{"id":6787,"date":"2016-05-04T15:50:46","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T19:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=6787"},"modified":"2016-05-18T09:30:58","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T13:30:58","slug":"student-spotlight-kevin-dore-working-toward-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2016\/student-spotlight-kevin-dore-working-toward-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight – Kevin Dor\u00e9: Working Toward Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first things you notice about first-year Geisel student Kevin Dor\u00e9 is his high energy level, which is not frenetic, but cheerfully enthusiastic, so much so that one of his anatomy lab professors asked him if he drinks too much coffee. Dore\u2019s reply, \u201cNo, this is the way I am. I love what I\u2019m doing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to medical school, Dor\u00e9, a self-described optimist, spent two years as junior high school science teacher in an infamous and devastatingly poor Chicago neighborhood. As the son of a teacher, he learned early the important role of education\u2014without an education it is difficult to move your life forward his mother advised. After college he took a teaching job, arriving at an Avalon Park school via Teach for America, which gives recent college graduates an opportunity to become influential educators.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an unbelievable experience,\u201d he says, \u201cand the most difficult and rewarding thing I\u2019ve done so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appalled by the declining quality of Chicago\u2019s poor inner-city schools where some eighth-graders couldn\u2019t read or do simple math, Dor\u00e9 wanted to make an immediate difference. But he was also keenly aware of the \u2018big picture\u2019 issue of how education is evolving against the cultural backdrop of poverty.<\/p>\n

All of his students were receiving either a free or reduced-cost lunch; many ate breakfast at the school, and many had parents in jail. The school\u2019s neighborhood was rife with gang violence with shootings and a murder near the school. Living in an unstable environment with daily threats to personal safety often results in emotional and social instability as well as academic decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn my first day when I asked a student to sit down, and she threw her backpack at me,\u201d Dor\u00e9 recalls. \u201cI also had students who in anger threw desks against the wall\u2014things you don\u2019t expect in a traditional classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing high levels of anger and distrust, Dor\u00e9 persevered because of his belief in the power of education and his desire to instill a love of learning in his students. He believed in them and provided social support by coaching their basketball team, often driving several of the boys home from practice keeping them safe from gang violence. Over time, his students put their faith and trust in Dor\u00e9, developing mutually deep relationships. And through his mentorship, along with their hard work, many of his students tested above their grade level in science.
\n\u201cIt was rewarding when they tested at the high school level,\u201d Dor\u00e9 says. \u201cBut for me it wasn\u2019t about the grades, it was about instilling in them a passion for science\u2014my goal was to get them interested in science as a career.\u201d<\/p>\n

What really convinced me to pursue medicine are the untenable health issues prevalent in low-income communities...\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

- Kevin Dor\u00e9 '19<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Given his love of teaching, Dor\u00e9 says his decision to become a physician was circuitous. \u201cI love teaching and could have continued,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat really convinced me to pursue medicine are the untenable health issues prevalent in low-income communities\u2014a few of my students had type 2 diabetes that wasn\u2019t well managed and the school would serve pretzels and chocolate milk for breakfast. I couldn\u2019t imagine living like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This confluence of education and health, coupled with a desire to change both systems, led him to the Geisel School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a huge intersection between education and health outcomes,\u201d the altruistic Dor\u00e9 says, \u201cand that\u2019s something I\u2019m passionate about\u2014I want to work with individual patients while also working on this broader issue and Dartmouth is the perfect place to train for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is especially enthusiastic about Geisel\u2019s new healthcare delivery science course. \u201cIn this course we are exploring the big picture issues that I\u2019m interested in,\u201d he explains. The course challenges students to analyze and develop innovative health care delivery policies in an effort to improve outcomes and lower costs. \u201cThe potential application of these ideas to health systems that serve low-income communities has been particularly inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The appealing thing about Dartmouth, he notes, is the true diversity of its community and its lively mix of different perspectives students bring to healthcare issues. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons I love Dartmouth so much. I feel that someone like me really fits in here,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"A
A drawing by one\u00a0of Dor\u00e9's former students\u00a0shows his lasting impact.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Equally motivated by his former students, Dor\u00e9 says, \u201cThey drive me everyday; I know I can use this opportunity that has been granted to me to make myself better, and in turn help others like them to make education and health care better in communities like those on the south side of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachable moments are not always obvious, but Dor\u00e9 has had at least one such moment. \u201cThe other day, a teacher from Avalon Park sent me a photo of a drawing one of my former students created in art class\u2014the image was of a young woman \u2018reaching for my goal to become a doctor and go to Dartmouth.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When thinking about the power and influence of an institution such as Dartmouth\u2019s Geisel School of Medicine, and how he can use his experience to make a difference in the world Dor\u00e9 says, \u201cI don\u2019t think this could happen anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Motivated by the lack of healthcare in the poor Chicago community where Kevin Dor\u00e9 ’19 taught junior high school science, he decided to become a doctor in order to change both educational opportunities and healthcare for the poor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[712,409,714,257,713],"class_list":["post-6787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-kevin-dore","tag-medical-student","tag-science","tag-student-spotlight","tag-teaching","author-12"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/dore-sisters.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4r3h1-1Lt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6787"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6807,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6787\/revisions\/6807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}