By Jack Davis ’19
THE ROUNDUP

During lunch break on Thursday, a group of motivated students meet in Piper 221 to discuss the latest news in medicine.

“I’ve been the moderator for Future Physicians pretty much my whole tenure here,” said Mr. Patrick Kolb. “So, I’d say about eight to nine years.”

“Mrs. [Cheryl] Lenox started off with the club and I joined her,” he added. “Eventually, she drew away and I’ve been the only moderator for a few years now.”

Mr. Kolb said that the club is attractive to students because of its ability to provide information.

“A lot of kids want to know, ‘What’s medical school going to be like?,’ Mr. Kolb said. “What their option is for either like a BA, MD program or an MD PhD program, or … ‘What about the MCAT?’ … Things like that are common things that come up every year.”

Alex Bhatt ’17, the president of Future Physicians, said that he joined the club early in his Brophy career and rose up the ranks.

“I joined the club freshman year when it was run by Sahej Samra ’15. I guess president, or surgeon general, whatever you want to call it … when Sahej graduated in 2015, I basically took over that role my junior year.”

Bhatt said that his favorite part of the club was compatible people discussing what they love.

“Recently, the meetings have been sporadic,” he said. “But my favorite thing about it is that it’s a group of likeminded people that don’t know if they want to pursue medicine just yet but have some sort of interest in it.”

Bhatt said that a large purpose of the club is to promote discussion.

“Another is to gain more knowledge about the medical field or whatever you have a certain interest in,” Bhatt said. “ A lot of the times, discussions have been created, especially when we’re talking about abortions, whether medicinal marijuana should be legalized, the Affordable Care Act, all types of stuff like that.”

Mr. Kolb said that the club assists students looking to pursue becoming a medical practitioner.

“The point of the club is to get students knowledge about things they’re interested in and things that may help them going into medical school or to help choose something in the medical field as their profession,” he said.

Mr. Kolb added that the students, not the moderator, carry the majority of the workload necessary for the club to function.

“The club is student run,” Mr. Kolb said. “They do 90% of the work, so finding a good student who wants to be the leader and just gauging student interest. Students ask us to do certain presentations on topics.”

Mr. Kolb said that the club has ventured past the Piper building in recent years.

“In the past, we’ve done field trips, which can be fun,” he said.

Bhatt said that, as of now, the club does not have a natural successor.

“Right now, I guess the position is wide open, with me and Adi [Manuel ’17], who helps run it, being seniors,” he said. “Whoever’s willing to step up, because next year I don’t think we’ll have one.”

Mr. Kolb said that the club’s meetings are worth attending.

“Overall, it’s just a good experience,” he said. “It’s students interested in things. Students lead it, students run it, students give most of the presentations. It’s a good organization.”