For students considering a career as a medical professional, the Dr. Tom Dooley Society provides a broad range of resources for education, networking and mentoring, founder and Notre Dame graduate Dr. Matthew Hubbard said.
The organization was formed to bring Notre Dame alumni who have entered the medical and health professions and current students together, according to the Society's Web site.
The Society works to promote continuing education, their mentoring program and service to others across the globe.
In addition to the alumni network, Hubbard said the group features a lecture series, sponsoring medical experts from a variety of practices every home football Saturday at 11 a.m. in Jordan Hall of Science.
"The lectures cover a range of issues, from service opportunities to medical school to medical ethics," Hubbard said. "The society is about 80 percent alumni, and the rest are students or professors who work here now who didn't graduate from Notre Dame themselves."
The Society also runs a mentoring program, which allows students to shadow Notre Dame alumni in the medical field during their holiday breaks at home when students typically have fewer responsibilities and interruptions.
"Since the Dooley Society has members in all 50 states and over 1,000 physicians as members, a student who wants to learn more about medical practice can contact physicians in their hometown to learn more about what they do," Hubbard said.
And students do not have to be set on medical school to contact the Society.
"That student doesn't have to be going to medical school in their future. Perhaps they're interested in research, so they can contact a physician who might then be able to point them to someone they know who does medical research ... the Notre Dame network then helps to find the right person," Dr. Hubbard said. "Over the last three years, about 600 students have taken part in the program."
This week's lecture is entitled "Challenges in Medical Education - Professionalism and Accountability," featuring the CEO of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Dr. Thomas Nasca.
"For medical students, this is like being a varsity athlete and being visited by the President of the NCAA," said Dr. Hubbard. "This is huge."
Students can register to become a member online at the Dooley Society Web site, www.dooleysociety.com. Students can also receive information regarding service opportunities with the Society.
