From Rock to Docs
You wouldn’t necessarily think drumming in a rock band as an undergraduate would lead naturally to medical school—but for two medical graduates this year, it did. Benji Dossetter and Philip Tracy both had bands in college—Sports and Applewagon, respectively—cutting albums, touring in the requisite minivan, dealing with sometimes shady venue operators, and enjoying the rock ’n’ roll life.
But medical school called. In fact, Dossetter, whose grandfather was a doctor, says he knew from two weeks before college started that he wanted to become a doctor, and headed to Tufts University School of Medicine right after graduation.
For Tracy, it was a bit longer of a road. His grandmother, father, and uncle are all doctors, and he was certain he didn’t want to follow in their footsteps. But in his early twenties, he says, “I was able to admit that maybe my parents were right about one thing, so I got a job volunteering at a hospital after work—and loved it.” Working later at Dana Farber and seeing firsthand the positive results of new melanoma treatments “was the ‘Oh shoot, I want to go to medical school and do this full time’ moment,” he says.