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E D U C A T I O N › S E L E C T E D P R O G R A M S
 PHYSICAL THERAPY › Matthew Hatzl stood head and shoulders above many applicants to the seven-trimester program that leads to the DPT (doctor of physical therapy) degree. For five years he worked as a therapy technician during summers and winter breaks, guiding patients through exercises and performing different treatment modalities. "In physical therapy, you are up close and personal with your patients and can see the positive results that you've contributed to," says the native of Minooka, Illinois. The curriculum at the Feinberg School initially emphasizes coursework in anatomy and physiology, the building blocks of the treatment-based courses that follow. The second trimester launches research activities, which united Hatzl with two classmates
to examine the neural pathways that contribute to muscle recovery after stroke. The first of four clinical rotations is undertaken after the third trimester. "With each rotation," he says, "you are armed with more tools and knowledge to be a successful practitioner and productive member of the health care team."
MEDICINE › "I loved the systems-based curriculum and the attitude of the students: friendly, not stressed, but serious about their studies," recalls Chicago native Wendy Goodall of her interview at the Feinberg School. With her first year of the MD degree program behind her, she's still impressed. Relates Goodall, "Because we had units last year on communication and physical examination skills, we entered the second year confident as we began interacting with patients in Clinical Encounters," a unit in the course Patient, Physician & Society (PPS). In the first year, PPS is teamed with Medical Decision Making, Structure-Function, and Problem-Based Learning, and in the second year with Scientific Basis of Medicine instead of Structure-Function. Fluent in Spanish, Goodall carries out some of her coursework at the Erie Family Health Center, which has a primarily Spanish-speaking patient population. After her first year of medical school, she learned about international health issues in Mexico City, where NU has a joint program with the Universidad Panamericana.
GENETIC COUNSELING › Since early high school, genetic counseling resonated with Sarah Lewis as a career path. While a psychology undergrad she explored other options, until the day she ran into the former director of the Feinberg School's genetic counseling program. "She told me that not a day went by when she didn't love what she did," says Lewis, a native of Newtown, Connecticut. Lewis restructured her undergraduate program to put her on a path toward genetic counseling and after graduation gained experience at the National Birth Defects Center outside Boston. Northwestern's 18-month, six-quarter master's degree program "gets real" quickly. "Northwestern is unique in that patient contact starts early. By the end of the second quarter, you're seeing patients 15-20 hours per week," says Lewis, who plans to specialize in prenatal counseling. In addition to six clinical rotations, students complete thesis research. Lewis' thesis compares the coping styles of parents whose child's condition has a known cause with parents whose child's condition cannot be explained. For the latter, "There's more self doubt," says Lewis. "They're always wondering if they were at fault."
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FIG. 1
Matthew Hatzl uses his physical therapy training
to assess shoulder function in a patient. |
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FIG. 2
Studying with friends
enhances learning, finds MD student Wendy Goodall (center). |
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FIG. 3
Clinical experiences help Sarah Lewis fine-tune her genetic counseling skills. |
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