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Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
College and major: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., Biochemical Engineering
Likely to do on a free weekend: "Listen to music, spend time with friends, go to the gym, go on road trips, play kickball, go to the beach, continue learning guitar. My goal is to play guitar in the spring 2007 talent show."
Guilty Pleasure: "I see at least four Dave Matthews Band concerts a year and own all of his studio and live albums. I saw him in Chicago, even though we had our huge test at MMS. I'm a huge fan, what can I say? And I saw him over Halloween weekend in Santa Barbara with Tim Reynolds. It was an incredible concert!"
Best Advice from Parents: "I have to respect and love myself if I want other people to love and respect me." |
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Meet Fima Macharet,
Mayo Medical School Class of 2010
Fima Macheret's high expectations of Mayo Medical School were met, and easily exceeded, within days of arriving at Mayo.
One early clinical experience with his physician mentor especially impressed the Cincinnati, Ohio, native who majored in biochemical engineering at University of Southern California, Los Angeles: "I got to watch, and as it turned out, help my faculty mentor hold open an incision while he replaced an intervertebral disk in a patient's back," Fima explains. "The procedure was captivating. But getting to actually participate made me really feel what it was to be a part of the process, a part of the health care team."
Why Mayo Medical School?
Fima has always been interested in understanding how things work, especially the human body, disease, and the intersection of the two. Science and medicine were strong influences in his childhood home. His father, a retired U.S. Air Force flight surgeon who currently has a family practice in Cincinnati, provided one vision of medicine at work in the world. Fima's experience on his high school's nationally ranked Science Bowl team presented a broader view of science. "Science Bowl was really exciting, but it wasn't the whole story for me. I knew I wanted to help people, too." Volunteering in a Ghanaian, West Africa clinic one summer confirmed that feeling.
While the choice to attend medical school seemed a natural fit for Fima, the decision of where to go seemed harder - at first. But the more Fima learned about Mayo Medical School, the more it seemed ideally suited to his learning style and life goals. Explains Fima: "I'm definitely a small numbers guy when it comes to class size, I learned that in college. I just learned so much more in small groups. That, coupled with the tremendous opportunities for clinical experiences and in-depth, expert patient care at Mayo, really made the decision to come to Mayo easy."
What MMS is Really Like
Prior to his arrival at MMS, Fima had an image of a rigidly formal, perhaps even aloof institution. "I guess it's the excellence thing you hear over and over about Mayo. You tend to think in stereotypes, like it can't be that normal or fun," he says. If ever he were tempted to believe those stereotypes, his personal interview in Rochester dispelled them all. His impression after several months of MMS: "There is so much to know - and I like that! I think that the environment at Mayo is constructively challenging, and that all the staff are really pulling for us. They bend over backward to make sure we have everything we need to do our best."
Despite the demanding course work, there is still time for recreational sports, music, travel to the Twin Cities or other urban areas, and meals with classmates. For the first few months of medical school, Fima's condominium was a premium meal venue, largely due to the fabulous cooking, care and humor of his 80-year-old Russian grandmother. She drove with Fima's father and uncle from Brooklyn, N.Y., in August to help Fima settle in Rochester. "Before she went back home she taught me how to make all this great food - like borscht and chicken noodle soup, and I'm really happy about that," he says. "I videotaped her doing it, so I know I'll remember."
In terms of course work, Fima especially likes the camaraderie with classmates that the new MMS curriculum fosters. The lack of grades (MMS uses a pass/fail credit system) encourages deep understanding, rather than "brutal competition for a letter grade" as Fima puts it.
What Fima Expects of Mayo
Fima looks to Mayo to prepare him to be at the forefront of clinical and academic medicine throughout his life. He also hopes his affiliation with Mayo will help him develop a global network of committed physicians with whom he can collaborate.
He can envision a residency in ophthalmology or in an ear, nose and throat specialty. Surgery interests him, and training in head and neck cancers is a focus of his surgical interest. In 20 years, Fima hopes to have a surgical practice and post in academic medicine at a large, urban hospital.
And in 50 years?
"Probably I'll be a retired surgeon, a happy high school chemistry teacher, and hopefully, a wise father/grandfather - or something nice like that," Fima says.
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