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FORT WORTH – Youth who regularly meet with mentors can avoid severe consequences such as being incarcerated, using illegal drugs and drinking alcohol, according to mentoring.org.

Students at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University are trying to make a difference in the lives of Fort Worth fourth-graders by being mentors to them. As mentors in the Academy 4 program, medical students meet with youth once a month during the school year.

Fourth grade is a critical time for these students because it’s when they begin to formulate opinions and become individualistic.

“During this time, this is where their values, their ethics and their morals are being formed,” said John Shearer, Executive Director for Academy 4.  “It’s this sweet spot where we can show up and have a big impact and big influence on the life of a child.” 

The children who end up being incarcerated start turning to drugs and alcohol in fourth grade, said Ric Bonnell, M.D., Director of Service Learning at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. “If you’re going to make a difference, that is the critical period in that kid’s life to do it.” 

“One of the neat things about our medical students is they’re still young enough and energetic enough that these kids are really looking up to them and identifying with them,”Bonnell said.  

Fiza Baloch, MS-1, who was one of the many medical students taking part in Academy 4, said: “It was really important for me to be able to give back and inspire and build a relationship with a fellow student and have the opportunity to every month play games and talk about life topics.” 

If you would like to be an Academy 4 mentor, go to www.academy4.org. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Doctors for America announced that Anand Singh has been accepted as a 2023/24 Copello Health Advocacy Fellowship member.

Singh, a third-year medical student at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, was one 12 leaders chosen to the program, which is open to medical students, residents, practicing physicians and retirees who have a willingness to learn and the desire to make a difference in health advocacy.

Singh, who was recently elected as the 2023-2024 Medical Student Section (MSS) Chair-Elect for the American Medical Association, is passionate about healthcare policy, community health, and mentorship. He is currently a member of the American Medical Association Foundation Board of Directors where he oversees initiatives to improve our nation’s health. He is actively involved in organized medicine at local and national levels, holding several leadership positions with the goal of promoting health equity through advocacy and policy-making.

Through Singh’s experience with health equity research, street medicine, and the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, he has seen health disparities within his own community which require structural change. He aspires to be a physician-advocate who not only positively impacts his patients’ lives but also creates systemic solutions to improve population health.

The Copello Fellows will meet monthly to learn from national experts and each other about advocacy, community organizing, media relations, writing and giving testimony, how to impactfully engage with legislators and more. Each member will also participate in a topic focused area, and attend DFA’s National Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, June 6 – 8, 2024.

FORT WORTH – Roughly one in six youth have obesity in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  

One way to tackle childhood obesity is to introduce and encourage children to experience joyful movement, according to Hannah Smitherman, M.D., Pediatric Clerkship Director at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. 

CC Moss Mural Project 

“If we could just somehow capture that joyful movement and continue that on through adolescence and even into adulthood, I think we would be a healthier community,” Smitherman said. Joyful movement goes beyond exercise and turns it into something fun, achievable and less stressful, she said. 

Recently, second-year medical students at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU spent time with Christene C Moss Elementary School as part of the school’s Service Learning program. While at the CC Moss, medical students participated in the elementary students’ P.E. class. CC Moss Elementary has a minority enrollment rate of 98%. The National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) showed in 2021-2022, children in the lowest income group had the highest rates of obesity (24.1%) while children in the highest income group had the lowest (9.7%). 

Dr. Smitherman said it was beneficial for the medicals students to connect with youth in the Fort Worth community: “This is our future, these are our community members.”

The day I graduated with my PhD, just a few hours after I walked the stage and celebrated with my family, I got a call from my dream job employer. This was a call I had been waiting for. I knew we were going to talk today. My future employer knew today was my doctoral graduation. We scheduled this call two weeks prior. The job was mine. My family and I celebrated it along with my graduation. Long story, short: I didn’t get the job! I was absolutely crushed. What had started out to be one of the best days of my life turned out to be one of the worst!

I’m so negative. No, really! People who “kind of” know me, probably can’t believe that’s true. It’s true! My wife will confirm. At my worst, if left unchecked, I’m a real Debbie Downer. Everything, and everyone, is awful! Graduation day was no different. Though it’s likely stronger in me than most, we, human beings, all have a negativity bias, also known as positive/negative asymmetry. This simply means that we all tend to focus on the negative more than the positive. Psychologist Rick Hanson says that our brains are like Velcro for negative things and Teflon for positive. The “good” stuff slides right off, while the “bad” stuff really sticks with us. I’m sure you know what I am talking about.

