MSMS  welcomed Dr. William Rosenblatt, an internal medicine specialist, to speak to the Future Physicians of America club and the rest of the MSMS body in Hooper Auditorium on Tuesday, Jan. 9. Dr. Rosenblatt is a successful member of the MSMS Class of 2003. He went on to attend college at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, followed by the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

Vice President of Future Physicians of America, Maria Kaltchenko, helped to organize the event.

“Being an MSMS Alum and a member of the Columbus community, we believed that Dr. Rosenblatt would be uniquely suited to provide advice especially applicable to the audience of the seminar. He was extremely receptive to the idea and immediately agreed to speak to the student body,” said Kaltchenko, a junior at MSMS.

Dr. Rosenblatt gave a range of advice to the students, from not panicking over the MCAT to not letting finances dictate your choice in where you work or attend university.

However, one of his most adamant points was that students should take full advantage of the college experience. “Do what you love in college. I cannot say that more strongly,” Rosenblatt said. “Just do what you want in college because once you get into medical school, then residency, then fellowship, or whatever follows that, you’re never going to get to go back and study art or study history again.”

He also discourages “early pigeonholing” for the purpose of “keeping an open mind as long as possible.”

“There is no rush in getting into [medical school] because it’s a long road,” he explained.

Dr. Rosenblatt also reflected on his time in medical school and recalls, “I was in med school with folks that were forty-five and had three kids. I could not imagine that, but you can take so many different pathways to medicine. I just don’t want people to feel like there is one track and if you don’t do all the right things in the right order, you’re not going to make it. That couldn’t be further from the truth.”

MSMS junior and aspiring emergency physician, Liz Huynh, was very pleased with the outcome of the event that she attended. She particularly liked Rosenblatt’s calming words.

“He encouraged us to take time to explore ourselves, take some humanities classes and travel before applying to medical school instead of just going a straight and narrow path of science. He really made me, and others, feel surer about being unsure.”