Junior Raquel Rozner always dreamed of being a neurologist. Supported by gifts received through the Binghamton Fund, the Physician Mentor Program may have changed her plans.
“I never really thought about oncology because everyone says it’s so depressing,” she says. “I agree that it can be depressing in a way, but it’s also hopeful in that you’re helping people survive. So oncology now is a possibility.”
Rozner spent the summer shadowing Dr. Andrew Seidman ’81, learning how he interacted with breast-cancer patients in life-and-death struggles. She experienced the pain when the doctor told women the treatments weren’t working and they were running out of options. She felt the joy when patients found out their cancer was in remission.
“I thought I would really take it to heart and come home crying,” Rozner says. “But I guess I have a really tough exterior. I just decided that if I was going to be a doctor, this was going to be my job. Obviously I was very empathetic, but as a doctor you’re here to help these people survive and you have to deal with their cancer. It’s almost like you have to treat it like a science.”
Seidman was so impressed with Rozner’s maturity and thoughtfulness in such emotionally charged situations that he asked her to coauthor an article for Breast Diseases: A Yearbook Quarterly, which helped her have a deeper understanding of cancer and gave her a publishing credit.
“I’m really excited to have this publication under my belt,” she says. It’s something that I’m passionate about and really understand.”