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<\/a>Jeffrey Otte<\/p><\/div>\n
Jeff Otte is one of seven children, who grew up on a pig and dairy farm in Maria Stein, Ohio. The fifth child of a nurse and a farmer, Otte wrestled with whether to be a farmer or become a doctor. His curiosity in the sciences pushed him to pursue a career in medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoyed human anatomy, biology and later medicine. I wanted to use my skills to help the greatest number of people,\u201d said Otte, who will begin a five-year residency in orthopaedic surgery at Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus, Ohio. \u201cThere is no other specialty in which you can help someone through the use of hammers, drills and chisels with successful patient outcomes. You can drastically improve the quality of someone\u2019s life through nonsurgical and surgical measures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Otte credits his supportive family with his success. \u201cMy family is my biggest support and my biggest asset,\u201d said Otte, who has received numerous honors and awards and has been a student leader. \u201cI am very blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and his siblings worked on the farm growing up. They showed pigs at the county fair. Otte remembers taking blood from wiggling, squirming pigs for the county fair drug test. At the March 15 Match Day, the day medical students nationwide learn where they are heading as medical doctors to receive advanced clinical training in a residency program, 16 family members and his girlfriend surprised him to show their support.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents really pushed us to work hard at everything we did, whether it was school, sports or work,\u201d said Otte, whose great-great grandfather immigrated to the United States in the 1870s and established the family farm in Maria Stein. His parents\u2019 farm has been in the family for more than 80 years. Otte and two of his brothers grew up in the same bedroom that his father shared with his brothers. Aunts, uncles and cousins live within close proximity to their farm. The Otte family has dubbed the area \u201cOtteville.\u201d<\/p>\n
Otte wants to return to Maria Stein after his residency and a fellowship to open an orthopaedic practice. \u201cWhen I\u2019m all done with my training, I\u2019d like to move back to Maria Stein to Otteville,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a rural area, and they need orthopaedic surgeons.\u201d<\/p>\n
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From motherhood to medical school<\/strong><\/p>\n Kathleen Oxner<\/p><\/div>\n As a child, Kathleen \u201cKit\u201d Oxner, 41, a nontraditional medical student, read her older sister\u2019s nursing textbooks and magazines. She wanted to become a physician, but a challenging high school chemistry class thwarted her dream.<\/p>\n After high school, she married her husband, Steve, and had two children, Alex and Megan. She was working and taking college courses. But Alex was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at 2-1\/2 years old. She dropped her classes to care for Alex, who is now a psychology major at Wright State.<\/p>\n As her children got older, she began taking college classes again at Wright State. Hesitant to enroll in a chemistry course because of her high school experience, she overcame her fear and excelled in the course. Her professor, David Dolson, Ph.D., associate professor and assistant chair of chemistry, encouraged her to become a premed major. Her husband, who graduated from Wright State in 1993, also encouraged her.<\/p>\n \u201cMy children were teens and essentially self-sufficient when I started medical school,\u201d said Oxner, who is from Springfield, Ohio, and will graduate the same weekend that her daughter graduates from Shawnee High School. \u201cHaving a child with a chronic illness and an aging mother and mother-in-law has increased my exposure to the medical community from the patient side. It also influences how I relate to my patients.\u201d<\/p>\n After her three-year residency program in internal medicine at Kettering Medical Center, she would like to return to her hometown of Springfield and work with aging adults. In her clinical rotations, she has seen many older adults who have other diseases in addition to an initial diagnosis. For example, some adults with diabetes may also have high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney failure.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen patients don\u2019t go to the doctor on a regular basis, maintaining their health can be difficult. Some people weren\u2019t raised to go to the doctor. Others can\u2019t afford it,\u201d said Oxner, who also was vice president of the WSU chapter of the American Medical Women\u2019s Association (AMWA) during her second year. \u201cSpringfield has an aging population and needs more physicians who can provide basic primary care. I am looking forward to doing meaningful work.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From the inner city to medical school<\/strong><\/p>\n Daisy Conduah<\/p><\/div>\n As a child, Daisy Conduah realized that most people in her Harlem neighborhood did not have medical care. Many of her neighbors were immigrants or didn\u2019t have jobs that provided health insurance. She was fortunate. Her mother, who works as a hotel housekeeper at a Manhattan hotel, had health insurance.<\/p>\n \u201cI would ultimately like to go back to Harlem to serve people who need health care but can\u2019t access it,\u201d said Conduah, who spent hours as a child and teen reading medical books in the public library. \u201cI also would like to mentor students from backgrounds similar to mine. I want them to know that they can become doctors. It is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Before she returns to Harlem, Conduah will spend six years in a U.S. Army residency program. An Army Health Professions Scholarship helped Conduah pay for medical school. \u201cI also joined the Army because I wanted to serve the people who have put their lives on the line for our country,\u201d said Conduah, who will be commissioned a captain on the morning of May 24. \u201cIt\u2019s a great honor to serve these soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n She is looking forward to her general surgery residency at the NCC-Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Walter Reed is known for its research and innovation. She wants to do a fellowship in surgical oncology.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operating room is an exciting place to be,\u201d said Conduah, who was an active member of the WSU chapter of the Student National Medical Association and the Boonshoft International Health Program. \u201cSurgery is a blending of medical and surgical intervention, which can help to alleviate symptoms or prolong someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n She marvels at how the body\u2019s organs are made and fit together. \u201cIt is amazing to open up the human body, fix things and put it back together,\u201d said Conduah, who credits her mother with instilling a love for people. \u201cI look forward to the challenges that lie ahead. I know surgery will be a rewarding field.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All in the family<\/strong><\/p>\n Ryan Hamilton<\/p><\/div>\n Ryan Hamilton will be the second of three siblings from Beavercreek, Ohio, to earn their medical degrees from Wright State University.<\/p>\n His older sister, Laura Hamilton, graduated in 2009 and is starting a pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital in Columbus. His younger sister, Sarah, finished her second year of medical school and will graduate in 2015. Laura\u2019s husband, Tim Rust, also is a 2009 graduate of the medical school.<\/p>\n Having an older sister in the same medical school had its benefits. She gave him advice and answered his questions. \u201cNow I am the one giving advice to my younger sister,\u201d he said admitting that there is some friendly, joking competition.<\/p>\n Hamilton credits his parents with instilling their work ethic in him and his sisters. His father, Steve Hamilton, D.D.S., is a dentist in Fairborn, and his mother, Linda, manages the dental office. \u201cFrom a really young age, our parents demanded our best in school,\u201d said Hamilton, who will begin a five-year residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Toledo. \u201cEverything else came second to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Hamilton also credits Carroll High School in Dayton with providing a great science foundation \u201cThe class in high school paved the way,\u201d said Hamilton, who also earned both an undergraduate degree in biology and a master\u2019s degree in anatomy from Wright State. \u201cIt was a hard class but it prepared us for college and medical school.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The graduating class included 106 medical students. Each student\u2019s journey into medical school is unique. Here are just a few. 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