Newswise — Love of science and medicine " and a common desire to return to their rural roots as small town doctors " brought Adam Will and Kristin Shoemaker to Indiana State University. The love they found for one another has them pursuing their dreams together.
Will and Shoemaker will graduate from Indiana State's pre-medicine program on May 8. They will be married June 26, and then continue their education this fall at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Growing up in Monroeville, an Allen County farming town a few combine swaths from the Ohio State line, Will's favorite television show was "Bill Nye the Science Guy." He devoured every science book he could find at the local library. His interest in medicine came when both of his grandfathers were stricken with cancer.
Seventy miles away in Akron, Ind., Shoemaker wrote in her first grade scrapbook that she wanted to be a "baby doctor" when she grew up.
"As far back as I can remember I've always wanted to be a pediatrician," Shoemaker recalled. Awarded scholarships to attend Indiana State under a Rural Health Scholars program designed to help address a shortage of rural physicians, Will and Shoemaker met during interviews for the university's President's Scholarship. Medical education is long and expensive and the dual scholarships help keep the debt burden down for future doctors whose rural practices won't be as lucrative as those in a large city.
"I remember going back home and telling my friends I met this guy and he was just great and I was so excited because he was going to be in the same program," Shoemaker said.
As life science majors, Will and Shoemaker shared several classes together at Indiana State and are relieved they've been accepted to the same medical school.
"He's been a great help to me so far. We have a lot of the same courses and if one of us doesn't understand something the other usually does," Shoemaker said. "I'm hoping by studying together, by helping each other out, we can build our relationship and help each other through medical school." His professors say Will has also helped dozens of other students as a teaching assistant. "No greater experience can be achieved by a professor when we're in a class than to see students respond to what we have to say," said Charles Amlaner, professor of physiology and chair of the life sciences department. "But there is a better example and that is when you see a fellow student teaching other students science and you just look in their eyes and you can see the oneness, the relationship. It was an exceptional opportunity for me to be able to teach freshmen students side-by-side with Adam on the topic of basic scientific inquiry."
With a desire to combine a small town medical practice with research, an interest spawned by his grandfathers' battles with cancer, Will plans to pursue a PhD as well as an MD. "Both men lived quite interesting, if not heroic lives " and I miss them," he said. "I'm very interested in immunology and cellular oncology, trying to understand the underlying mechanisms of cancer, how it develops and how we can treat it." All or parts of 22 of Indiana's 92 counties have a shortage of primary care health professionals, according to the state Department of Health. Both Will and Shoemaker are committed to the small town lifestyle. "I did a lot of shadowing in rural communities with the Rural Health Program and I loved it," said Shoemaker. "The doctors know everyone. It's not like a walk-in clinic. They know the families; they know the grandparents, the children, the grandchildren. It amazes me. They have a bond, I think, a stronger relationship with their patients and I really want that." Not everyone who comes out of medical school is suited to practice in a rural setting, said Will. "Students who come from rural areas are the students who are most likely to return to rural areas after they complete their education. There's a great health care shortage right now. It's hard to find doctors who are willing to go out and work in the boondocks," he said. Graduate's of Indiana State's Rural Health Scholars program receive a bachelor of arts degree after completing a traditional pre-medicine program that has been modified to enhance the likelihood of success in the practice of rural medicine, said Roy Geib, director of Indiana University's Terre Haute Center for Medical Education, located on the Indiana State University campus. "It's important for medical schools to have a social context to try to meet the needs of graduates who will be practicing in rural areas," Geib said. Indiana State and the University of Nebraska at Omaha are the only universities in the nation with programs aimed specifically at producing rural doctors, he noted. "Indiana State University's Rural Health Scholars program is a national model for recruiting pre-med students from rural communities, mentoring them as they prepare for medical school and having them successfully admitted to the IU School of Medicine. These students were recruited from rural communities in northern Indiana, an indication of the statewide attraction of this program," said Frank Shelton, executive director of the Indiana Rural Health Association.
The program recently received a boost with the completion of the Landsbaum Center for Health Education, a joint venture of Indiana State and Indiana University and the Union Hospital Health Group that includes a high tech human patient simulator and telemedicine capabilities.
The facility and the Rural Health program have attracted the attention of Sen. Richard Lugar, who, along with Sen. Evan Bayh and members of the Indiana congressional delegation, secured federal funding to cover part of the facility's cost.
"The young people that are coming here to be trained want to serve people in rural Indiana. They literally want to devote their lives to this particular kind of service," Lugar said. And Will and Shoemaker will make excellent physicians, said William Brett, professor emeritus of life sciences. "They're as bright a pair as I've ever had the privilege of being associated with and there's no doubt in my mind that both of them will be tremendous physicians," Brett said. "I'm pleased that Adam is going for both a PhD and an MD because he's certainly got the ability to do productive research."
Note: A printable map showing Indiana counties with a shortage of primary care health providers is available at the Indiana Department of Health Web site at http://www.in.gov/isdh/publications/llo/shortages/pdf/hpsa_200.pdf
ISU Public Affairs: http://isunews.indstate.edu
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