University of New England

A Jewel from Pforzheim: Jude Viola, UNECOM Class of '09

[Editor's Note: This profile originally appeared in the February 2007 COMmunicator]

The ruins of a Roman military highway sleep somewhere beneath the quiet waters which roll past Pforzheim in southwest Germany. Located at the confluence of the Wurm, Nagold, and Enz rivers, Pforzheim is the gateway to the Black Forest and used to be the center of a timber trade that supplied lumber for Dutch shipbuilding. Famous for its jewelry and watch-making industries, Pforzheim was called the “Golden City” by traders across the Continent. It was, in many regards, a jewel of a city itself – small but important - with many facets. 

Its importance could work against it. In World War II, Pforzheim was bombed to rubble by the Royal Air Force after intelligence reports suggested that the city built precision instruments for the German war effort. There was nothing precise about the saturation bombing of the city, however, and over a quarter of the civilian population – 17,000 souls - perished on a single February evening in 1945. Rubble from the raid was piled in a heap outside the city after the war, the shards of concrete and pretzel-twists of iron long-since covered in a green canopy of vegetation.

Thirty-five years after the bombing that broke the back of Pforzheim, Judith Haug was born in the re-built and comfortably modern city whose population hovered around 100,000. Her father was a skilled eye doctor and her mother was a pharmacist. Jude herself seemed to carry the cosmopolitan legacy of the Romans with a streak of German independence that defied containment. Her strong personality threatened to capsize the precise plans her parents cherished for her, but it also developed a wealth of experiences that shaped who she would become. In the end, Jude’s many facets made her a jewel from Pforzheim.

A Difficult Child 

“I hope your child is as horrible as you are,” Jude’s mother said to her once in exasperation. Jude smiles wryly and recalls that she was not a very good girl. Her parents were well-to-do and fully expected Jude to become an ambassador. When relatives or friends visited and “oohed” and “ahhed” over the pretty child, Jude would at first beam and dutifully parrot her parents’ intentions for her: “I’m going to be-cwum an am-BASS-a-door,” she would lisp.

Yet in truth, Jude did not have any ambitions except to have fun. She loved sports but found academics a bore. She was an accomplished equestrian who participated in dressage and show jumping, started learning English at 10, and was so bright that the hardest assignments were child’s play.

In an odd way, her mental acuity seemed to work against her. By her early teens, Jude was running with the wrong crowd and her academics had suffered. She partied hard, questioned everything, and gave her parents such a hard time that they despaired of ever taming her. One evening at the dining table, Jude looked at her parents and without ceremony said, “You know what, I think I’m going to move somewhere else.”

She chose Britain to turn over a new leaf. After fifteen minutes of discussion, Jude’s parents agreed. “They recognized that I was heading down the wrong path in Germany,” Jude says, “and there was a great boarding school in England called ‘Sevenoaks.’” The fact that an International Baccalaureate and a Model United Nations were strong suits of the school encouraged Jude’s parents to give their assent. In Jude’s mind, she was trading one life for another, and she crossed the Channel with a sense of expectation.

“The More I Have to Do”

For the first time in her life, Jude was stretched to capacity. The elite Sevenoaks Boarding School has prepared generations of Europeans for the best Universities in the world. A large percentage of graduates head to Oxford, Cambridge, or the Ivy League. Famous “Old Sennockians” include Paul Greengrass, director of The Bourne Supremacy, Bloody Sunday, and United 93, and Thomas Heatherwick, one of Britain’s most famous designers.

The constant challenge of academics stimulated Jude, but her true passions were outdoor sports. At Sevenoaks, Jude laid the foundation for her love of fitness. She captained women’s rugby, played on a British National League rugby team, was a keeper in cricket, and chose the linchpin position of goalie in field hockey. When asked why she liked positions that were magnets for hard objects at high velocity, Jude laughs and says simply, “I have good reflexes, and I loved the pressure and thrill of sudden-death penalty shots.”

She learned that the more she did, the better balance she achieved, especially when her activities were also passions. “The more I have to do, the better I do,” she says, “in fact, I thrive.” She performed well enough at Sevenoaks to be accepted to a prestigious school of economics, much to her parents’ delight. But Jude didn’t feel right about the proposed degree in government and economics, and so she deferred for a year. “I wasn’t excited about it,” she says, and that was that.

