Dr. Kushnir posing with his son.
How has your educational experience at UNE COM influenced your success as a physician?
(Kushnir) For one thing, I didn’t get into any other medical school. The year I applied was the highest on record since the Vietnam War. UNE COM was inoculated with applicants, and didn’t have enough staff to review my application. I was told that if I agreed to go into the next year, I would be automatically granted an interview. Prior to that, I got a number of interviews for allopathic schools, but didn’t have the best grades in college. Unlike a lot of people who enter medical school, I wasn’t sure that being a doctor was something I really wanted to do until later. When I did finally interview at UNE COM, I had a very good interview. The faculty member who interviewed me, however, wanted to see another year of improvement, and told me, “if you work on your application, we will interview you a second time.” I was in graduate school in Dayton, OH at the time and didn’t apply anywhere else. I wanted to prove to the school and to that faculty member that I could improve myself.
The day before my interview, there was a terrible snowstorm that caused the airlines to cancel flights leaving Cleveland. Determined not to miss my second interview, I decided to push through in my little Toyota Camry, driving in white out conditions in order to make the interview. I remember at one point driving down I-95, my windshield wipers had broken, and so I continued to drive with my arm out the window, shoveling the snow off with my hands. I arrived in Biddeford at 4am on the morning of my interview.
I was very appreciative to be granted the interview. I am from Florida and UNE COM was marketing itself as a school that trained primary care doctors to serve the New England region. I didn’t fit that picture. However, the laid-back style of the school was a good fit. The style of learning worked really well for me, because I needed more time at home to study. My goal was to do an allopathic residency in emergency medicine, and I had to work very hard to do so. My hard work paid off, and I was offered the residency of my dreams at the University of Florida. I was the only D.O. in the program.
After residency, I wanted to move to an area of Florida that was more suitable for a single man. The energy of St. Augustine and Miami were appealing, and I eventually found a job in Boynton Beach, in southern Florida. I was an attending in the ER, and really involved myself in the hospital. I worked for a contract management group who worked for the hospital, and made it a point to network and make my presence known.