1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Meg Hammond and I am currently enrolled in a Pre-Med Post Baccalaureate program at the University of Delaware. As a “non-traditional” pre-med student, I graduated from Vassar College with a degree in Psychology and went on to complete my Masters in Public Administration at Marist College. I’ve spent nearly two decades working in the non-profit sector, looking to serve various populations in different ways. I currently work in healthcare administration and finance and am the owner of a consulting business where I provide reimbursement analysis to organizations throughout the United States.

2. Who was your favorite teacher in school and how did he or she impact you?
Two of my math teachers in high school were amazing. They were both strict in their expectations but clear in their instructions. Some people don’t like math because it’s hard to see how it’s applicable to “real life.” Because of them, it was clear that it wasn’t just the math I was learning; I was learning how to think and problem solve. And it is because of them that I never opened the book in my graduate-level statistics course as I knew the material from high school!

3. When did you first decide you wanted to become a doctor and why? 
While I have always wanted to help people and have had a love of science, early interactions with physicians put me off the idea of medicine. My first memory of medical “care” is being tied between two foam boards while various medical personnel attempted to draw blood from my six-year-old body. Hardly inspiring, unfortunately.

Then I suffered a serious spinal cord injury. And an osteopathic physician saved my life.

The fact that I initially hobbled into his office and walked out was admittedly impressive and I began to read anything I could get my hands on about Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM). The hands-on treatments provided significant pain relief but, more than that, my osteopathic physician showed me that I could be cared for and not just managed. He didn’t treat my MRI results, he treated a person. He showed me that it was possible to practice medicine with compassion and humility. He showed me that a practitioner could possess a broad knowledgebase and skillset that instilled trust. He practiced medicine that allowed for a partnership between doctor and patient when it came to recovery.

Had I not found him, there is no doubt in my mind that I would be another statistic associated with opioid abuse as I would have desperately sourced ways for pain relief.

I was lucky to have found him (and other physicians that have joined me on my journey of recovery) as I had the means and access to appropriate health care; it didn’t seem fair that I was going to be ok and others in equally precarious places of health would not. He held a place for my body to heal when I lost faith that it would; I decided that I had to become a doctor so that I could hold that place for others.

4. What area of medicine are you interested in?
Not surprisingly, I’m interested in the manipulation side of osteopathic medicine. To be proficient at it requires an expansive amount of knowledge in anatomy and physiology; you are a student for life. However, with the growing shortage of primary care physicians, especially in rural areas like my home in Delaware, the need for wrap-around medicine and physicians to coordinate patient care is increasing. It is my hope to work in a primary care setting that fully integrates the philosophies and principles of OMM.

5. What’s the coolest experience you’ve had so far on your premedical journey?
Originally, I read all that I could find on OMM so that I had a better understanding of what was going on in my treatments. During one of my treatments with my osteopathic physician, he started to explain what he was doing when I excitedly interrupted him and proceeded to finish his explanation of Stanley Schiowitz’s Facilitated Positional Release technique. He looked at me, chuckled, and commented that his students don’t know this. I have to admit that the idea that I knew more about this than some of his first-year medical students seemed pretty cool to me.

6. What is your favorite book? 
I can’t pick just one! The Hot Zone by Richard Preston tells the fascinating and horrifying story of the first Ebola outbreaks and is what originally peaked my interest in epidemiology and related fields. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins thoughtfully explores evolution from the gene’s point of view and cemented my interest in biology. On a more lighthearted note, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams are works of fiction that provide an irreverent and entertaining perspective of our place in the universe.

7. Tell us one thing interesting about you that most people don’t know.
I’m from Guam! I love the closeness to nature and the inherent sense of community that comes with island life.

8. If you couldn’t be a doctor, what would you want to do?
I would pursue various clinical and coding certifications to broaden my medical knowledge and bring that to my work in healthcare finance. Honestly though, if I couldn’t be a doctor then there’s nothing else I would want to be.

9. What has been your biggest obstacle as a premed and how did you (or are you) overcome it?
Doubt. I haven’t completely overcome it as think we likely all have moments of it. For me, becoming a physician means giving up a career that I enjoy and am good at to go back to school, take on an enormous amount of debt, and work ten times as hard as I do currently…sounds crazy. But I know this is the path for me so every time doubt rears its head, I remind myself of that.

10. What do you like most about PreMed STAR?
I love to see the various paths that bring people to medicine. It’s fulfilling to see the diverse qualities that our differences bring to our pursuits in medicine. More than that, I find that individuals drawn to serve in this capacity have many similarities and it’s comforting to find support for our shared struggles via PreMed STAR.

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