MD, MS
Resident Physician, Anesthesia and Critical Care
University of Chicago Hospitals
Email: cchoukal@hotmail.com
Since you don’t get very many profiles from graduates who chose professions outside mainstream psychology, I thought I’d write in about my experience. I was in the doctoral program in counseling starting in 1997, but knew pretty quickly my interests where more aligned with the biological than psychological. I decided to complete coursework toward admission to medical school while I finished my MS with the department; Professor Epperson was kind enough to let me stay on as a TA with the department and RA with the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research under Jan Melby. The stars were all aligned as I had my choice of medical schools on the first try. In fact, I graduated just this spring and will be pursuing residency training in the department of Anesthesia and Critical Care at the University of Chicago.
I feel extremely fortunate that my career path started out in psychology at ISU. The faculty were extremely supportive, both with regard to my initial career in psychology, and, more importantly, with my exploring other careers. William Hoyt (now at Madison), Doug Epperson, and Norm Scott were particularly good mentors. The counseling training I received in my first two years at ISU were of enormous benefit in medical school; when it came time to see patients, I felt very comfortable. I look back at my time in Ames with a great deal of fondness, and I know my education in psychology at ISU has made me a more effective and compassionate physician.
I’d be happy to have you include my email in any profile you publish, but please use cchoukal@hotmail.com instead of the address from which this message originates.