Q&A. with Dr. Aaron

Sophie Baldwin, 7/25/24

• • Currently, my time is divided 50/50 between clinical practice and research

  • Run osteoporosis and bone health program while also researching in many areas of biomedicine

  • Research on the effectiveness/mechanisms of electromagnetic stimulation of bone for healing fractures, and abnormalities in blood supply in osteoarthritis

What are your day-to-day responsibilities and typical caseload?

• • In the past, I mainly performed surgery and saw patients pre and post-operation

  • I operated for half the time and did research for the other half

  • Now, I see patients with osteoporosis and fractures in the clinic while also doing research

What is most exciting about your job?

• • Being able to sit in an exam room and talk with/listen to a patient

  • Every patient has an interesting story to tell

  • I have learned so much about medicine by listening to patients; it is a privilege to be someone that patients open up to

Why did you decide to pursue medicine?

• • Grandfather and father were OB/GYN doctors

  • Was a political science major in college with a biology minor

  • I was interested in trying to figure out how the world worked; political science was a way of figuring out how people in society worked

  • I was also interested in the natural world and was more interested in biology than chemistry or physics

  • Finished college and was not sure what to do with a political science major; biology was more exciting

What is one moment in your career that made you appreciate medicine?

• • Most of a physician’s professional life is happy and it is making people healthier

  • I did joint replacements for people who really needed them so that they could move again

  • I have a box full of letters and notes from grateful patients; I have had a few patients who have even changed careers and become doctors

  • The sadder cases stick out to me more

  • During my residency in Boston, I was taking care of emergency injuries

  • There was a thirteen year old boy run over by T-train; we tried to save legs surgically but one leg became infected and had to be amputated

  • I remember crying with the boy; it was very emotionally moving

  • He got prosthetic leg and could play softball

  • Another patient was a 6’5 300 lb guy who said that he would not follow any doctor’s advice unless I said it was okay; he had a heart attack and died

  • Anothe time, I was running the ICU at the NIH

  • We did a major cancer surgery on patient and took care of patient, who survived

  • He had a child and named him after me (Aaron)

If you could go back and choose a different specialty, would you? Why or why not?

• • I loved the cardiovascular system and was going to be a heart surgeon

  • My first son was born while at I was at the NIH

  • I realized that cardiovascular surgery was too time-consuming to balance family life

  • I still wanted to do research, but orthopedics was less demanding

  • If I could do it again, I would do plastic surgery because it has changed so much

What was the most difficult aspect of your journey to medicine?

• • The first two years of medical school; it was heavy classroom science work

How are you able to manage a work-life balance?

• • It was very hard to manage as a full-time physician

  • When I was younger, I could stay awake for longer

  • I had an extremely supportive wife and could not have done what I did without her

  • I packaged research into 2-3 years, then switched back to clinical medicine

What is your advice to students interested in pursuing medicine?

• • Try to engage in something relevant to medicine so that you know what you're getting yourself into (ex. volunteer in clinic/hospital)

  • See what the environment is like

  • Major in a humanities/social science; you will learn a lot of the sciences in medical school but doctors must learn humanism from literature and history

  • It takes a long time

  • Go to a state school for medical school so that you aren’t in debt and have more freedom in choosing a specialty