The Ends of the Earth

She traveled to Switzerland, then to Cannes, France, then back to Germany for a bit, then to the Dominican Republic before heading back to Britain. As the deadline approached for her to attend University, Jude decided that she still wasn’t ready. “A friend and I decided to apply to become snowboard instructors in America while we were still in Britain,” she recalls. A skier since she was 2, Jude had also snowboarded for seven years and felt confident that she could teach the sport to others. On their application to American Skiing Company, Jude and her friend excitedly checked off the boxes for big-name resorts in Utah, Colorado, and California. They dreamed of the glamorous life they were likely to enjoy in America, and tingled with anticipation as the weeks passed.

When letters finally came back from the company, the two young ladies ripped them open and scanned the contents. Congratulations, the letter began, you have been hired by American Skiing Company – insert high-pitched cheers - to work at our flagship resort in Bethel, Maine. Huh? The two young women looked at each other, perplexed, and simultaneously said, “Maine? Where’s that?”  They pulled out a map of the United States and decided that they were being sent to the ends of the earth.

The Toughest Year

Jude arrived safely in Maine - ends of the earth or not – and gave snowboard lessons for the ’98-’99 season. Snowboard instructing was fun, as she had hoped, but the finances could be tenuous. Despite this, she stayed in Bethel for another year. “I think that I was still running away,” she says, “and I didn’t want to return to the achievement-oriented focus that I found at home.”

Too much achievement was not a problem for Jude in the next twelve months. In fact, it was probably the toughest year of her life. Bethel is a bustling town in winter, but can be seasonally slow. And there were other elements that condensed to form a cloud over Jude’s life there. “I was involved in a bad relationship,” she says, “and I worked as a nanny for the year. It definitely motivated me to pursue further schooling.” Alone in a foreign country, strapped for cash and reeling from a relationship gone sour, Jude had never been so low.

To help turn her mood around, she decided to take a few classes at the University of Southern Maine, began to go to the gym regularly, and worked as a caretaker for a private horse farm. “I was able to ride horses again,” she beams, “and I also looked after two middle-aged schizophrenic guys.” She loved working with people and doing good for others, and that helped her to realize that medicine could be her calling. The storm and the rain that so rocked her world at Bethel began to clear a bit, and as the sun shone through, she decided that it was time to go back to school.

A Little Bit of Chemistry

Jude came to the University of New England as a pre-PA student. After a time, she realized that she wanted the full responsibility of becoming a doctor. She switched her major to biochemistry and loved it. “Chemistry makes sense of the world,” Jude says. Academics again came so readily to her that she had plenty of time to get involved in other areas of life. She worked out in the gym, became a personal trainer, worked as a nanny, and still maintained a social life. Her multi-faceted personality shone brilliantly at UNE.

But she was not – and Jude never claims to be – perfect. In fact, it was a botched lab that ironically led to a dramatic change in her life. “I had to talk to the teacher about this chemistry lab,” Jude says, “and there was another student there who had messed up the same assignment. We had never noticed each other before, and we started talking.” Cesar Viola was a 29-year-old PT student with Brazilian roots. Jude was a 21-year old native German. Both thought the other was 25. He was dark, she was blonde, but their chemistry seemed perfect, and in the course of time the couple married. And as is so often the case, biology soon followed chemistry.

“I remember someone telling me not to wear high heels at graduation,” Jude laughs, “but I waddled across the stage anyway, very hot, very off-balance and very pregnant.” Jude had planned to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. program at another medical school to which she was accepted, but when she learned that she was pregnant, she declined the offer. “My world shifted when I became pregnant,” she says. “I realized that I was more career-driven than I had thought, even though I had run away from that sort of pressure from my parents. I took inventory and decided that no longer mattered so much.”

