COM Student of the Month – Andrew Baumgartner, fourth-year student

Andrew Baumgartner, fourth-year student

Editor’s Note: Each month, InterCOM will highlight a “Student of the Month” from the College of Medicine. Students will be featured for their participation in activities outside of medical school and for making a difference in the community. The goal is to recognize students for what they are doing and to encourage other students to get involved in the community. After all, medical school should be much more than studying.

Personal:

Born: North Platte; lived: McCook, Kearney, and Omaha; sojourning: Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Education: Kearney High School; University of Nebraska at Kearney (philosophy and biology); Utrecht University (ethics)

Activities:

  • NAF-Fulbright Grant 2013-2014
  • Psychiatry Interest Group
  • UNMC “Healer’s Art”
  • “Do JuSTIce”  STI education and treatment at Douglas County Corrections
  • I am curious about what shapes medical practice – scientific research, legislation, history, ethics, technology, etc. I didn’t have much time to explore these during the first three years of medical school, so I pursued a Fulbright grant. I will study Dutch elderly care medicine during my 10 months in the Netherlands, hoping to mine insights that can be imported to our American health care context.

Hobbies:

  • Reading – essays, novels, history
  • Writing – essays
  • Learning to cook
  • Craft beer – sours, saisons, coffee stouts
  • NCAA wrestling
  • Olympic freestyle wrestling

Staying Balanced:

  • I spend most of my free time with my wife, who is a writer – short fiction and poetry. She helps me stay well-rounded outside of medical school.