This is the third post talking about the vote that occurred about 3 weeks ago to change the name of my medical school alma mater from The Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) to Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMU). I also invite you to read my previous posts called "NEOUCOM to NEOMU: Why It Matters" and "NEOUCOM to NEOMU: The Response."
On Saturday, August 14, 2010 (which is incidentially 13 days prior to the inauguration of the new med school president), my podcast called The Doctor Anonymous Show had guest Vishvas Hegde, MD who is Clinical Assistant Professor of Pedaitrics and a proud NEOUCOM alum. He has written letters to the editor of local newspapers which are referenced on my previous post. In addition, we have received numerous comments from graduates and I mentioned a couple last week.
On the Dr. A Show 178 last weekend, our discussion covered the reasons why some alumni are frustrated not only with the name change, but also by which the process took place and lack of transparency during the name change process. Also of note, there was a current medical student in the chat room who is from another medical school who went through a name change. That person shared that their school is still struggling with the consequences from alumni from the name change of their school.
In the video above, the segment was close to the end of the show. And, our discussion shifted toward what are the next steps and how can the school and the alumni move on from this tension filled moment in time. Some potential solutions were offered. But what we wanted to emphasize in the end is that those who are upset by the decision are not out to embarrass the school. If we didn't love the school, we probably wouldn't have said anything at all. But, I think we speak for a lot of alumni who would like to continue to support the school, it's just that there are still many questions out there that continue to be unanswered by official channels.
I encourage you to listen to the entire audio podcast in the player below. Of if you like, I invite you to go to the iTunes page for the show, download Show 178, and listen at your leisure. I also encourage you to check out the Facebook page for the show and hit the "Like" button at the top of the facebook page. Finally, check out more of my blog and my you tube channel. Thanks for taking the time to listen to our point of view on this subject...
Addendum: I encourage you to check out my five part series on this topic including "Why It Matters," "The Response," "Name Change," "The Podcast", and "Show 185 Wrap-Up."
Dr. A Show 178: NEOUCOM Name Change
Hope you can join me live on Saturday night for Doctor Anonymous Show 178 where we will be talking about something that is controversial among some of the alumni of the school that will be formerly known as the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. My guest will be a alum who has been vocal in the local newspapers about this topic.
If you would like to know my stance on this topic, I encourage you to check out my prior posts called "NEOUCOM to NEOMU: Why It Matters" and "NEOUCOM to NEOMU: The Response." And, the way I'm thinking right now, this show may be the last that I have to say on this topic...
The blog posts and the upcoming show has elicited some comments from alumni. I cannot post all of them, since it will take up the entire page. But, I share two comments below and they asked that their name not be used:
1. My point is the credibility of the school.... [W]hen I first graduated and was interviewing around the country, most people either didn't know the school or asked if it was the one stuck in the middle of corn field in Ohio. Over recent years it has slowly gained notoriety and for those of us out there, trying to compete on a national level, it is gaining recognition. While the name is cumbersome, it is currently memorable. Changing the name, in my opinion will negatively affect the image of the school on a national level. It will never be Harvard or Hopkins, but the last thing the school wants is to perpetuate it as a "joke" school. Feel free to use any of that in your radio show...
2. As a proud graduate of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine I would have considered attending the inauguration of the new president. However, since he has seen it his mission to abolish the existence of the school that I attended by taking the step to change the name. I will NOT support nor attend his inauguration. I will also not be making any contributions to the school, as my school apparently no longer exists. I will continue to fight this change via communication and discussion with our Ohio legislation.
Addendum: I encourage you to check out my five part series on this topic including "Why It Matters," "The Response," "Name Change," "The Podcast", and "Show 185 Wrap-Up."
Dr. A Show 177 Tonight!
I hope you can join me tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 177 with guest Mohammad Arfeen who is a Pre-Medical student at Benedictine University in Illinois. He is a contributor to the Pre-Med Hell blog which gives advice to college students who aspire to go to medical school. He is also known as @InSaneMo on twitter and is chapter president at his school for the American Medical Student Association.
If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. In addition, you can call into the show to say hello. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!
For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.
*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.
Dr. A Show 177 Preview
Student month continues on The Doctor Anonymous Show. This week, I'm happy to welcome Mohammad Arfeen is a pre-medical student at Benedictine University in Illinois. His twitter ID is @InsaneMo and is a contributor to the PreMedHell Blog. He is also a chapter president for the American Medical Student Association. On the Pre Med Hell blog, here is an interesting excerpt from a post called "Motivation And Focus:"
I've received a decent number of requests about writing a post with study tips that I have found helpful. I’ve thought long and hard about what to write as the subject is so large, and there are various tips that help with different subjects. I’ve decided that instead of writing this post about studying tips, I’ll begin by writing a post about two things that you need to succeed in any subject. I’m sitting here in my regular coffee shop, trying to study for the MCAT, realizing that these are two things that most people forget about when complaining about how they aren’t doing well in a subject.Some thing that just happened this week is that InsaneMo announced some changes in his social media presence following his appearance in the show. The full post called "Changing Directions" is on his personal site. We'll talk about this and a lot more for Doctor Anonymous Show 177 which will be Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio.com. Hope to see you for the show! (Don't forget to check out the video above talking about this week's show)What are these two crucial elements you ask? They are motivation and focus, without both you are like a boat lost in the ocean without any power. You are fighting an uphill battle, if you are trying to master a subject without plenty of both. The best analogy I’ve ever heard about this is any subject is like an ocean, there are many ways you can cross it and many places you can end up at; focus gives you a target and a place to land, motivation is what keeps you going forward instead of going out a couple hundred feet and giving up.
