Dr. Lucy Balian Rorke-Adams
Medical Adviser
City: Moorestown, NJ
Date of Graduation from Medical School: 1957
Medical School Graduated From: University of Minnesota
Residency Location: Philadelphia General Hospital
Specialty: Pathology – Neuropathology
What factors influenced your decision to be a physician?
I was captivated by the idea of becoming a doctor after I read "The Magnificent Obsession," by Lloyd Douglas when I was a sophomore in high school.
Did you have any mentors or influential people in the course of your medical training or career who made an impact on you?
There were many – I was fortunate. Dr. James Dawson, Chairman of pathology; Dr. Cecil Watson, Chairman of Medicine; Dr. Starke R. Hathaway, Clinical psychology; Dr. Lyle French, Neurosurgeon; Dr. Malcolm M. Pearson, my family doctor. Mr. Alvin Prottengeier, my German professor.
Did you experience a defining moment that made you feel you had become a physician?
Yes – the first day of my internship. I was on call and when the phone rang and the nurse told me to come quickly and I realized that I was it.
As you were training to be a physician, what one piece of advice could you not have done without?
Learn everything possible for you never know when the knowledge will be needed.
What advice would you give to medical students graduating in the class of 2007?
Embrace the profession you have chosen – you will be richly rewarded – intellectually and spiritually you will be challenged daily to do your best for those who come under your care.
What is the most significant medical innovation you experienced in your years of practice?
Development of molecular biology/genetics.
Is there one patient, situation or incident that stands out above all others in your career?
Yes, a patient who willed herself to die when she learned her diagnosis. The postmortem uncovered no cause of death at that particular time.
City: Moorestown, NJ
Date of Graduation from Medical School: 1957
Medical School Graduated From: University of Minnesota
Residency Location: Philadelphia General Hospital
Specialty: Pathology – Neuropathology
What factors influenced your decision to be a physician?
I was captivated by the idea of becoming a doctor after I read "The Magnificent Obsession," by Lloyd Douglas when I was a sophomore in high school.
Did you have any mentors or influential people in the course of your medical training or career who made an impact on you?
There were many – I was fortunate. Dr. James Dawson, Chairman of pathology; Dr. Cecil Watson, Chairman of Medicine; Dr. Starke R. Hathaway, Clinical psychology; Dr. Lyle French, Neurosurgeon; Dr. Malcolm M. Pearson, my family doctor. Mr. Alvin Prottengeier, my German professor.
Did you experience a defining moment that made you feel you had become a physician?
Yes – the first day of my internship. I was on call and when the phone rang and the nurse told me to come quickly and I realized that I was it.
As you were training to be a physician, what one piece of advice could you not have done without?
Learn everything possible for you never know when the knowledge will be needed.
What advice would you give to medical students graduating in the class of 2007?
Embrace the profession you have chosen – you will be richly rewarded – intellectually and spiritually you will be challenged daily to do your best for those who come under your care.
What is the most significant medical innovation you experienced in your years of practice?
Development of molecular biology/genetics.
Is there one patient, situation or incident that stands out above all others in your career?
Yes, a patient who willed herself to die when she learned her diagnosis. The postmortem uncovered no cause of death at that particular time.