Picture this: You’re having a great day, and then bam! You have one particularly negative interaction, and your whole day (or life) is ruined. If someone asks how your day was, you will tell them it’s terrible and overlook all the other relatively positive things you’ve experienced and accomplished. And if you’re expert-level negative like me, you will ruminate, or fume, about that one negative thing for some time to come. On the day of my doctoral graduation, I went from focusing on one of life’s greatest accomplishments to focusing on being jobless, worthless, and hopeless with absolutely zero backup plans (or money). This is the negativity bias at work.

The negative is stickier and louder and automatically influences us more than the positive. While that can certainly lead us in the wrong direction – it did for me after graduation, like it so often does – it’s not inherently bad. It’s likely that this negativity bias has been selected for and evolved over the course of time as a protective mechanism. Good, rewarding, pleasurable stuff doesn’t matter if imminent danger awaits. We need to be aware of threats and learn from our missteps, and the negativity bias helps us with that. And fortunately, there’s still more to this story.

Beyond and to counter the negativity bias, we also have a fading affect bias. Over time, the feelings and emotions that come with negative experiences fade faster than those of positive ones. This means that, over time, many negative things aren’t remembered, perceived, or felt so negatively. In fact, many negatives become positive, or at least, lead to positives, and that’s what sticks around. This is great news for you and me, especially me. With a little bit of time and space, things changed a lot for me. What I didn’t realize in the initial moment of disappointment and fear was that I was going to learn, grow, and gain so much.

First, I learned that I was cared for and loved no matter my external, material achievements, or lack thereof. Family, friends, and colleagues rallied to support me and help me find new paths and opportunities. In fact, the support I received from not getting the job was so much greater, so much more meaningful, than the praise or recognition I have ever been given for any major or minor accomplishment in my life. This reinforces that I am, we are, human beings, not human doings. In the eyes of those who know, love, and care for me, I am so much more than a doer, a striver, an achiever. Yes, I can go, go, go, and get. I can also, and should, go easy, go easy on myself, and get perspective, often, on what really matters. If you are a doer, a striver, an achiever, make some space to go easy, go easy on yourself, and remember what is most important.

Second, I learned about humility. Nothing is guaranteed, and I am not as important, special, or as significant as I can make myself out to be in my head. Rarely am I the most important person in the room. As a healthcare professional you are not the most important person in the room; your patient is. This is all quite relieving. When I am really stressed, I am way too focused on myself and what I think I should have done or how I think things should be. What I am learning is to take the focus off myself and put it sincerely onto someone else. Rumination doesn’t bring out the best in me; service does. If you’re really feeling stressed or pressed for time, it seems so counterintuitive, but I promise it’s just the way things work: focus less on yourself and more on others.

Third, I learned that life goes on. No, really. Life goes on, and so can I. And I did – you can, too. You can. You are. You will. Keep going!

Fourth, I learned to be open. Change is the only constant. Change isn’t what’s hard, it’s the resistance to the change that’s hard. If there’s tension in your life right now, investigate what change is happening and practice living one day, one moment, at a time in that new direction.

Fifth, I learned that happiness, contentment, wellbeing is, in part, about wanting what you have, not having what you want (hat tip to the Buddha for that insight). I wanted that job so bad. There was nothing else, in my closed mind, that I wanted to do. With just a little bit of time and with openness to more information that was always there, I quickly realized that I had painted far too many red flags, green. That job would have been terrible for me. What I had – not what I wanted – was more time to learn, to grow, and to find the place where I needed to be planted. What all do you have right now that you overlook or undervalue because you are too focused on what you think you want and don’t have?

Finally, I learned that I am not in control. The great writer and professor, Joseph Campbell, said, “You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.” This one took the most time. Honestly, I am still working through this one. But it is undoubtedly the most important, the most valuable lesson. Almost three months to the day of getting my PhD, i.e. not getting the job, I started a new job. I started this job. I wish I could tell you how great this job has been for me, but that’s another article altogether. Suffice it to say, this job has not been great because it’s without its challenges, on the contrary. It’s the challenges – the professional, the personal, the relational, even the deeply spiritual ones – that make this job so great. Time, space, perspective, and fading affect have shown me that I wouldn’t have grown if I was planted in that other job. Here, I can grow, and maybe, one day, bloom. Are you ready for the life that is waiting for you? There’s a way forward.

