Northwestern Memorial News Blog

There are many characteristics that symbolize a physician, but no tangible item distinguishes a doctor more than their white coat. On Tuesday, May 8, six young students from Westinghouse College Prep on Chicago’s west side received honorary white coats at the Northwestern Medicine® Scholars Program induction ceremony.

As an oncology nurse for the past two years, I have been witness to many life changing moments.  Some of the moments are full of heart break, loss, and desperation, while others have brought joy, laughter, and awe.  Often times, all these emotions can occur in a single 12 hour shift and leave my coworkers and I wanting to do and give more.

To help patients battling cancer and honor our patients, we hosted our first-ever “Make the Cut” event on Sunday, May 6.  More than 60 hair donors participated, allowing us to collect over 130 ponytails! All of the hair will benefit Beautiful Lengths, a campaign created through the partnership of Pantene and the American Cancer Society,  to generate free, real-hair wigs for women who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy treatments. The American Cancer Society distributes the wigs to cancer patients across the country- many right here at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Students at Westinghouse College Prep on Chicago’s west side recently had the opportunity to expand their knowledge beyond their science books. The students, who are part of the Northwestern Medicine® Scholars Program, experienced their first distance learning lesson as they watched Nathaniel Soper, MD, chair of the department of surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and his team perform a laparoscopic gallbladder removal via live broadcast. The Scholars Program is part of Northwestern’s longstanding commitment to the community, and is designed to offer students a head start in careers in medicine through live surgery broadcasts, mentoring, lectures, tours and other hands-on learning experiences.

For more than 150 years, Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s longstanding commitment to serve the healthcare needs of Chicago and our surrounding community has been a hallmark of the organization. The partnerships and initiatives created have successfully improved health outcomes in our neighborhoods by bringing efficiency to health care access and broadening the scope of health education programming. As a physician and administrative leader of the organization, it is rewarding to be an extension of Northwestern Memorial’s legacy of service to our community.

Throughout my tenure at Northwestern, I have had the privilege of working with our staff as well as various partner organizations to develop and implement programs and initiatives that have greatly impacted the Chicagoland area and the world. Four of these key initiatives include: the Diabetes Collaborative, asset donation, the Medical Explorers program and Chicago Cares Serve-a-Thon.

On February 13, we shared an update from Dr. Rahul Khare who was volunteering in Haiti to teach emergency medicine. Along with teaching medical students the art of emergency medicine, Khare and his team also helped Justinian University Hospital in Cap Haitien learn how to best utilize a newly constructed critical care unit (CCU). While a CCU is a familiar site at American hospitals, it’s a new concept to the Haitians. Below are some reflections on the trip from Dr. Khare, who returned to Chicago last week: