DukeMed Alumni News
Summer 2008

Alumni Mentor
Student's Cold Call Leads to Special Friendship

When Serena Tan, MD’08, contacted
Kurt Newman, MD’78, about shadowing him in his clinic a few hours a week, neither had any idea it would turn into something more. Over the course of a year, not only did the Duke medical student pick up valuable clinical skills that would prepare her for a career in pediatric surgery, but she also gained a mentor and friend for life.

Tan, who is from Singapore, first reached
out to Newman in 2006, after learning she would spend her third year of medical school completing a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Though excited about the research opportunity, Tan was determined to find a way to practice her clinical skills throughout the year as well.

At the suggestion of Michael Skinner, MD, HS’84-’91, then chair of Duke’s Division of
Pediatric Surgery, she gave Newman, a School of Medicine alumnus and pediatric surgeon in Washington, D.C., a call.

“At the end of my second year I knew I was interested in pediatric surgery,” Tan says. “Dr. Newman was very welcoming and set up a regular time for me to meet with him.”

Most of Tan’s time that year was devoted to her research on congenital heart defects at the NIH. However, every Monday morning she arrived early at Children’s National Medical Center, ready to spend the next few hours observing Newman, surgeon-in-chief and executive director of the Joseph E. Robert Jr. Center for Surgical Care, as he met with children and families in clinic. Eventually she began taking patients’ medical histories, and Newman would quiz her on what she had learned.

“She began doing things independently,” Newman says, including one day when the two of them saw several children with hernias. “She was blown away by the variety in the types of hernia children can have,” he says. “She went home, looked it up, and
came back with a sophisticated report.”

Tan says one of the most surprising lessons she learned from Newman was that surgical skills aren’t the primary measure of a good pediatric surgeon. Instead it’s the connections made with families in clinic.

“He said a huge part is talking to the parents—whether you’re educating them, reassuring them, or finding out their anxieties,” Tan says. “I also saw how he would speak directly to the children…the warmth of the interaction.”

Although he was thrilled to have Tan in clinic each week, Newman admits he had some concerns initially. “I wasn’t sure what to expect,” he says. “Teaching at times can be a distraction with a busy clinic, but with Serena it was always a plus. It was so enjoyable.”

Tan says having dinner once with Newman and his family at his home reassured her that it is possible for surgeons to balance life outside of work.

“I definitely have a better idea now of what the life of a pediatric surgeon is like,” she says.

Newman says working with Tan taught him a few lessons as well. “I learned a tremendous amount about what’s going on at Duke.” He adds: “When you finish (your degree), you have it set in your mind what Duke is like until you have an experience like this. I was able to see the quality of the current students and their experiences.”

After Tan finished her fellowship and left Washington, she still felt there was more to learn from Newman. So last fall during her fourth year, she completed a surgery rotation at Children’s National Medical Center.

“I wanted to kind of make (the experience) complete by working with him in the operating room.”

Today Tan and Newman remain in touch, mostly by e-mail. On Match Day this year Newman was one of the first people Tan contacted to share news of her assignment to a general surgery residency at Stanford, and Newman says he looks forward to hearing more about Tan’s career achievements in the future.

Tan adds: “I really encourage people to seek out opportunities like this. It’s added so much to my education. We will be in touch for the rest of our careers.”