Dr. 瑞秋B. Wagman ’89 was the on-campus special guest of Club Med, an 上学校 group of students who are interested in the medical field. After a tour of campus with one of her favorite teachers, 贝基·皮奇诺，1760年, Wagman shared her college and career path with the students. Her story began way back when she started at GA in Kindergarten, realizing even then that she wanted to be a doctor.

毕业后, Wagman stayed local and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in American 历史 with a minor in Chemistry before attending medical school at what was then Jefferson Medical College.

“我在佐治亚大学的历史老师Mr. [杰克]雷德尔，点燃了我的 对主修历史很感兴趣。. “I really enjoyed literature and languages classes as well, 我学了五年拉丁语和西班牙语. 我想我肯定更偏向左脑!”

After choosing Internal Medicine as her specialty, Wagman realized she had spent a lot of time in Philadelphia and wanted to see something different. 在去西海岸旅行之后, she decided to pursue her subspecialty training in endocrinology, 糖尿病, and metabolism at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, CA.

While she planned to pursue a career as a clinical educator at an academic medical center, she followed her mentor to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, taking her first job at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, IN. “The position was just what I wanted,” Wagman told the group. “我要做临床研究, 与不同的团队合作, 在大学任教, 并且有机会去看病人.”

Throughout her career in the biotechnology industry, Wagman worked at different companies on the West Coast.  目前, 她与两家公司合作, 住友制药美国公司和EnteraBio公司, doing clinical research and bringing products to market that help patients, 不仅仅是在美国, 而且在国际上.

She told Club Med students that the medical field has been very rewarding, 不仅仅是职业上的, 但就我个人而言. “As a doctor you are learning your entire career,” Wagman commented. “You must determine where your lightbulb goes off. 尽可能多地尝试不同的机会.” 

Wagman commented on how different the GA facilities are from when she was a student, 发现当前的是最先进的. “Having these facilities truly helps students learn, Wagman stated. “随着GA学生升入大学水平, they will own a foundation of knowledge that puts them ahead of their peers. This campus, the way it has evolved, is magnificent. It offers a richness to the formative years that can’t be achieved everywhere else.”

GA的成立很早就显示了Wagman的成功. 她仍然发现批判性思维, not accepting an answer at its surface but really delving into the reasoning behind what supports an answer, 有价值的工具. “The virtue of having Harkness tables is that discussion-based learning is promoted here,瓦格曼说. “It fosters the dialogue which is so important in educational pursuits. 它教会你如何维护自己的立场. 你对自己的推理有信心. 这是通用汽车继续表现出色的地方.”

金建娜，25岁, 社团医学生干部, asked Wagman about how she was able to find each different career opportunity. “This is when your network is really helpful,” Wagman replied. “五月be someone here at GA in the alumni network (体育外围app网站) or in the 校友 Office or one of your teachers can help you with opportunities. 永远不要低估人脉的价值. 我很幸运能来到这里.”