Here’s what I want you to know: I am just starting to really understand what I’ve learned, what I’ve gained, and seen how I’ve grown and how I can still grow. I spent too much time with what I didn’t get and didn’t have, all the negatives, feeling like something had been done to me instead of for me. I missed the lessons, the learnings, the opportunities for growth, and all that I was given and have. And to be clear, this isn’t “toxic positivity”. The negatives are real, they can hurt, they can be challenging, and they must be recognized, felt, and experienced. The negatives are an integral part of what leads us in a better direction if we are actually open to them and not trying to resist or be without them. But the negative cannot be the only focus. Start now, seriously acknowledging your negative experiences. Write them down and leave them be for a while. Give yourself a little time and space. Then come back to them and reflect (write this down, too) on what you’re learning from them, how you’re growing, and what barriers and obstacles have actually been there to point you in new and better directions in life. This is the way of our individual, and collective, evolution. It’s not the way of the animal. It’s the way of the spiritual, the divine, the transcendent. As a helper, healer, or servant leader, this is your job. It’s certainly my job. And I am so glad I finally got here.

Craig Keaton, PhD, LMSW

Burnett School of Medicine at TCU Director of Wellbeing

FORT WORTH – Settling in at a new school can be difficult for children of any age, but for students with disabilities the transition can be more challenging.  

Messiah Douglas, 6, a first-grader at Christene C. Moss Elementary, was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3. Art has been one of the ways he’s acclimated himself to his new school. He enjoys drawing steam engines and coloring most things with his favorite color, blue, even during recess.  

“I like to have free time,” Douglas said. “I’m going to be an engineer. I want to make steam trains.”  

His grandmother, Pamela Thomas, 56, a campus monitor at the elementary school, took the job this Fall to help him transition to his new school. 

“Before him, I knew nothing about autism,” Thomas said. “But I’ve educated myself to get into his world to try to understand him and help him through daily life.” 

When Ric Bonnell, M.D., Director of Service Learning at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, approached Charla Staten, Principal of Christene C. Moss Elementary, about having medical students paint a mural inside the school a year ago she was excited. On the first day of school, the students lit up with joy when they saw the first mural. 

“The kids were super-duper excited and were just like oh my goodness it’s beautiful,” Staten said. “When you tell them who helped to paint them they truly become great TCU frog fans.”  

A year later, the same group of medical students returned to paint new murals alongside first-grade, third-grade and fourth-grade students. It’s all a part of the Service-Learning curriculum at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. The unique curriculum puts medical students into communities to meet patients in their own environments. It also helps the medical students inspire the next generation of students to go into medicine. 

That’s what Burnett’s about, Dr. Bonnell added. 

“Instead of talking to them in a lecture about getting out into the community and doing service learning why not bring them out and do it for real,” Dr. Bonnell said.  

Messiah was excited to meet the medical students and paint. It was all he talked about, according to Principal Staten.  

“Just being able to feel like he has an intricate part in making our school beautiful is going to be such a lasting effect on him,” Staten said.  

As you walk up the hallways of the first and second floors of the elementary school you see messages of empowerment like, ‘Let Your Light Shine,’ ‘Learn Something New Today,’ or ‘I Am Brave I Am Loved I Am Strong.’   

The words in the murals are filled with every color possible. They are surrounded with flowers, friendly-faced animals and there is even a mural with the face of Ms. Opal Lee, a Fort Worth native who helped make Juneteenth a national holiday.  

Alejandra Dominguez, MS-2 at Burnett School of Medicine, joined Messiah’s group to paint one of several murals.  

“He just wanted to paint one color but we got to take him around and paint that same color in different hallways,” Dominguez said. “You can tell that getting a creative outlet like this is something he needs often to get his energy out.” 

This is another way of learning and practicing medicine, Dr. Bonnell added.  

“We have several of our students that are going into neurology and going into pediatrics,” Dr. Bonnell said. “It’s good for them to see those students and see them as kids rather than as patients in the hospital.” 

Christene C. Moss Elementary is in Fort Worth’s Eastland neighborhood. The school’s student body is half Hispanic and half African American, according to Principal Staten. The service-learning activity resonated heavily with Dominguez who is Hispanic and was raised by Cuban parents in Miami, Florida. Growing up, her parents only spoke Spanish at home. She learned to speak English at a school with a similar student body population.   

“I understand their environment and where they’re coming from,” Dominguez said. “I can see how having medical students around me in elementary would’ve impacted me positively.” 

She also helped raise her nephew who has autism. 

“It reminded me a lot of working with him when he was that age,” Dominguez said. “He needed a little bit more instruction but once he has the instruction, he’s able to follow it well and regulate his emotions.” 

