Obstetrics and gynecology doctor Felix Hull and Texas A&M-Round Rock medical student Rachel Scott spoke about the medical industry at a Future Doctors of America event Wednesday evening.
Most of the event was comprised of a question and answer section that focused on challenges facing obstetrics and gynecology and changes in the medical industry over the past few decades.
Hull said he had intended to become a family practice doctor in medical school, but he changed his mind during his OB-GYN rotation. He said he enjoyed the combination of family practice with surgery and found it worth the long hours.
“You can always cure a pregnant woman,” Hull said. “You can’t always cure a heart attack, you can’t always cure cancer, but you can always cure a pregnant woman, and it’s usually a happy occasion.”
Hull said there has been a “180 degree difference” in the gender gap in the medical field, particularly in the OB-GYN specialty. When he went to medical school, he said he estimated the medical field was approximately 95 percent male, but now is almost 50/50.
“Medicine is like a ship on a sea,” Hull said. “It changes and turns very slowly, and that’s very true. It takes a while for these changes to occur.”
Hull also discussed recent changes that had been made to the MCAT, which includes a new section that almost doubles the length of the test from 3 hours and 20 minutes to 6 hours and 15 minutes. According to Hull, the new section is designed to ensure medical students are well-rounded and have good people skills.
“They want to know what kind of a person you are,” Hull said.
Anthropology sophomore Antonio Roman said he found it reassuring to hear about medical school from a current medical student, rather than undergraduate pre-med students.
“Rachel [Scott] mentioned when we meet here in these meetings that officers scare us about being perfect,” Roman said. “They say ‘we need perfect grades and to save the world.’ She debunked that, and it was interesting to hear that from a medical student.”
Biochemistry junior Kim Nguyen said she took away a message of optimism from the speaker event.
“Even though the time commitment is a lot, they don’t mind,” Nguyen said. “I hope when I become a physician, I find something I like so much it doesn’t feel like work.”
