring or networking events, Alumni have the potential to impact students in a variety of ways. Some alumni have even
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"I've seen people through that whole spectrum be able to grow"
Mark Umphrey, DO '11
Tristan Reynolds, DO '13