Physicians on a Mission

He’s the first in his family to graduate high school (as salutatorian); first to attend college (at The University of Texas at Austin); first to earn a degree (bachelor’s, biology and business); first to enter medical school; and, now, the first to earn both a medical degree (from Dell Medical School) and a Master of Business Administration (from the McCombs School of Business).

Anish Patel emphasizes that it helps to be the firstborn. His younger brother, a senior at The University of Texas at Dallas, soon will complete his bachelor’s in electrical engineering.

Meanwhile, Patel is preparing to embark on his next chapter: residency training in urology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Lessons Learned

While attending Dell Med, Patel embraced the Leading EDGE (Essentials, Delivery, Growth, Exploration) curriculum, where students teach each other through case studies, explore art to foster empathy, apply knowledge by caring for their patients and the community and more — all enhanced by a strong focus on value-based care and health systems science. The goal is to graduate doctors who are well-equipped to transform how people get and stay healthy.

Patel particularly liked tackling complex projects alongside students in nursing, pharmacy, social work and other fields. “Teamwork has taught me to appreciate the importance of delegating tasks, recognizing others’ skills and understanding strengths each member brings to a team,” he says.

This same appreciation helped him successfully manage business challenges in his MBA classes.

“I’ve also learned the importance of good communication skills, of communicating in a timely manner, resolving conflicts, setting and making deadlines, navigating around obstacles, all that,” Patel says.

What’s Next

Patel expects the things he’s learned to help him become a urologist in private practice or at a large academic medical center. He looks forward to the opportunity to mentor graduates following him.

“This is an opportunity to do something special, to take care of folks, build relationships with them, entwine my education with my love for people — and help develop the next generation of physicians after me.”

Patel’s medical education was supported by the Thos. H. Law and Jo Ann Law Endowed Medical Scholarship.

David Woerner, like his partner, Marisa Simon, took a circuitous route to earning a degree at Dell Medical School.

Woerner, starting in high school, worked in health care for almost two decades, initially as a nurse’s aide and ultimately as a registered nurse. Simon took nine years to earn her bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Houston because she needed to work to pay for her studies and living expenses.

Couples Match

Now both in their 30s, they have earned the title of “doctor.” After they elected to enter the national residency match as a couple, both will complete their next phase of medical training where they began, at Dell Med. Simon will specialize in internal medicine, Woerner in pediatrics.

Dual Degrees

While at Dell Med, Woerner and Simon each earned master’s degrees. Simon earned a Master of Public Health, with an eye on ultimately doing research and advocating at the state and federal levels on health policy questions. Woerner earned a Master of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business.

“Every job has a different way of thinking when approaching problems and articulating them,” he says. “I’ve been in health care for so long, but I now better understand how business and health care interact. The only way to build bridges and get business leaders to have physician interests at heart is to straddle that fence. The MBA can get you a seat at the table.”

‘More Than a Physician’

Dell Med was both Woerner’s and Simon’s top choice.

“I heard firsthand how Dell Med really wanted to do things differently,” he says. “That was a big draw for me — the focus on physicians being well-rounded leaders.”

Woerner’s medical education was supported by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship.

Ava Karimi wanted to study medicine for as long as she can remember. But while growing up in Iran, she couldn’t because of her religion.

“I actually couldn’t go to university,” she said. “It was basically more like a dream than a reality.”

When she was 18, her family moved to Dallas and that dream became more tangible. Karimi started volunteering at hospitals and the more she did, she says, the more it felt like a calling. She began looking into different schools and ultimately chose UT’s Dell Medical School — becoming one of the 50 students in its inaugural class.

KEEP READING VIA KUT »

Karimi’s medical education was supported by the Susan M. Cox, M.D., and Douglas N. Morris Endowed Scholarship.

After departing his hometown of Austin for Rice University, Zachary Mills sought a different path from his father, an emergency room physician, and his maternal grandfather, a surgeon and anesthesiologist from China.

“I wanted to explore other things,” he recalls. “I liked engineering — the problem-solving and understanding of how things work.” At Rice, he earned his undergraduate degree in materials science and nanoengineering.

But along the way, Mills grew impressed with the relationships he saw between engineering, materials science and medicine.

“It pushed me to see medicine in a new way,” he says. “The researchers around me were doing such amazing work. I wanted to bridge between their efforts and helping patients. One such avenue would be through the improvement of medical devices.”

Accepted into Dell Medical School’s inaugural class in 2016, Mills graduates this year with both a medical degree and Master of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business.

C.D. Doyle & Beyond

He combined both his interests while still a student. In 2018, he became chief financial officer as one of the directors of the C.D. Doyle Clinic, a Dell Med volunteer- and student-run free clinic. In this role, Mills managed clinic funding, purchasing, inventory and day-to-day care delivery and volunteer operations.

