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WISE conference a big success for students, surgeons by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations The program established at MUSC to recruit early medical students into surgery is going national, according to the founders of the Women Interested in Surgical Experience (WISE).   WISE has been approved by the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) to use its e-mail list serv to contact other medical students across the nation in hopes to inspire other WISE chapters to form, said Erika Manning, M.D., a WISE co-founder.   Already a program at the University of South Carolina appears imminent, said Sharee Wright, WISE vice president and conference chair.   “WISE has been permitted to use the AMSA listserv to send out e-mails to all first, second and third-year medical students to help establish WISE groups around the country,” Manning said April 22 during the first annual WISE conference at MUSC. “Through this outreach initiative, we will be forming chapters nationwide based on the model we have established here.”   Meanwhile, the WISE conference held at the Gazes Auditorium was attended by more than 40 medical students, including several young men.   “This is not for women only,” Manning said. “This is for anyone interested in a career in surgery.”   Wright said the first conference was an enormous success, and that she will be meeting with Carolyn Reed, M.D., who helped launch the program on an agenda for the conference next year.   “For this being our first conference, it was a huge success,” said Wright, a rising fourth year student who is considering either vascular or GI surgery. “We have opened doors for many students who did not think that surgery was an obtainable goal. What we did has even sparked interest in a USC college of medicine student who attended our conference to start a WISE chapter there.”   Wright said that about 60 people had signed up to attend the conference, which could have meant standing room only in the auditorium. But a large utility crane blocked the front entrance, and people were not allowed to pass in front of the building or use the front entrance. In addition, early heavy rain watered down the attendance just a bit. Still, drawing 42 medical students to an all-day Saturday conference toward the end of the semester is something to cheer about.   “Not only did we impress the students who attended and the surgeons who spoke, we impressed ourselves,” Wright said with a smile. “From here, the only place we can go is up.”   Meanwhile, MUSC’s top surgeons spoke to the attentive audience about their various fields, why they entered them, and extended invitations to students to shadow them. Students were shown images of trauma cases, discussed research and new techniques. By the end of the conference, the door appeared to have swung wide open to the young students who might pursue the 80-plus hour a week surgical commitment.   To hone their interests, students were invited to shadow trauma surgeons in the ER on Friday and Saturday nights, or attend clinics, and engage in research.   Attendees also were advised on how female surgeons are able to balance personal and professional lives, and how to anticipate developing “a surgical personality,” which has been likened to a competitive tennis player’s attitude.   The conference was both enlightening and encouraging, with a footnote aptly stated by third year COM student VaShondra Richmond: “With the number of women already in medicine and the growing needs for surgeons, you’d better make way for us, because we’re coming in.”   Allison Evans, co-president of WISE, talked about how the initiative helped influence her career path.   “Through WISE, I have made the decision to enter the field of plastic surgery,” Evans said. “Without the experiences I’ve had in the last few years or the support of our fantastic staff in the surgery department, I would still be struggling with what to do with my life.”   Evans shadowed WISE faculty sponsor and noted thoracic surgeon, Reed, during the summer after her first year. “I began to realize how different the physicians were from my previous stereotype of introverted doctors with no bedside manner,” she said. “I was amazed at how much time and effort Dr. Reed spent with her patients, including drawing simplified diagrams of their surgery on paper towels in the exam room to make sure they understood the procedures. She was so passionate about her specialty, and she instills that same passion into the WISE organization.”   Shadowing also enabled the young medical student to explore particular surgical subspecialties of interest to her. She said that otherwise, the experience would not have come until the third or fourth year of school.   “I was able to learn how to scrub, what my glove size was, and how to practice sterile techniques in a less intimidating setting than third year,” Evans said. “In addition, my first scrub was a craniotomy. How many other people can say that they did neurosurgery during their second year of med. school?”   Then she shadowed in plastic surgery.   “I watched in amazement as Dr.[Patrick] O’Neill and Dr. [John] McFadden replaced fingers that had been lost in a farm accident with two toes from the same man’s own foot. That was it. I fell in love. At that moment, I began to realize that this was the career for me,” Evans said, adding that since, Dr. O’Neill has become her mentor and advisor.   For more information on shadowing surgeons or about WISE, contact Francie Henderson, WISE co-president, 263-5500; Evans, 437-5201; or e-mail Wright, 810-90364, or e-mail wrightsh@musc.edu. Friday, May 5, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island papers at 849-1778, ext. 201.