Job shadowing is critical for acceptance to medical school, and
several medical offices in the Auburn area allow COSAM’s prehealth students the opportunity to spend time alongside a physician,
giving the student a chance to observe and learn what a career in
medicine really entails.
Dr. David Hagan, ’65, a retired internal medicine physician, is
one such doctor. Hagan completed medical school at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. He then did an
internal medicine residency at UAB followed by a chief internal
medicine residency at Carraway Methodist Medical Center. In 1973,
he returned to Auburn where he practiced medicine for 33 years. For
the past 20 years, Hagan has worked closely with COSAM assisting
in any way he can to continue to enhance the pre-health program.
“When I was at Auburn we had an exceptional program, but
I wanted to help make them better and better,” Hagan said. “The
immediate need when I started to get involved was scholarships.
Early on, I spent most of my time obtaining money for scholarships.
I found that I really like asking people for money for a good cause.”
A few years ago, Hagan retired from practicing medicine and
since then has been even more instrumental in assisting COSAM’s
pre-health sciences students.
“Job shadowing opportunities in the area had been available for
years, but there were not nearly enough of them. When you have
a student in your office, you want to spend time talking to them,
so a physician can’t take on too many students because it will slow
him down. That’s why we needed more opportunities and more
physicians to get involved,” Hagan said.
As a result, Hagan coordinated job shadowing opportunities for
COSAM students in seven different areas of medicine with a variety
of doctors for three-hour sessions.
“It’s important for students to see the different aspects of medical
practice and interact with different types of doctors,” Hagan said.
The job shadowing opportunities Hagan coordinates are in
pediatrics, family practice, general internal medicine, the OB/GYN
unit, Cancer Center, Surgical Center, and Emergency Room at East
Alabama Medical Center.
“The variety of job settings gives the students both private
practice exposure and hospital setting exposure. I also take them
to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab to watch an angioplasty. The
students usually get really excited about medicine as they observe
physicians and procedures, which is one of the reasons shadowing
opportunities are so important. Interaction with the doctors in
medicine is highly motivating. The student can’t help but say, ‘I
want to do that,’ which will often result in improved academic
performance,” Hagan said. “Secondly, medical schools absolutely
require shadowing. The schools want the students to have some
exposure, experience and knowledge of what medical practice is like.
Third, shadowing opportunities allow the student to discover if he or
she is really going to like a career in medicine.”
In addition to arranging job shadowing opportunities for
COSAM students, Hagan acts as a student mentor.
“I sit down with the students and review their GPA, MCAT
score, ability to be interviewed, and I advise them. I also try to
instill in them my idealism about the medical profession and the
importance of and responsibilities involved in medicine. For some of
the students, I advise them to keep doing what they are doing.”
Other physicians in the area who work closely with COSAM
students and offer job shadowing include doctors Richard M.
Freeman and Rian Williams Anglin, ’03. Freeman is a pediatrician
in Auburn who has allowed Auburn students to shadow him for
more than 30 years. He received his undergraduate degrees from
North Carolina State University in physics and mathematics. Upon
graduation, he conducted aerospace research for three years and
then realized he wanted to pursue a career in medicine. Freeman
was accepted to medical school at the University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, where he began his medical studies. He interned at
UAB and upon completion of medical school in July 1973, he
became a medical officer at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Jacksonville,
Fla. Freeman came to the Auburn-Opelika area in 1975. He
practiced medicine in Opelika first before opening his clinic in
Auburn, Pediatric Associates of Auburn. During his career, which
has lasted 41 years thus far, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve for
30 years, as vice president and secretary-treasurer for the Medical
Association for the state of Alabama, was a member of the Medicaid
DUR Board, a member of the Medicaid Pharmacy and Therapeutic
Board, and is on the Board of Medical Examiners for the state of
Alabama.
In 1977, Professor Frank Stevens in Auburn’s Department
of Chemistry asked Freeman to give a lecture to his pre-health
sciences students. Following the lecture, Stevens made another
request – would Freeman be willing to have students shadow him
in his medical practice? Freeman agreed and for the last 34 years,
Auburn students have received an up-close look at what working as a
physician in a private pediatric clinic is like.
Freeman continues to see one new Auburn student each week,
and often a student