But he realized early in his career that he could reach even further – help even more people – if he dedicated time to teaching others to save lives as well.
As an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine for IU School of Medicine-South Bend, Chow has a chance to interact with and serve aspiring physicians in many ways. But the facet of the job he particularly enjoys is one-on-one time he’s able to spend with medical students as they embark on some of the earliest clinical rotations of their careers, known as clerkships.
Chow is the Associate Director of Statewide Internal Medicine Clerkship for the Department of Medicine and the Site Director for the Internal Medicine Clerkship for IU School of Medicine-South Bend. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Memorial Hospital Adult Hospitalist Group.
Clerkships are a key time in medical school training. During these third-year rotations, medical students receive hands-on experiences in hospitals and clinics. In South Bend, learners practice in both in-patient and out-patient settings and in a range of specialties, including gastroenterology, cardiology, hematology/oncology and nephrology, among others.
Often, it’s during these rotations that medical students identify the area of medicine in which they’d most like to specialize – making it a great opportunity to coach students and help them harness their talents so they can find the right career path, Chow said.
Some students may come to a clerkship thinking they already know which specialty they’d like to pursue; but with the right encouragement from the right mentor, they may discover that their skills are better suited elsewhere, he said.
Chow also takes time to mentor students on what it truly means to be a doctor, emphasizing the need to care for the whole person, not just their illness, and to be an advocate for their patients.
Small-group learning is an important emphasis of the IU School of Medicine–South Bend campus. During clerkships in South Bend, medical students often work directly with attending physicians and benefit greatly from the dedicated attention they receive, Chow said.
The medical education program at IU School of Medicine–South Bend follows the school’s statewide core curriculum. Students see a range of pathology in the hospitals that serve as the medical school’s clinical partners in the region, and they spend a significant amount of time practicing essential Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) skills, Chow said.
In addition to working directly with students, Chow helps build and implement curriculums that ensure young physicians receive equal levels of instruction across the school’s nine regional campuses.
He also hosts the essential second-day portion of clerkship orientations for students across the Northwest Indiana region, which encompasses the Gary, South Bend and Fort Wayne campuses. This is the only orientation option offered to students outside of Indianapolis, eliminating students’ need to travel and allowing for much smaller orientation class sizes with better student-teacher interaction.
Students at the South Bend campus often attribute their success to the strong relationships they forge while studying and training. Chow said he hopes his patient-centered philosophies are something they’ll carry with them throughout their careers.
