Sipping an orange juice and chatting with students at a large wooden table strewn with breakfast food and a book or two, Dr. Holden's peace and five minute break from lecturing, was shattered by a middle-aged lady, poking her head through the doorway, asking questions, seeking the doctor's help.
It's May 2011 and like years past, most Saturday mornings this Spring, Dr. Holden will supplement grueling 14-hour days as an ER doc at Bronx's Montefiore Hospital, with 8:30 AM Saturday morning starts in front of some (50) fresh-faced college students all looking to ace the MCAT. The latter is the medical school's wickedly long and fairly brutal - some say - standardized test. In (12) weeks these kids need to learn how to read physical and biological passages as well as navigate a healthy dose of verbal reading and score high enough to beat an army of competition. All want spots in the nation's medical and osteopathic schools where there are often 15 students competing for every one seat.
Dr. Holden's saturday morning test prep may get them there. The program is rigorously developed with a brisk pace guided by Princeton Review materials and highly skilled tutors. The whole thing is free to students who submit applications and essays for a chance at the gratis support. But while the drilling and tutoring should help them score higher, a subtle message to the kids that day - as well as the middle-aged professional still hanging out and looking to Holden's advice - everyone has a shot, everyone can make it but you'll need to work harder than hard and use her to get a mentor.
Lynne Holden M.D. knows a thing or two about mentoring having been mentored herself as a grade school kid in Philly. Through high school, Howard University undergrad, Temple University Medical School and Chief Resident at Albert Einstein Hospital she learned from and leaned on her mentors. And just as she left the classroom to go full force in her professional career. She did a remarkable thing, made a u-turn and came back, starting a non-profit, http:\\medicalmentor.org along with two other doctors and an educator.
The group developed Mentoring in Medicine to focus on providing kids and adults from some of New York and Oakland's poorer and older neighbors a mentor, be it African-American, of European descent, Asian, Caribbean, Latino or Native American, any physician or health professional willing to lend an hear and a hand up to students whose ethnic backgrounds, country of origin, language and complexion are under-represented in medicine. The hope is that an "I can do it too" mind set trumps feelings of disconnectedness and resignment that medicine isn't for minorities.
Quoted on CNN Human Factor Blog Holden said .... that the nonprofit organization uses academic enrichment, leadership development, community service and mentoring to create a strategic plan for successful attainment of their dream." Mentoring in Medicine not only has the test prep but Ambassadors in Medicine to promote health in the community and regular events for kids as young as eight years old to introduce them to the world of medicine.
Holden's and company's rather simple idea - each one reach back and teach one - has become a media darling of sorts. Within the last year and half the doctor's been lauded by everyone from Oprah to CNN to a national women's medical group. You can read more about Mentoring in Medicine here.
"I am a strong believer in the power of visualization! It was the pastor and scholar William Arthur Ward who stated, 'If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it,'" said Holden.
It's May 2011 and like years past, most Saturday mornings this Spring, Dr. Holden will supplement grueling 14-hour days as an ER doc at Bronx's Montefiore Hospital, with 8:30 AM Saturday morning starts in front of some (50) fresh-faced college students all looking to ace the MCAT. The latter is the medical school's wickedly long and fairly brutal - some say - standardized test. In (12) weeks these kids need to learn how to read physical and biological passages as well as navigate a healthy dose of verbal reading and score high enough to beat an army of competition. All want spots in the nation's medical and osteopathic schools where there are often 15 students competing for every one seat.
Dr. Holden's saturday morning test prep may get them there. The program is rigorously developed with a brisk pace guided by Princeton Review materials and highly skilled tutors. The whole thing is free to students who submit applications and essays for a chance at the gratis support. But while the drilling and tutoring should help them score higher, a subtle message to the kids that day - as well as the middle-aged professional still hanging out and looking to Holden's advice - everyone has a shot, everyone can make it but you'll need to work harder than hard and use her to get a mentor.
Lynne Holden M.D. knows a thing or two about mentoring having been mentored herself as a grade school kid in Philly. Through high school, Howard University undergrad, Temple University Medical School and Chief Resident at Albert Einstein Hospital she learned from and leaned on her mentors. And just as she left the classroom to go full force in her professional career. She did a remarkable thing, made a u-turn and came back, starting a non-profit, http:\\medicalmentor.org along with two other doctors and an educator.
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| Dr Holden at a Mentoring in Medicine event at MS 391. |
The group developed Mentoring in Medicine to focus on providing kids and adults from some of New York and Oakland's poorer and older neighbors a mentor, be it African-American, of European descent, Asian, Caribbean, Latino or Native American, any physician or health professional willing to lend an hear and a hand up to students whose ethnic backgrounds, country of origin, language and complexion are under-represented in medicine. The hope is that an "I can do it too" mind set trumps feelings of disconnectedness and resignment that medicine isn't for minorities.
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| Lynn Holden, MD |
Quoted on CNN Human Factor Blog Holden said .... that the nonprofit organization uses academic enrichment, leadership development, community service and mentoring to create a strategic plan for successful attainment of their dream." Mentoring in Medicine not only has the test prep but Ambassadors in Medicine to promote health in the community and regular events for kids as young as eight years old to introduce them to the world of medicine.
Holden's and company's rather simple idea - each one reach back and teach one - has become a media darling of sorts. Within the last year and half the doctor's been lauded by everyone from Oprah to CNN to a national women's medical group. You can read more about Mentoring in Medicine here.
"I am a strong believer in the power of visualization! It was the pastor and scholar William Arthur Ward who stated, 'If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it,'" said Holden.
