Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE-In the spring of 2002 just as UWP student Ann Thalmann was preparing for graduation, she was also interviewing at medical schools throughout the midwest. After being accepted to the schools she had interviewed at, she decided on Mayo's MD/PhD program. She then graduated in May, got married and moved up to Rochester, Minn.

Thalmann, now Ann Moyer, is currently in her second year at Mayo in the Medical Scientist Training program. During the first two years of the program she has been attending medical school during the school year and working on research projects during the summer, to help decide which lab to take to complete her PhD. In May she will be taking the Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). After a successful completion, she would move into her third year of medical school, but instead she will do lab work toward her PhD. After she completes her PhD she will go back and finish her last two years of medical school.

"So far I have really been enjoying school at Mayo," Moyer said. "During my first year I spent most of my time in classes learning the basics of how our bodies work when they are healthy. I have also been introduced to patient care by shadowing doctors and at the end of the year learned how to take a history and do a physical exam."

In her second year, Moyer has been seeing patients in the morning with the doctors. In the afternoon she attends class where she learns more about what is happening when the body isn't healthy.

"I learned all of the basics that I needed to do well in medical school at UWP," Moyer said. "I majored in both biology and chemistry at UWP and have built on that a solid foundation throughout medical school. Now and then if I want a quick review of a particular organ system, I still pull out my old notes from Dr. Weber's anatomy and physiology class. Because of the quality of the education I received at UWP, I was able to do well enough on the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) to have a choice of medical schools. UWP not only gave me knowledge, but it gave me confidence. Even though I have never been particularly fond of public speaking, I was forced to do it enough that it really isn't scary anymore. In fact, I spent last summer teaching general and organic chemistry through Kaplan to students preparing for the MCAT."

Moyer also credits the UWP Alumni Association for helping her get in contact with another UWP graduate, Dr. Bill Charboneau, who is a radiologist at Mayo.

"Dr. Charboneau has been a good contact for me because he is well established at Mayo and has allowed me to follow him around a few times to teach me lots of neat things as well as setting me up with other people he felt would be good teachers. I really thought it was neat that the Alumni Association let me know about someone in my field who had come from a similar background, " Moyer concluded.

After Moyer finishes her MD/PhD program, she is looking to complete her residency and post-doctoral fellowship. Eventually she would like to work on the development of medications/therapies and also coordinate the research with the early phase clinical trials of new medications.