University of New England

Nexus
Changing the World through Medicine

by Sarah Day

Not everyone is born with the passion to make a diff erence in the world. Once in a while, someone comes along with the desire to give back to those in need. Sidney Callahan, a fourth-year medical student in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, is such a person – she looks to change and give back to the world through medicine, which she describes as “the perfect way to meld science and the humanities.”

As engineers, Callahan’s parents were probably not surprised their daughter had an affi nity for science and math early on. But what these two people from a small town in South Dakota didn’t anticipate was their daughter’s strong curiosity about the world. During the family’s years living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a city with strong ethnic infl uences, Callahan was often the only “white kid” at church or parties. “I didn’t necessarily feel diff erent,” she explained. “I never realized that probably other kids never had the sort of multicultural infl uences when they were younger.”

It was during high school when she was awarded a scholarship to a summer program at the Phillips Academy in Andover that Callahan’s eyes were really opened. Studying with international students from dozens of countries, Callahan began to realize that she didn’t know anything about the world, but wanted to see and do more. This interest manifested itself in an anthropology degree from the University of New Hampshire, and her participation in an exchange program to Kenya in 1994 through the School of International Training at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Kenya - Just the Beginning
Realizing that her trip to Kenya was just the beginning, Callahan began to travel to places all over the world, including Sydney, Australia, Cannes, France and Th ailand, where she taught English to high school students. It was there she decided she wanted to do more with her life. “It started feeling very hedonistic…I didn’t have much meaning in my life so I came back to the states.”

With an analytical mind perfect for science, and a curiosity for people and their cultures, for Sidney, medicine was the perfect way to best use the skills she had to serve others; to give back while traveling the world. After her return to the states, she enrolled in the joint acceptance program with UNECOM in the post-baccalaureate premedical program at Tufts University, the fi rst student to take advantage of the program. Her best friend had introduced her to the osteopathic form of medicine, and after devouring every book on the subject Callahan recognized it as “an approach to healthcare more in line with my thinking. I’ve been kind of the ‘go down the road less traveled’ kind of person…and [allopathic medicine] seemed like selling out to the man.”

Th is past year Callahan was granted a fellowship at UNECOM, which allowed her to learn and grow as an osteopathic medical student as she worked as a teacher’s assistant, shadowed doctors and saw patients in the clinics. Th e experience has even made her think about becoming a professor one day, though the future is still uncharted for her. Callahan’s anthropology background came into play when she was named president of the U.S. chapter of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations this year. With her strong belief that doctors must become more involved with global health issues, Callahan has been able to utilize the organization as a way to spread this message to students throughout the country. Th e organization, which includes participants from 88 countries, teaches medical students to become involved eff ectively with disasters, and off ers medical students a comprehensive introduction to global health studies in order to empower them with a sense of social responsibility both locally and nationally. “Medical students have the obligation to inform themselves about the larger global healthcare crisis,” Callahan stresses. “IFMSA teaches students to start becoming the leaders they will be later, while still learning.”

Global Health Care Crisis
According to Callahan, osteopathic medicine is perfect for helping with the global healthcare crisis. While allopathic doctors’ training causes them to rely upon pharmacology and equipment that require electricity, refrigeration and a great deal of money, osteopaths add to that medical training. Additional techniques, such as manipulation, can be done anywhere, anytime and don’t cost a thing. But D.O.s are very much a minority in the medical fi eld and often lack research, resources and fully accredited programs nation-wide.

Callahan hopes to transform the fi eld, beginning with students like those at UNECOM. Osteopathic physicians have the potential to play an important role in the global health economy, she insists, and programs should provide classes and opportunities for students to become involved, starting with UNECOM. “UNE could be a leader in embracing [this]… other osteopathic schools do more and are better.” With strict legal rules governing students’ ability to work overseas, Sidney sees UNE passing up an important opportunity to teach students about the world outside their own communities.

Th rough her involvement with IFMSA and extensive travels, Callahan has acquired a unique insight into healthcare around the world and has brought such vision to UNE. She will be taking next year off to pursue public health at John’s Hopkins University, before returning to fi nish her fi nal year as a med student.

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