At school, he has reveled in Dell Med offering its inaugural class a blank slate of sorts.

“It was an open playing field, a good environment to explore new interests,” Mills says. This included “the momentum and excitement around the school and emphasis on value-based care,” he says.

He cited Dell Med’s Leading EDGE (Essentials, Delivery, Growth, Exploration) curriculum, which encourages students to teach each other through case studies, study art to foster empathy and apply their knowledge by caring for patients in the community and more.

“Collaboration is such a big component, and I found parallels in business school,” Mills says. He noted that, as in business, it is important to be a contributing team member, and that success starts with diverse contributors working toward constructive goals.

Mills’ medical education was supported by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship.

Aydin Zahedivash wants to be an ambassador who promotes democracy — not the political kind, but in health care.

“Every doctor has a way of advocating for patients,” he observes. “I want to use medical technology to democratize patient care. A lot of new technology comes with high costs. I want to promote equity in its application as an ambassador between science and humanity.”

Rethinking the Role of Computers

He also wants to bring a diplomatic approach to another gap after hearing physicians express frustration with certain new medical technologies.

“I’ve devoted myself to rethinking the role of computers as aids to help us make better, data-based decisions about care,” Zahedivash says.

A native Iranian who grew up in Austin, Texas, Zahedivash graduates this year with a Master’s in Business Administration and a medical degree as part of Dell Medical School’s inaugural class.

‘You Just Knew They Were Going to Do It Right’

Zahedivash was accepted into a number of U.S. medical schools, but Dell Med was his first choice.

“We’re a tightly knit class, a product of the people who recruited us here,” Zahedivash says. “Plus, I think of UT as a five-star institution, and when it opened a medical school, you just knew they were going to do it right.”

Zahedivash earned his bachelor’s in biomedical engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. His internships focused on engineering research and design.

“Technology’s place in society includes coming up with ideas to promote equity in society,” he says. “Physicians have great insight into the gaps in care and can make the system work better.”

Finding Ways to Advocate

Zahedivash’s goal is to specialize in pediatrics, working in cardiology, emergency medicine or as a hospitalist.

“The families I see in children’s care, they didn’t ask for their financial and emotional hardship,” he says. “They come from all walks of life, all ethnicities, backgrounds and social status. I want to find ways to advocate for them.”

Zahedivash’s medical education was supported by the Ardith Arlene and Otis Alton Barron Sr. Endowed Scholarship and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship.

Eight years ago, Travis County residents had a decision to make: did they want a medical school badly enough they were willing to pay higher property taxes to fund it? Brooke Wagen did. An East Austin resident since 2007, Wagen was an ardent supporter of Central Health Proposition 1—the 2012 tax increase that, if approved, would generate the final chunk of revenue needed to give the city an improved health care system based around a teaching hospital. “Please vote for Prop 1,” she asked family, friends, neighbors, and anyone else who would listen. “We need a medical school here. And I want to go there.”

KEEP READING VIA THE ALCALDE »

Wagen’s medical education was supported by the Julius Frederick Kramer, M.D., Endowed Scholarship and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship.

When Rachel Fresques visited The University of Texas at Austin campus four years ago for a weekend gathering of the first students accepted into Dell Medical School, she received a hard hat and went on a construction site tour.

She considered it a risk.

“There weren’t students to talk to, a building to walk through or labs to tour,” she recalls. “It was a pretty bare-bones staff at that point, too.”

Now, as a member of the medical school’s inaugural graduating class, she’s glad she let what she envisioned supersede what she saw in those early days.

“I was impressed after hearing the motivations behind starting this school,” Fresques says. “I liked that funding for it came from local taxpayers voting to put their dollars into it. It felt like the community wanted more cutting-edge, innovative health care here.”

After earning her Bachelor of Arts in psychology with a minor in English literature at Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, she was impressed by Dell Med’s teaching approach involving relatively small student learning groups.

The school’s Leading EDGE (Essentials, Delivery, Growth, Exploration) curriculum, an education model built from scratch, fosters collaboration among fellow students training to become professionals in medicine and supportive fields such as pharmacy and social work. Particular focus is on patient safety, quality improvement and value-based care.

Physicians as Teachers

“A good physician is a teacher,” she says. “You are responsible for teaching patients about their own health and their own bodies. Understanding that was critical for me.”

Fresques aspires to work in a nonprofit obstetrics and gynecology practice catering to people who have been historically underserved. She will start by completing her OB-GYN residency at Dell Med.

“I want to serve women and empower them to take care of their bodies,” she says. “I look forward to getting to know patients over their lifetimes and practicing and improving my surgical and procedural skills.”

