 photo by Fred Faulk |
Al Sills, Richard Clatterbuck, John Davis, and Johnny Sandhu all are part of the medical community at JHU, each heading to Baltimore from Mississippi State over the last 10 years.
Having four graduates from Mississippi State together at Johns Hopkins may seem like a unique situation, but it isn't. Several years ago, Mississippi State had five graduates at JHU, either in school or serving a residency.
Al Sills says these hard-working MSU grads have come to JHU because of a concentrated recruiting effort made by alumni already at JHU. "I was the first of this group of alumni to come up here," Sills said. "After getting here, I felt this was an incredible place to go to medical school, and I realized students back home could benefit from these opportunities, students who may have thought they didn't have the credentials to get in. Jimmy Abraham (associate dean of student services at Mississippi State) influenced my thoughts on this very much. He taught me to share about something you believe in."
John Davis said he felt welcome the moment he set foot in Baltimore, simply because other alumni made him feel at home. "We all have made a concerted effort to make State students feel welcome when they visit and when they arrive. I know I owe a debt of gratitude to David Martin, Jeff Gregory (other alumni who attended JHU), Richard, and Al.
Davis said he and his wife, Lesley, felt fortunate to have a group of fellow Mississippians initially to help blunt the culture shock of a large East Coast city. "We have spent many holidays and other occasions with these people when we cannot be at home," Davis said. "We have built lifelong friendships through our shared experiences."
"Mississippi State students can do well at JHU," Sandhu said, "partly because of the road already traveled by other graduates. I think there could be many more here if students just applied more often," he said. "I know of several people in my classes at Mississippi State who would have been able to excel here. I think a lot of luck mixed with a blessing also is involved. Al Sills and John Davis were very encouraging when I was applying, and I think that helped."
Sills, Davis, and Sandhu received degrees from Mississippi State in biological engineering. Davis and Clatterbuck, who received his degree in physics, also were involved in the pre-medicine curriculum advised by Dr. Tom Morrow.
"The greatest strength of my education at State," Davis said, "was learning to think and approach problems in a logical fashion. This was demanded in class after class, and it has proven to be a critical skill in both medical school and residency. Our common experience is that we all benefited from Mississippi State's growing academic reputation."
Clatterbuck even compared his Mississippi State education to that of an Ivy League school. "Academically, I was as prepped as any classmate with an Ivy League education," he said. "In fact, I finished my training at the top of my class clinically, and among the top few students academically."
Training in engineering gave both Sills and Sandhu the ability to solve problems and to process information rapidly and accurately.
"I learned the discipline required from an intensive program and had an outstanding grounding in the biological sciences with exposure to the humanities," Sills said. "I learned how to study, how to get prepared, and how to process large pieces of information."
"My engineering education at Mississippi State taught me how to think by taking a problem and looking at it objectively," added Sandhu. "It helped me come up with solutions in a common sense and efficient way."
 Johns Hopkins and Mississippi State-a winning combination. The four alumni currently studying and practicing medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital are, left to right, Richard E. Clatterbuck ('87), fifth-year resident in neurosurgery; Johnny Sandhu ('94), second-year medical student; Al Sills ('86), assistant chief of service, Department of Neurosurgery and medical school instructor; and John D. Davis ('88), fifth-year resident in neurosurgery. |
More unusual than simply having four alumni at JHU is having three of the four practicing in neurosurgery. Sills, Clatterbuck, and Davis all are part of the Department of Neurosurgery at JHU. Sills is assistant chief of service and also teaches at the medical school, while Davis and Clatterbuck are residents. Sandhu, a second-year medical student, has not chosen his specialty.
"After my first-year of medical school, I was fascinated by the brain and by how little we know about it," Sills said. "Later, I fell in love with being in the operating room. I chose neurosurgery because the brain was the one part of the body that I could study for the rest of my career and not be bored by it. It has been wonderful to have fellow alumni as part of neurosurgery here. We draw tremendous strength from each other and from our common experiences that others may not share."
