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A&M College of Medicine Delivers!
School maintains tradition of academic excellence
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Story by Juliette Rizzo
Photos by Phelan M. Ebenhack
Of The Battalion Staff
“Doctor, Doctor, give me the
news.”
The news is that A&M’s College of
Medicine is expecting — expecting
to maintain its more than ten-year
tradition of turning out quality med
ical students from quality medical fa
cilities.
As the newest medical school in
the state, the College incorporates
the medical expertise of Texas
A&M, Scott and White Clinic, Scott
and White Hospital/Foundation and
Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center.
With the passage of legislation to
establish educational medical facili
ties to work in conjunction with Vet
eran Administration hospitals,
Texas A&M’s College of Medicine
opened its doors in the fall of 1977
to its first class of 32 students.
Since then, nine classes of stu
dents have graduated from the col
lege to provide private and clinical
medical care in Texas and around
the world.
Today, maintaining its longstand
ing tradition of excellence, the Col
lege stands as a hallmark of aca
demic excellence, as well as a center
for quality experimental research.
Prior to 1983, students in the Col
lege attended classes in five different
buildings spread across campus. To
day, the major teaching and re
search facilities for the College of
Medicine are centrally housed in the
modern Medical Sciences Building.
Students spend their first two
years at the facility studying basic
medical sciences, which include mas-
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tering clinical skills under the super
vision of practicing physician staff
members. In addition, students are
also introduced to clinical skills. Dur-
On any given day, it is not uncom
mon for an entire shift of on-call res
idents to be A&M medical school
graduates. One day this summer, the
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
college "/Medicine
COLLEGE STATION
TEMPLE
ing their third and fourth years, the
students acquire actual clinical train
ing in “real-world” hospital settings
at the above mentioned accredited
medical facilities in Temple.
During this period of on-the-job
training, or “clinical science work” as
it is called, students are trained in
one-on-one settings with physicians
and patients. The students get firs
thand experience by following a ro
tation clerkship through internal
medicine, surgery, pediatrics, OB-
/GYN, psychology, radiology and
neurology.
After four years of hard work and
intense training, students are finally
awarded their M.D. degrees, en
abling them to proceed to the next
hurdle on the way to becoming prac
ticing doctors — residency training.
In the pursuit of residency train
ing, students may choose from a
myriad of medical specialties offered
at an unlimited number of medical
facilities nationwide. A number of
A&M medical school graduates,
however, choose to stay in Texas.
Many complete their residencies at
Scott and White Hospital and Olin
E. Teagues Veterans’ Center, both
in Temple.
labor and delivery room was entirely
staffed by Aggies. The doctors in
cluded Dr. Melanie Ayres, Class of
’87; Dr. Henry Galan, Class of ’89;
Dr. Jeff Gubbels, Class of ’87; Dr.
Kevin Huddleston, Class of ’88 and
Dr. Stephen Janecek, Class of’88.
Ayres, an obstetrician/gynecolog
ist in her third year of residency, was
also an undergraduate in microbio
logy at A&M. She was accepted into
A&M’s medical school after complet
ing only three years of undergrad
uate studies in microbiology. While
completing her third and fourth
years of medical school at Scott and
White, Ayres decided she liked the
atmosphere and the staff of the hos
pital enough to continue her resi
dency there. Ayres delivers babies
routinely at the facility. Daily, she
tends to her own personal patients
and is on call for emergencies as
well. In 1990, when she completes
her residency, she hopes to practice
obstetrics in the Dallas area.
Gubbels, chief resident of the la
bor and delivery wing, is in his
fourth and final year of residency in
OB/GYN. He chose A&M’s medical
school because of its small class size
and its affiliation with Scott and
White Hospital, After completing
his residency, he hopes to practice at
Scott and White Clinic in College
Station.
Janacek, an anaestheseologist in
his second year of residency, is re
sponsible for being present each day
ciuring all deliveries. He works a
mandatory 12 hour shift but says it’s
not uncommon to work as many as
36 continuous hours.
Galan and Huddleston, the rook
ies of the staff, are both beginning
their residencies in OB/GYN. The
two of them come from medical
backgrounds. Huddleston’s father is
a family practitioner in Hearne, and
both Galan’s father and grandfather
are pediatricians. Galan, a Univer
sity of Texas graduate in biology,
said that although he still roots for
UT and “bleeds orange,” his only
choice for medical school was A&M
because of its reputation and small
class size. He says his favorite hang
out is still the Dixie Chicken.
After the last baby of the day was •
delivered, the final tally was one boy
and five girls (including one set of
twins). All the resident Aggies said
that hearing the healthy cries of a
newborn baby make all the long
hours and hard work of medical
school worthwhile.
For more than a decade, the Col
lege has prospered, continuing to
provide opportunities like these to
its students. Numerous programs in
education and research have been
developed to combine high-quality
educational facilities with well-qual
ified students. The College’s success
may well be contagious as it provides
A&M students with a solid founda-
tionfor future generations.
Dr. Kevin Huddleston, Class of 88, and Dr. Jeff Gubbels,
Class of ’89, close the incision made during a caesarian
section delivery.
Dr. Melanie Ayres, Class of ’87, encourages a mother-to-be
to push harder during natural childbirth.
Because of the mother’s small size, Ayres is forced to use a
pair of obstetric forceps to grasp the baby’s head and facili
tate the delivery.
Ayres holds the newborn baby after cutting its umbilical
cord.