Fresques’ medical education was supported by the Jerome and Joanne Ravel Endowed Scholarship and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship.

Marisa Simon — like her partner, David Woerner — took a circuitous route to earning a degree at Dell Medical School.

Simon spent nine years earning her bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Houston because she needed to work to pay for her studies and living expenses. Meanwhile, Woerner, starting in high school, worked in health care for almost two decades, initially as a nurse’s aide and ultimately as a registered nurse.

Couples Match

Now both in their 30s, they have earned the title of “doctor.” After they elected to enter the national residency match as a couple, both will complete their next phase of medical training where they began, at Dell Med. Simon will specialize in internal medicine and Woerner, in pediatrics.

Dual Degrees

While at Dell Med, Woerner and Simon each earned master’s degrees. Simon earned a Master of Public Health, with an eye on ultimately doing research and advocating at the state and federal levels on health policy questions. Woerner earned a Master of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business.

Becoming a Voice

Like her father, a small-business owner, Simon says she “always wanted to operate my own clinic, small or medium-sized, that I can grow. That setting means I can have long relationships with my patients and help them with prevention of serious diseases.”

She also aspires “to become a voice in health care to address systemic issues and create meaningful change.” Simon looks forward to someday testifying before Congress as an expert witness advocating for patients and medical colleagues.

“I want to address what makes Americans sick in the first place,” she says, referencing environmental exposures, toxic materials, foods people eat and high health care costs.

Underlying concerns cannot remain unaddressed, she says, and simplistic changes will not lead to sustainable improvement: “It’s like putting a Band-Aid on a hatchet wound.”

Simon’s medical education was supported by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Saloni Naik expects medicine will “adapt and change so much and keeping abreast of it all will be a challenge — but a fun challenge,” she says. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Naik brought this same, positive approach to her studies while earning her degree at Dell Medical School. The more Naik learned about the various aspects of medicine, the more she realized her interest was piqued not by anything in particular, but by all of it.

Focus on Family Medicine

During her second year at Dell Med, “when I did rotations through emergency medicine, OB-GYN and more, I found that I liked everything,” she recalls. “I liked seeing patients of different ages, from different backgrounds with different problems. I didn’t really want to focus on a specific part of the body or a particular organ.”

That’s when Naik picked her medical pursuit: family medicine.

The Plano, Texas, native will follow in the footsteps of a favorite uncle, a rural doctor in India who, she says, “is a major influence in my life. I saw how he managed people around him and took care of his patients, too.”

Dual Degree

Naik also earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Houston during her time at Dell Med. She pursued this degree through Houston’s Austin campus during Dell Med’s Growth Year, when the school provides students opportunities to pursue individual experiences to help them become medical leaders.

Population Health & Patient Needs

Naik says she is interested in the increasingly important field of population health and how to best measure it.

“You get to spend maybe 20 to 30 minutes with each patient who can bring in 20 questions for you,” she says. “I want to learn how to meet patients’ needs while focusing on two to three things that relate to large-scale population health.”

Naik’s medical education was supported by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Scholarship.

Dell Med has been in the making for more than a decade. Its timeline is filled with many milestones: There’s the day Travis County voters agreed to raise taxes to pay for the school. The day the teaching hospital opened. The day the school earned full accreditation.

Dr. Beth Nelson, the associate dean of undergraduate medical education, was there through it all.

“We were all really seeing [graduation] as the goal post that we were going to run across in concert with the students,” she said. “There was a lot of anticipation and excitement. Then, obviously, COVID-19 hit and all things changed in almost a heartbeat." ...

Dell Med’s Response

Dell Med was able to quickly create virtual courses that would help the students get their credits. Students used avatars instead of real patients — but at least it was something. One professor — Dr. Tim Mercer — even created an entirely new elective course, The COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Health on the Frontlines. It took him and his team only about a week to get it ready. The class focused on things like the principles of public health and the history of pandemics. It even gave students some of that real-world experience they were missing ...

One Student’s Experience

Amber Baysinger was trying to make up for her lost clinical rotations by taking this elective. She says she helped contact people who were infected with COVID-19 in the Austin area.

“We collect information on all of the people that they contacted while they were in their infectious period,” she said. “Then we use that information to call those people, and then assess whether or not those people need to get tested or be in quarantine or isolation.”

Baysinger says this feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she’s glad to play a part.

“I feel like by being able to be on this team, I’m able to contribute a little bit,” she said. “It feels really good to know that I’m helping to make a difference.”

KEEP READING VIA KUT »

Baysinger’s medical education was supported by the Thos. H. Law and Jo Ann Law Endowed Medical Scholarship.