As Messiah painted with Dominguez he made, ‘choo-choo,’ noises and told her, “When I get grown, I’m going to drive the engine number nine steam train.” 

Service learning is only a few hours out of the classroom and clinic for medical students, but the impact can have a lasting effect on kids, Thomas added. 

“The children might not ever get a chance to do things like this outside of TCU coming in to help,” Thomas said. “Just giving time back to the community means a lot. I love it.” 

Wellbeing is fundamental to health care that is healthy and caring, especially for an Empathetic Scholar®. However, what is wellbeing and how can you incorporate it in your work and service to others?

What is wellbeing? In short, wellbeing is the many flavors of a life well lived: meaning, purpose, passion, personal growth, connection, relationships, service, quality of life, enjoyment, and happiness, to name a few. How are you doing with each of these? Be honest. What needs more of your attention? What would you like to do better?

Additionally, “wellbeing is a direction not a destination.” Therefore, wellbeing is not about always feeling great, rather pursuing all the things that make you come alive. What makes you come alive, in your work and outside of work? How are you doing with these elements of your life? What needs more attention? What would you like to do better?

All in all, wellbeing, a life well lived, is not always easy, it’s worth it. Take some time (I promise you have it) to reflect on the questions above (empirically, writing is most effective). Then commit yourself to the changes your life is calling you towards. It’s worth it!

Craig Keaton, PhD, LMSW

Burnett School of Medicine at TCU Director of Wellbeing

FORT WORTH – Ashley and Greg Arnold of Dallas, Texas, have made a major gift to establish The Ashley and Greg Arnold Endowment to provide perpetual support for annual operations of the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. This gift also supported Lead On: A Campaign for TCU, the university’s boldest fundraising campaign in its 150-year history.

“On behalf of TCU, I would like to express our deepest appreciation to Ashley and Greg Arnold for this tremendous gift that will bolster the Burnett School of Medicine, including our talented and deserving students, faculty and staff, forever,” Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. said. “The Arnolds are making a profound difference in the life of this university and the future of medicine.”

The Arnolds have backed TCU for many years and have been especially active as parents. Their children include Horned Frogs Jordan Hendrix ’08, Anthony Arnold ’16, Regan Arnold ’18, and Carsen Kunzman, University of Miami ’20.

A member of the TCU Board of Trustees, Greg Arnold is chairman and CEO of TAC – The Arnold Companies, a privately owned family office investment and holding company with a diversified portfolio of investments featuring private and public companies. The company was built on services in petroleum marketing and private aviation, growing to national coverage in both industries in addition to being involved in real estate, banking and private investment activities. He is actively involved in his community through his leadership with education, underserved families and children and military and first responder support organizations. At TCU, he previously served on the Chancellor’s Advisory Council.

Ashley Arnold, whose professional background includes a leadership role at TAC and experience in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and marketing, provides volunteer leadership to local and state organizations near her personal and professional interests, including medical research, higher education, under-served families and children, and military and first responder support organizations.

“Ashley and I are thrilled to help support TCU, and we are especially excited for the innovative work of the Burnett School of Medicine,” Greg Arnold said. “It’s important to us to support our community. The faculty, staff and students of the Burnett School are focused on compassionate health care, and having a facility of this caliber to excel in this learning will strengthen our community here in North Texas and beyond.”

This gift will support core operational needs of the school, which offers a novel educational experience tailored to how students learn best, capitalizing on teamwork and active application sessions, always keeping the patient at the center. Unique aspects of the program include communication skills instruction all four years; a curriculum that includes clinical training in a Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship, allowing students to follow a cohort of patients over four years, which is a major factor in the students retaining the significant empathy they have when they start medical school; and a flipped classroom model featuring active learning and no lectures.

All students are required to complete a four-year mentored research project, and they are supported through Academic and Executive coaches who focus on the students’ academic success, personal goals, career planning and well-being throughout medical school and beyond.

In recognition of the Arnolds’ generosity, TCU plans to name the new Burnett School of Medicine building “Arnold Hall,” which will be the permanent home of the Burnett School. Located in the Fort Worth Medical Innovation District, the 96,000-square-foot building will open in late spring of 2024.

“Naming this building for the Arnold family is a perfect fit for our school of medicine,” said Founding Dean Stuart D. Flynn, M.D. “It is an honor to have their name connected to our school and to beautifully grace our building, especially considering their personal interests in innovation and health care, as well as their significant contributions to the community. Their legacy sets a wonderful example for our students and inspires them to go above and beyond as servant leaders. We are incredibly grateful to the Arnold family for this fantastic gift that will support our mission in perpetuity.”

