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This profile of Donna L. Parker, ’80, is one in an ongoing series of profiles centering on the dean’s academic staff who work with Dean Donald E. Wilson in executing the mission of the medical school. |
Balance. Choices. Priorities.
These words pepper the speech of Donna L. Parker, MD, associate dean for student
and faculty development at the medical school. For a person whose job it is
to see that medical students have the appropriate development experiences
and mentoring opportunities, it is perhaps ironic that Donna herself has never
had one defined mentor.
The oldest of four children of a chemist father and a stay-at-home mother,
Donna was born and raised in the Washington, DC, area. “The fact that
my father was a chemist probably had something to do with my early interest
in medicine,” she says. “I took advanced science courses in high
school—I thought science was cool.”
A physiology major at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Donna knew she
didn’t want to work in a lab and do research. “I am a chatty person
by nature,” she says, “and I was interested in the clinical aspect
of medicine.” She returned home to Maryland to attend medical school,
graduating in 1986. Following a general internal medicine internship and residency
at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Donna and husband Nevins Todd III, ’86,
moved to North Carolina in 1989. Nevins had a pulmonology fellowship at Duke
University, and Donna joined the internal medicine faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill.
When her husband accepted a job at Mercy Hospital in 1992, Donna came home
once again and joined the faculty at the medical school as assistant professor
of medicine. She was also responsible for the residents’ medical clinic.
Because she was a new faculty member “with not much on my plate at that
point, I decided to get involved in the school side of things,” she says.
“Mickey (Foxwell, associate dean for admissions) was expanding the admissions
committee and I signed up.”
With medical school applications on the rise, Donna was asked in 1995 to become
assistant dean for admissions. She was still running the residents’ medical
clinic, still seeing patients, and had recently received a promotion to become
associate program director for ambulatory education within the department
of medicine. She already had one daughter, Audrey, and was pregnant with Ava.
But, Donna says, “I knew what was realistic, what was doable. I don’t
say yes to things that I am not sure I can do.” She accepted the position.
When asked if, at this point in her career, she was still without a formal
mentor, Donna replied, “Yes, I was; I still am. Although I have to say
that Frank Calia, the medical school’s vice dean, has looked out for
me at many turns. He is someone who has clearly come to me with opportunities.
I can never thank him enough for that.”
In 1998, Dean Wilson, in an effort to enable faculty and students to reach
their fullest academic and personal potential, created the office of student
and faculty development, becoming one of a very few medical schools in the
nation to elevate this function to department level. “This office came
about through Dean Wilson’s vision,” Donna says. “This was
a huge growth area, and the dean saw a need that could be filled. And we are
doing our best to fill it.” Donna became the school’s first associate
dean for student and faculty development.
The office has a responsibility to provide leadership in the school’s
effort to represent and collaborate with others in a diverse, multi-cultural
scientific community through recruitment efforts and skills development, as
well as to promote appreciation of lifelong adult learning among students,
residents and faculty. Donna’s two main goals are to improve the faculty
development curriculum that is already in place, and to provide mentors for
students.
“The fact that we have a faculty development curriculum at all is something
to be proud of,” Donna says. “But we’re not happy with simply
having a curriculum; we want to make it something of value for all our faculty.”
To that end, Donna’s office has been working collaboratively with other
offices to present a comprehensive faculty development program, including
teaching skills workshops, professional development workshops and research
skills workshops.
The
student mentoring program, a voluntary opportunity for students, matches a
faculty member with a student for his/her entire four years at medical school.
There is currently a 30 percent participation rate among students; far more
faculty have signed up to be mentors than there are students to mentor, which
Donna finds very encouraging. “The students who have signed up for a
mentor understand how extremely valuable it can be to them,” she says.
“The idea is for the faculty member to guide the mentee based upon the
personality of the student. The faculty mentors are advocates for the students.”
Donna’s favorite part of her job is the interpersonal relationships she
has with both faculty and students. “I get to meet a lot of people in
this job,” she says. “I like knowing the faces that go with the
names. I like knowing who people are and what they do.”
| Balancing, Juggling, and Other Feats Finding a way to manage home and work simultaneously allows you to see the best in both arenas. When things get hectic at work, you can think about the joys of home, and when your family is overwhelming, remember that you will have the respite of adult interaction soon. Whatever path you choose, remember to cordon off time to do things you enjoy, such as hobbies, exercise, or simple quiet time. This is a time to rejuvenate and revisit the reasons you are attempting to accomplish so much. Above all, having a full life will improve your outlook as physician, partner and parent, and allow you to grow as a person. —Donna L. Parker, MD |
One of the things of which
Donna is most proud is her election to Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical school
honor society. “I was elected to AOA by the students,” she says.
“The honor means even more to me coming from them than it would have
if I had been able to achieve that level of success for myself as a student.
Being elected by the students speaks to my value as a teacher, a mentor and
as a role model for excellence in our profession.”
Donna sees patients one morning a week, spends half a day per week working
on admissions, and the rest of her time dealing with student and faculty development.
This year she was also elected to the Medical Alumni’s Board of Directors.
Donna does miss her patients. “I love seeing patients,” she says.
“That’s why I went into medicine in the first place. But seeing
patients increases the amount of paper work and the number of phone calls
I have to receive and make. I know how much I can do; I know what’s right
for me.” Donna has achieved just the right balance for herself and it
seems to be the right balance for the medical school as well.