The art of medicine

Wright State University alum John Corker ’14, M.D., self-effacingly claims he chose to pursue medicine as a profession because he wasn’t smart enough to be an engineer.

“I started in engineering in college and found out very quickly that the science classes were up my alley, but my brain didn’t function as an engineer’s did,” he recalled. “And one of the things that really stuck with me from my time in Jesuit high school was a quote that said, ‘The place to which we are called lies at the intersection of the world’s deep hunger and our deep gladness.’”

Corker began to reassess his future. After working at a free clinic while attending the University of Notre Dame and shadowing emergency physicians, he realized he wanted to help patients at the bedside rather than from the tech or industry side of medicine.

“That led me to apply to medical school two years after I graduated from college, and the rest is history,” he said.

Corker was drawn to the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine because of its strong culture of support, teamwork and positivity.

As a medical student, Corker and several classmates started the award-winning medical talk show “Radio Rounds.” Featured on WYSO 91.3FM and airing to an international audience online from 2009 to 2018, archived podcasts are available for free on Spotify and at radiorounds.org.

“Our tagline was ‘Today’s stories from tomorrow’s doctors,” he said. “We really felt like in the media landscape, medical students’ voice wasn’t one that was typically featured, and we wanted to fill that void.”

After graduating from Wright State, Corker completed his emergency medicine residency training in one of the busiest emergency departments in the United States at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

Corker was drawn to trhe Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine because of its strong culture of support, teamwork and positivity.

He is now a partner with Emergency Medicine Specialists, an independent, physician-owned practice serving 12 Kettering Health Network emergency departments in the region. He also operates his own expert witness and healthcare consulting business.

Corker is committed to providing competent, compassionate care for his patients and strengthening humanism and empathy in the practice of medicine.

“I get a chance to work with people who are having a very bad day,” he said. “My entire mission in my career is to make everybody’s bad day a little less bad than it was before they came to see me.”

Corker loves working with medical students and residents in a variety of capacities. He has received numerous state and national awards, including recognition by the national Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association as one of the top “25 under 45” Influencers in Emergency Medicine. However, he was perhaps most proud last year when he received the inaugural Physician Mentor Award from the Ohio State Medical Association’s Medical Student Section.

One more award he can now place on his mantle is the 2026 Boonshoft School of Medicine Outstanding Alumnus Award.

“Receiving this award means the world to me,” said Corker. “As I’ve mentioned before to anyone who will listen, I’m Wright State’s biggest fan. And to be recognized in this way is something that I’ll cherish forever.”

Wright State has positively impacted Corker in so many ways, he said, including meeting some of his best friends and mentors. Most importantly, he said the Boonshoft School of Medicine invests significant time and resources in developing both the art and science of medicine in its graduates.

“In some ways, the art of medicine is being lost. Curricula are so crowded and bloated, it’s hard to really balance both the art and science,” Corker said. “But when we come to creating great physicians or healers, I think both are really important, and I think that investment that Wright State made in addressing both equally in their development has been the biggest influence on my career.”

Corker has no doubts about the career path he chose.

“In my opinion, there’s no greater profession in the history of humankind than that of a physician and a healer,” he said, “and taking great pride in being a professional and constantly learning and constantly adapting to the changing world and the changing knowledge base that we employ in medicine is critically important to continue to be a professional, which is what we promise for our patients when they entrust their health to us.”