2010 Ohio AFP Annual Meeting
Last weekend, I was very excited to be at the 2010 Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Annual Meeting. For whatever reason, this was my first state meeting in a long time. It's always great to see and to catch up with long time friends.
In the morning session, I learned more about the concept of the Patient Centered Medical Home. I admit that I have heard the concepts for a long time - and they make sense to me. But this morning session was very practical in that it showed you initial steps on how to start the process. Check out a site called TransforMed: Transforming Medical Practices for more information.
The lunch session was probably the best session of the whole day. Here in Ohio, especially if you're a physician, the state supreme court race is probably the most important race on the entire ballot. Yes, here in Ohio we elect those who will serve on the state supreme court, and, yes, the people elect who will be the chief justice of the state supreme court. Interesting, isn't it?
Anyway, in the lunch time session, we had all four candidates running for the state supreme court seats - two for chief justice, and two for associate justice. The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians are unique in that they were the only organization (thus far) to get all four candidates in the same room during this election cycle.
The moderator asked each candidate the question and it was very interesting to see how each candidate answered the question. I won't mention anyone by name - basically because I don't want anyone from their campaign coming after me (hehe). Anyway, it was a sweet combination of civil discourse with political mudslinging. I admit that this is one of the few instances in my life where I turn into a political junkie. Good stuff.
The afternoon session was the business session in which the OAFP members talked about potential policies to be passed and possibly passed on to the national organization for consideration. As I remarked on my twitter, "Love parliamentary procedure, or lack of it." At times, I thought it was going to be like a foreign parliament in which chairs are thrown (not really, but that would be funny).
To learn more about the meeting, and to see some pictures, check out the Facebook page for the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians. I tried to twitter and to place out there facebook updates during the meeting. Social media is slowly coming around to the organization. But, if I have anything to say about it, the Ohio AFP will be well versed in social media - Soon.... :)
NEOUCOM to NEOMU: The Response
The post is in follow-up of the initial post called "NEOUCOM to NEOMU: Why It Matters." Less than 24 hours after the initial post went up, I was contacted by someone who works at the medical school to discuss the points that were brought up there. And, this conversation was helpful.
To clarify my point of view, I understand the rationale behind the name change. My problem was with the lack of transparency during the process. In the press release from July 30, 2010, only the new president gave quotes to be used. If there was support from the Board and the Alumni (and I don't doubt that there was), why not get a quote from the board chair and from an alumni who took part in the process.
In the rest of this video, I share some suggestions of how to try to move forward from this situation:
1) Some kind of acknowledgement that the communication with the alumni during this process could have been done better
2) Alumni are asking the question: "Do I get a new diploma with the new name of the university?" Just to let people know, verification of your educational history - like where you went to medical school - this is very important when you apply for hospital privileges and try to get onto insurance plans. If you have a diploma with the name of a school that no longer exists, this can cause unnecessary delays in the processing of your application - and ultimately push back, or prevent you working at a hospital or at an office.
3) Since the some alumni feel like they were not heard, what is administration and the school going to do to try to reach out and start a healing process with the alumni. Alumni should be the schools most valued asset. They contribute a lot of themselves - whether it be through teaching, or volunteering, or donations to the school. If alumni don't feel they were heard now, they will certainly make themselves feel heard by decreasing their donations to the school - which I know ultimately hurt current students. But, some alumni don't feel they will be heard any other way.
4) Finally, ever since the announcement of the new president, questions have been swirling - especially among alumni - about whether a dental school is on the road map for the university. And, since the question has not been answered or inadequately answered, the question remains. In my opinion, the new president would go a long way in mending fences if he took on this question straight on and answered it.
Finally, in an effort to help those frustrated alumni be heard, I will be using my internet radio show as a platform to help them express their opinion. On Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 8pm Eastern Time, I will interview an alumni who will express his point of view on this subject. Hopefully, other alumni and other people who are interested in this story will tune into the show to hear their point of view.
Addendum: I encourage you to check out my five part series on this topic including "Why It Matters," "The Response," "Name Change," "The Podcast", and "Show 185 Wrap-Up."