“My Life Wasn’t About Me”

What did matter was coping with debilitating back pain. The condition had hobbled her for years, which had led her as a freshman to Dr. Doris Newman, a UNECOM alum (and current member of the OMM department), who promptly diagnosed scoliosis and began effective treatment. “No doctor had ever realized before that I had scoliosis,” Jude says, “they don’t routinely screen for it in Germany.” During her pregnancy, Jude’s back pain escalated to a level of excruciation she had never experienced, and only OMM seemed to help. “Osteopathy was a life-saver for me,” she says, “I have seen personally what osteopathic manipulative medicine/treatment can do.”

Shortly after she graduated from UNE, Jude gave birth to her beloved Antonio. And despite her mother’s exasperated wish, Jude’s child did not drive her crazy. Instead, he was a joy and an epiphany. “I realized at that moment that my life wasn’t about me anymore,” Jude muses, “That’s why I’m so excited and happy all the time – I can stop worrying.” She confesses that much of her earlier misbehavior and rebelliousness were her attempt to search for meaning and fulfillment. “Now I don’t have to search anymore,” she says, “I can be happy and free.”

In fact, her pregnancy and delivery had a huge impact on Jude’s direction in life. Her sister-in-law, Dr. Denise Viola, an OBGYN alum from UNECOM ('02), attended her when she gave birth. “Through her, I had the best birthing experience,” says Jude, “ She was so wonderful with me, and her techniques were so effective.” This experience, along with the relief from back pain that she was getting from OMM, made her realize that she wanted to practice osteopathic medicine, too. Jude applied to the University, and with her sunny disposition, stellar academic record, and multi-talented personality, was readily accepted. She was thrilled.  

“I Like My Life Full”

At UNECOM, Jude is known for her ready acquisition of material, her ability to teach fellow classmates thorny concepts, and her remarkable capacity to plunge into a wide range of activities with good cheer and obvious talent. She helps dissect for Dr. Willard, is co-president of the local chapter of the National Osteopathic Women Physicians’ Association (NOWPA), and is secretary of the Medical Students for Choice (MSFC) club. “I like my life full,” she says, “so long as those activities are things I love.”

Jude still works as a personal trainer, does yoga for relaxation and balance, and in the meat-grinder of medical school tries to make time to keep physically fit. Prior to med school, she competed in the NPC Maine Figure Championships, and placed first in the state. Looking for a challenge while in school, she competed in the OCB Maine Championships last fall, placing second, and she also placed fourth in a Figure Pro-Qualifier in New Hampshire. The competition puts a premium on muscle tone and ideal appearance rather than the often grotesque bulk of body-building events.

Some may wonder how she finds time to stay active. Having a child has helped her to prioritize, Jude declares, so that she only spends time on things that seem most important to her. And the most important thing to her these days is her family: her husband Cesar, and Antonio, who is now 2 and ½ years old. They make it a priority to spend time together and take time to do fun things, no matter what Jude’s school schedule is like. They play a lot, go to the Children’s Museum frequently, and spend as much time outside as possible. “You shouldn’t defer life until after medical school,” Jude says reflectively, “this is life.”

While she keeps personally fit and focused on her family, Jude does not forget to serve others. She has organized review sessions for first year students, arranged for speakers to visit UNECOM to address a variety of topics, and works as program coordinator for the Portland Firefighters’ Burn Camp each February, where injured children are brought to participate in winter activities. “The burn camp is the most fun I have all year,” Jude says. “The most rewarding thing is to see the kids carefree and happy – having fun – there are no words to describe that feeling.”

A Perfect Stillness

Many people are surprised when they learn that Jude is a native German who came to the United States only 9 years ago. She speaks accent-free English and uses colloquialisms properly. But Jude has not forgotten her past, and it has undoubtedly shaped who she is today. Her parents remain disappointed that she is not pursuing a career in government, Jude says, but they also admire how she has built her life around her own priorities and values. Jude, for her part, has never been happier.

“I want to go into neuromuscular medicine,” she says. “I think that as osteopaths we have these incredible techniques and treatment approaches that make us unique and I want to use them.” Jude tries to stay well-balanced personally, making it a goal for each facet of her life to complement the others. “I have a wonderful family,” she says, “I do things that I love, and I have found my calling in osteopathic medicine. By making my life about others, I have found a perfect stillness within me that allows me to live in harmony with myself and everything around me.”  

She is, in that sense, a jewel from Pforzheim.

- Steve Smith, RSAS