Being so far away from home and from their alma mater sometimes can be difficult.
"There's no question that the greatest people in the country are at Mississippi State," Sandhu said. "I miss the friendly people and the hospitality. I think that kind of atmosphere where people smile and say hello has had a lasting impact on me. I think that genuine concern for other people really comes out in people at State. All my experiences with extracurricular activities like student recruiting and student government have been influential in the kind of person I am and the kind of doctor I will be."
"My most vivid memory of Mississippi State," Davis said, "is accepting the Egg Bowl trophy from the Ole Miss student body president at the 50-yard line after our win in 1987, holding it high in the air, and having it swiped away by defensive lineman Elvis Butler, who held it even higher and paraded it around the field with the rest of the team."
"One of the hardest things for us about being here has been trying to find Jack Cristil broadcasts of MSU sports," Sills said. "We have spent several afternoons clustered around the speaker phone listening to a broadcast from the home of a family member. We have learned that desperate times call for desperate measures."
As these four members of the medical profession continue their time at Johns Hopkins, they will persist in their efforts to recruit Mississippi State graduates to JHU and to emphasize the strength of a degree from Mississippi State.
"Some other schools in the state have been thought of as better preparation for medical school," Sills said. "Time has shown that Mississippi State prepares students very well for what they face in medical school."
Mississippi State Pre-Med Programprepares grads for rigors of medical schoolMedical doctors and Mississippi State: more and more, the terms go together. Because of the university's strong pre-med program, an average of 50 percent of Mississippi State students who have applied for admission to medical school across the country over the last 10 years have been accepted, when they apply based on the credentials set up by the pre-med program. That's 12 percent higher than the national average medical school acceptance rate. In fall 1996, Mississippi State had more graduates (22) accepted to the University Medical Center in Jackson than any other university or college in the state. Retiring pre-med adviser and professor of biological sciences Tom Morrow said that number is about average for the Mississippi State students who enter UMC. "We consistently have a fairly large group of students from Mississippi State who enter the Medical Center," Morrow said. "We also usually have several students who attend medical school out-of-state because UMC only accepts Mississippi residents. This past fall, we had five who went out-of-state, some back to their home states and others who elected to pursue medicine in programs other than UMC." Morrow says students interested in attending medical school need a wide variety of characteristics to be accepted and to make it in the medical profession, not the least of which is good study habits. He also says academic major is not an important factor. "We have had graduates in 29 different majors accepted into medical schools over the years, ranging from biochemistry and biological sciences to communication," Morrow said. "Their major doesn't really matter; it's the credentials that are important. They need good communication skills, computer skills, reading comprehension skills, persuasive attributes, leadership ability, and a desire to help people who are hurting. Most of all, they need to do well on their MCATs (Medical College Admission Test)." According to Morrow, the MCAT, which has three sections covering verbal reasoning, biological sciences, and physical sciences, most often is the stumbling block for students being accepted to medical school. The pre-med program at Mississippi State emphasizes course work that covers subjects found on the MCAT, including experimental genetics, zoology, microbiology, cell biology, and comparative anatomy. Students also take organic chemistry and three physics classes, as required by most medical schools, along with calculus. "Our strength is in the thoroughness of the courses they take. If they do well in these courses, they can handle the MCAT," Morrow said. "We try to help our students with learning. Sometimes students put more emphasis on grades than learning and consequently they are not prepared for the MCAT without an extensive review." With a focused program and determined students, medical doctors from Mississippi State are showing up across the country. "Our students who succeed are very capable, highly motivated, and hard-working," Morrow said. "And our graduates are successful. We have graduates practicing in little towns in Mississippi and all over the country, from the West Coast to the East Coast." |
This World Wide Web version of Alumnus was marked up by Chris Brown <brownc@ur.msstate.edu>
For information about Mississippi State University, contact msuinfo@ur.msstate.edu.
Last modified: .
URL: http://