Dr. Ellen L. Rothman Speaks to MD Program Students
Dr. Ellen L. Rothman, Chief Medical Officer, MLK Jr. Outpatient Center and Professor of Pediatrics visited CDU to speak with the College of Medicine’s new 4-year MD program’s inaugural class.
During her visit she shared excerpts from her book “White Coat: Becoming A Doctor at Harvard Medical School,” which offers a vivid account of her four years at Harvard Medical School.
Students listened attentively as she described the arduous hours and emotional hurdles she overcame in pursuit of a medical degree.
“I think most of us anticipate that is going to be the main outcome of our work as doctors, but what they don’t tell you is the flip side of that, which is the harm that we do,” said Dr. Rothman. “It’s like a two-sided coin, you can’t do good without having the potential for harm there too, and that’s the hard part of medicine.”
As the presentation continued, Dr. Rothman imparted pearls of wisdom to the inaugural class, encouraging them to be humble on their journey.
“One of the greatest things you need to learn from medical school is humility. There’s so much out there that you have to know, and you will never know it, I will never know it,” explained Dr. Rothman. “The most important thing you need to carry with you is to know what you know, and you need to know what you don’t know. You also need to have the humility to ask, look it up, or dig deeper because, in my opinion, that is the mark of an amazing doctor.”