Two words: Organic chemistry. Many people know it as “The Course” in college that either propels you into your choice of a professional healthcare field, or seemingly snatches any opportunity you might have in pursuing that entire dream. It’s “The Weed out” of all “weed out” courses in undergraduate studies, particularly for those notoriously hopeful Pre-Med students. And in the fall semester of 1997 at West Virginia University, I was enrolled in this intimidating, colossal, and somewhat mythical college course.
The professor for the semester (and the entire year for those who survived the first semester) was Dr. John Penn. Dr. Penn was in his 40’s with a full, thick head of dark yet graying hair. He was taller than most college professors, being over 6 feet, and was built more like a tight end on the university football team rather than the prototypical chemistry professor. He wore thin-framed glasses and a mustache, and he had a full baritone voice in the classroom. All in all, he was intimidating as hell!
At the time, I was very uncertain about what I was planning to pursue as a degree, and even less sure about what career I might work towards. I started my freshman year in engineering, mainly because I was good at math in high school and was told engineers were good at math. Other than drinking lots of beer with my engineering comrades, I didn’t enjoy much about studying engineering. So after one semester I decided to make a change. I decided pre-Pharmacy was where I was best suited, largely because the Pharmacist in my hometown was a nice, pleasant guy who seemed to do well financially and liked his job. In reality, I was clueless about where I was headed, and into my dazed and confused world stepped Dr. Penn.
Dr. Penn, despite being intimidating, was very personable and even approachable for his students. If a student had a genuine question, he never belittled them; he always offered his time before or after class to help if needed. During the semester, I stopped by his office a few times to get clarity about some minutiae that only a student seeking an A would want answers to (yes, I know, I’ve always been a nerd). After helping clear up the topic in question, he usually asked questions to get to know me. And shortly into my second semester, he asked me why I was going into pharmacy. “Was it because you love pharmacy or have a family business to run?” he asked. Then he questioned if I’d ever considered research or medicine as a career. I told him I never had thought of becoming a doctor, to which he simply asked, “Why?”
He wasn’t asking and saying this as a way to knock pharmacy, but was encouraging me not to put limits on what I could accomplish. He wanted me to understand that with work and passion, what I could accomplish was full of possibilities. His gesture of confidence in me and my abilities made a huge impact at the time. Over the following few weeks, I began volunteering in the Emergency Department at WVU Hospitals. I loved it. Shortly thereafter I decided to pursue medicine, and the rest, as they say, is history.
I’ve often thought of Dr. Penn over the years, and more and more I have recognized his encouraging remarks and expression of confidence in me as one of the driving forces that led me to my career as an Otolaryngologist. I’ve wanted to reach out to him and tell him thank you but never got around to it. Recently some friends and I were talking about our initial college majors and/or what career we thought we’d go into and the circumstance or people that made a major impact on where we had ended up. It was during this discussion that I decided to finally look up my old college professor and let him know I appreciated him.
Searching him online, I was struck by the sad news of his passing 9 months earlier. It stung me more than I thought it would, chiefly because I was sad I never got to express my gratitude to him. It was almost like he saw through me back then; seeing the kid with little self confidence who needed someone to believe in him. While my parents (and others) were always supporting and encouraging me, I doubted myself in many ways because I was “just from a small town in West Virginia.” To have a professor at the university do it, well, was the inspiration and conviction I needed to fully believe in myself and pursue excellence. And that, is a sign of a great teacher.
I have since taken his encouraging words and hopefully can share them with others, and in doing so, I hope the student can make the teacher proud. Thank you, Dr. Penn.
