Each month, Look Who’s Talking features voices from across BWH answering the same question. This month, BWHers tell us about the most memorable class they ever took. If you would like to add your voice to the conversation, please submit a comment at the bottom of the page.

Douglas Smink

“My most memorable class was 11th-grade English with Ms. Rosenberger. She challenged me to express myself in my writing. I still do a lot of writing for my research, and I think of her frequently!”

  • Douglas Smink, MD, MPH, Program Director of the General Surgery Residency and Associate Chair of Education, Department of Surgery

 

Anna Krichevsky

“I believe that what makes a class memorable is the personality of its teacher, and I had a fantastic high school physics teacher. The remarkable patience for science and the joy my high school teacher shared with his students in unraveling scientific challenges made a profound, lifelong impact on my career. He taught us creative thinking and problem-solving in contexts much broader than physical sciences. I aspire to do the same for my students and help create a community of scholarship and joy in science.”

  • Anna Krichevsky, PhD, Researcher, Department of Neurology Center for Neurological Disease

 

Erik Alexander

“Of all the classes I enjoyed, the most memorable was ‘Introduction to Art’ while in college. As a science lover and future doctor, art was outside my comfort zone, but the subject quickly grew on me. The arts have increasingly helped me become a better person and better doctor. Now, I never underestimate the power of a novel or unique learning moment.”

  • Erik Alexander, MD, Executive Director of the Brigham Education Institute, Director of Medical Student Education, Associate Physician, Department of Medicine

 

Sarah Thompson

“In my most memorable class, ‘On Death and Dying’ at MGH, Dr. Sylvia Paige taught me so much about the nursing in the context of caring for someone approaching the end of life. She taught me that ‘patients tend to die the way they lived.’ One patient I remember never missed the Notre Dame football games. Holding true to Sylvia’s teachings, he passed away peacefully one Saturday afternoon while we were watching the game in his hospital room. Rest in Peace, Sylvia Paige, and thank you for all you did to open my eyes to a nursing practice that I embrace, respect and don’t shy away from.”

  • Sarah Thompson, MSN, RN, CCNS, WOCN, Professional Development Manager, Critical Care

 

Cynthia Morton

“As a junior at The College of William and Mary in Virginia in the spring of 1976, I was a student in Professor Bruce Grant’s course in Genetics. I distinctly remember one lecture he taught in human genetics during which he described individuals with trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) and individuals missing a portion of the short arm of chromosome 5 (Cri-du-chat syndrome).  I was fascinated from that day with the concept that chromosomal disorders could result in developmental disorders that had characteristic clinical phenotypes.”

  • Cynthia Morton, PhD, Director of Cytogenetics, Department of Pathology

 

Sushila Maharajan

“My most memorable class was biology. I was curious to know the classification of animals and plants. It was surprising that two completely different animals, whale and bat, belong to the same Mammalia class, and I was amazed by the fact that there are more than 100 species of rhododendron flowers around my area. In those days, I remembered whenever possible to look at flowers or plants to identify their phylum, class and species. “

  • Sushila Maharjan, PhD, Research Fellosw in the Laboratory of Engineered Living Systems, Department of Medicine