\n\t\t\t\tJohn Porter, second from left, with other members of Global Brigades providing clinical care to villagers in Nicaragua.\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nRaised in southwest Ohio (Dayton), Porter loved sports, excelling at soccer from an early age. His interest in medicine began more casually, through family connections. \u201cI have two aunts who are doctors\u2014one at the Cleveland Clinic and one at Bellevue Hospital in New York City,\u201d he says. \u201cGrowing up, I\u2019d always looked up to them but only had a vague understanding of what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n
He got more intrigued after they invited him to shadow them for a weekend each while he was in high school. \u201cGoing into college, I was leaning towards medicine, but it wasn\u2019t until the spring of my sophomore year at the University of Dayton that I knew for sure,\u201d says Porter.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when he got involved with Global Brigades\u2014an international student-led organization that works to improve the health and economic development of rural communities in Central America and West Africa. While at U Dayton, Porter led trips to Honduras and Nicaragua (twice) to help set up medical clinics and make public health improvements (like installing new sanitation units) for people living in remote villages.<\/p>\n
At the medical clinics, students served a variety of roles\u2014from shadowing the doctors, to checking in patients, to working in the pharmacy. \u201cSeeing how the doctors interacted with patients and the impact they had, and how grateful people were to receive care left a big impression on me,\u201d Porter recalls. \u201cAnd even though our time with the communities was limited, it was nice to know we were part of a bigger movement to help them become self-sustaining.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experiences encouraged him to seek other opportunities. Porter served as an administrative office volunteer at a local free clinic, and spent a summer researching sexually transmitted infections (STIs)\u2014for a physician he\u2019d met in Honduras\u2014at Dayton\u2019s public health department, a project that helped streamline care for patients with STIs.<\/p>\n
Porter graduated from college in 2015 with a bachelor\u2019s in psychology\/pre-med and a minor in medical humanities. During his gap year, he volunteered at Hospice of Dayton as an ambassador and worked as a substitute teacher at local middle and high schools to earn money, in addition to hiking the AT and going through the medical school application and interviewing process.<\/p>\n
Prior to his trek, he had never been in New England and was struck by the rugged beauty of the region. \u201cGoing through the White Mountains, which feature the longest stretch above tree line on the whole trail, was one of my favorite parts of the trip,\u201d says Porter.<\/p>\n
Another was hiking through the trail towns of Hanover and nearby Norwich, VT. \u201cBoth towns have extensive trail angel networks of people who are willing to actually host hikers in their homes, which is incredibly generous of them,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen I came through the area, I stayed in Norwich with Betsy Maislen, an advanced practice registered nurse at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, who is a really cool person.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few years ago, her son thru-hiked the AT and got a blister in Tennessee that became badly infected,\u201d says Porter. \u201cA trail angel family \u2018adopted\u2019 he and his buddy for a week or so, so he could heal up and continue with the hike. Betsy was so touched by their kindness she now hosts and feeds hikers free of charge. Her only request is that they pay the kindness forward once more and perpetuate the chain.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Porter returned to Hanover for his interview at Geisel, it was a bit like coming home. With its access to many outdoor activities, and its collaborative learning environment, which emphasizes a healthy work-life balance, Dartmouth was definitely high on his list.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I felt the strong sense of community here, from the students, the professors, and people like Betsy, I knew this was where I wanted to spend the next four years,\u201d says Porter. \u201cIt\u2019s a great place to be a medical student.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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