Among other areas at TCU, the Arnolds have supported the Neeley School of Business and the Spencer and Marlene Hays Business Commons. A TCU residence hall in Worth Hills is named for them in recognition of their extraordinary support of TCU through the years.

FORT WORTH – As medical students across the United States enter their fourth-year for medical school the preparation for away rotations begin. Medical students apply to hospital or health care centers in the U.S. to land two to four-week audition for a Graduate Medical Education (GME)/residency positions. Away rotations are not required to apply to a residency program, but it gives medical students a chance to differentiate themselves from others and leave an impression on residency directors.  

Danielle Sader  

Hometown: Dallas, Texas 

Classification: MS-4 

Medical Specialty: Obstetrics-Gynecology (OB-GYN) 

Away Rotations: Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York; UNLV Health in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center – Temple in Temple, Texas 

Away rotations for fourth-year medical students carry a huge weight. Medical students hope they leave a lasting impression on GME program directors. 

“You are showing these people what you can do and they are showing you what they have to offer,” said  Danielle Sader, MS-4 at Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. “You’re really auditioning for jobs at that point.”  

Sader, a Dallas native, traveled to Maimonides Medical Center, UNLV Health, and Baylor, Scott & White Medical Center – Temple for away rotations.  

“It’s so exciting to get to explore these new places and build your network even if that’s not where you end up doing residency,” Sader said.  

She described her role as the Inpatient Obstetrics & Gynecology Sub Intern in Labor & Delivery as a little bit of everything.  

“Any messages that need to be relayed to the rest of the team about medications or anything going on with their labor course,” Sader said. “I’ve also had the opportunities to be in a couple of deliveries and assist.”   

The preparation for away rotations for Sader and her classmates came under the watchful eye of Burnett School of Medicine at TCU faculty. Students are paired with physicians from their first day and it spans their entire time in medical school during their Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC).   

During their second-year, students get 10 weeks of inpatient hospital immersions and 40 weeks of clinical ambulatory rotations in eight medical specialties: Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Surgery. In their third-year, students continue to participate in comprehensive care of patients alongside a dedicated preceptor in those same medical specialties. 

“I really got to take some patients from their prenatal visits all the way through their pregnancy to their delivery,” Sader said. “When I got to my away rotations, no part of pregnancy was new to me.” 

FORT WORTH – There’s a strong sense of community in Fort Worth’s Near Southside neighborhood and Medical Innovation District (MID) that will be home to the new medical education building for the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University. 

In episode 7 of “On Site: Construction of the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University with Founding Dean, Stuart D. Flynn, M.D.; Fort Worth City Councilwoman Elizabeth Beck, who represents District 9, known as the Near Southside, joined Dean Flynn for a tour of the neighborhood. 

“This is an area of the city that we’ve seen a tremendous amount of growth in the last 20 years,” Beck said. “We’ve gone from a lot of auto shops and industrial-type businesses to theaters and restaurants and stores up and down South Main and Magnolia streets.” 

Councilwoman Beck took Dean Flynn a few blocks away from the medical school’s medical education building on South Henderson and West Rosedale Streets to explore South Main Village, which is anchored by locally owned businesses on South Main Street. 

“This is one of my favorite areas of District 9 and one where I spend a lot of my free time,” Beck said. “I’m hoping TCU medical students enjoy it as much as I do.” 

The pair toured the Amphibian Stage, a theater on South Main Street, along with a visit to Morgan Mercantile, a family-owned shop that focuses on custom printed goods and merchandise experiences for brands, bands, and businesses. 

Thanksgiving is a time for gathering and celebrating traditions with loved ones.

Marisa Fat, MS1 at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, said Thanksgiving is a time for reflection.

“The most important thing about Thanksgiving is being thankful for what you have,” she said.  “Thanksgiving means being grateful for anything you have, big or small.”

What is she most grateful for this year?

“I am thankful for so many things, but if I had to limit it, first and foremost would be my family,” she said. “I’m also really thankful to be at a medical school that truly does care about its students.”

Second-year medical student Simar Goyal said Thanksgiving is the one day “where you learn to respect and be grateful for everything that is going on in your life and for all the little things when nothing is going right.”

“Every day in clinic, I am thankful for patients opening up to me, for patients trusting me, and the connection I get to build with the community members, classmates, as well as my faculty and mentors,” said Sofia Olsson, MS3. “I am thankful for so many things. But I am tremendously thankful to be here, and for the opportunity to serve others and be a physician.”