Dr. A Show 176 Wrap-up: Erin Breedlove
Thanks again to Erin Breedlove who was my guest on Doctor Anonymous Show 176. She shared her inspiring story of her dream to become a doctor. She is a pre-medical student right now, but she also has the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy which, she states, is not stopping her from achieving her goal.
What you'll see below is a series of three video segments that were recorded during the show. The first video is her story of how the idea of going to medical school came up in the first place. I also encourage you to read her blog post on this as well. In the second video, we talk about some of her social media projects, and also some cool opportunities that have come out of her involvement in social media. Finally, in the last video posted, she gives advice to those who are inspired by her story.
You can listen to the entire audio podcast in the player at the bottom of this post. You can also download this show along with other Doctor Anonymous shows by clicking to go to the iTunes page for the show. Don't forget to "like" the show over on our facebook page. And, finally, check out the most current show schedule (and we have some good shows coming up this month) over at DoctorAnonymous.com. Have a great week everybody!
Dr. A Show 176 Tonight!
I hope you can join me tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 176 with guest Erin Breedlove who is a Pre-Medical student in the Southeastern part of the United States. She is author of the blog Healthy, Unwealthy and Becoming Wise. She has the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy and writes about her dream about going to medical school.
If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. In addition, you can call into the show to say hello. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!
For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.
*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.
Dr. A Show 176 Preview
August 2010 is student month on The Doctor Anonymous Show! This week, Doctor Anonymous Show 176 welcome Pre-Med student and blogger Erin Breedlove. Her blog is called "Healthy, Unwealthy, & Becoming Wise: Follow A Pre-Medical Student On Her Journey To Become A Doctor."
In addition to the challenges of being a college student trying to get into medical school, Erin has the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy which she clearly talks about in her blog including the post called "Cerebral Palsy: What It Isn't"
All too often, as a college and pre-medical student with cerebral palsy, I’m asked what cerebral palsy is, but no one ever seems too concerned with what it isn’t, and to me, that’s the most important part.I invite you to join me on Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time/8pm Central Time for Doctor Anonymous Show 176. Also check out the video post above. In addition, become a friend of the show or hit the "Like" button on the show's Facebook page. To download past shows, check out the show's iTunes page. Finally, I invite you to check out the show's YouTube page. See you for the show!Too many assumptions and stereotypes plague the world of chronic health than do the positives, the abilities of patients, and the strength of their families. I’ll do you a favor. Let’s explore a few things that cerebral palsy isn’t, and I think that by doing that, you’ll find that you’ll know exactly what the diagnosis means!
NEOUCOM to NEOMU: Why It Matters
They are changing the name of my med school alma mater, and I am upset about it. But, not for the reasons that you may think. I am a proud graduate of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). This has been the name of the school since it opened its doors in 1973.
Last week, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to change the name of the school to the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMU). In a press release from the school, the new president and dean, Dr. Jay Gershen, said this:
“The current name no longer reflects who we are as a University. In addition to a College of Medicine and a College of Pharmacy, we also added a College of Graduate Studies last year,” said Gershen. “We are a strong institution with a health sciences curriculum, and we want a strong name that reflects who we are and who we serve.”I have talked with many alumni who are upset about this change. Vishvas Hegde, M.D. posted his opinion to this change on the comment page of the local newspaper where the medical school is located:
The name change alone will cost a large amount of time and money to be wasted. A few years ago, Medical College of Ohio in Toledo did a similar name change and it was estimated to cost over 300 thousand dollars for the entire process. Especially during tough economic times like this, I think almost everyone would agree that this is not a very wise use of funds... NEOUCOM is already cutting millions of dollars from their budget and reducing their employee count; this name change will lead to even more cuts in staff and services at the school.While I empathize with Dr. Hegde's point of view, I do not have that much of a problem with the change in the name of the school. Post-graduate education is a competitive environment. NEOMU is a state school and anyone in Ohio knows that the budget from the state capitol is diminishing with each 2 year budget cycle. Getting research dollars, however you can, is one of the keys to survival at the post-graduate level.
Now, in my opinion, the reason why many alumni are upset with this change, is not the name change itself, but the manner that it was done. In the press stories I have read and watched, NEOMU administration is painting the picture that a lot of feedback was obtained from key stakeholders before the decision was made. Some alumni disagree with this and are really questioning the perceived lack of transparency that took place in the name change.
If this is the case, then the new president and the NEOMU administration have a huge public relations problem with NEOUCOM alumni. If alumni don't feel that they were heard, I really see this as potentially affecting alumni loyalty and willingness to assist the school - for example, with volunteering their time for teaching, or even with fund raising efforts. Because, if you do not have the alumni on your side, that's going to be a real problem. And, that's my opinion... (also check out my video post above where I still call the school "Northeastern Ohio" instead of "Northeast Ohio")
Addendum: I encourage you to check out my five part series on this topic including "Why It Matters," "The Response," "Name Change," "The Podcast", and "Show 185 Wrap-Up."