Student Profiles
James (Jamie) Chamberlain Harlan II
Age: 27
Hometown: Holt, Michigan. Born and raised in Picayune, Mississippi.
Highlights of Pre-Med Career:
- Bachelors in biology and chemistry, minor in French, University of Evansville.
- Serves as CHM student representative to the Organization of Student Representatives branch of AAMC.
- Serves as voting student member of the alumni board.
- Serves as voting member of the Student Medical Education and Enrichment Fund.
- Served as student council president.
- Served on Dean's Student Advisory Committee.
- Volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.
- Served as voting member of board of trustees at University of Evansville.
- Worked as a bacteriology lab assistant.
- Worked as a pharmaceutical sales specialist for Pharmacia.
Why Medicine?
I've always wanted to be a physician. I have a long family history of physicians on my father's side, including my father, so I was always interested in medicine. My mother is a nurse, and this just added to my medical family. As I grew older and began thinking about my future career goals, I knew I wanted an intellectually stimulating and challenging career. I have always felt I have good decision-making skills, and I have a desire to lead. I wanted a career where I would be put in positions to make important decisions. A career in medicine seems ideal to fulfill these needs.
Why CHM?
I love the location of CHM. Lansing is a big enough town that it has all of the major necessities, and it had job opportunities for my wife—a pediatric physical therapist. But Lansing 's not so big that I have to deal with excessive traffic, a higher cost of living, or unfriendly people. There are many reasons I'm happy I chose to come to CHM, but I didn't understand many of them until after being in the program for a while.
About Year III
I'm in my third year at CHM. I love clinical work; it's why I wanted to be a physician. I'm receiving a solid clinical education at CHM, and I feel as though I'm learning essential knowledge and skills that will help me get into a competitive residency program. This year will serve as an excellent base for the rest of my medical career. Some of my fondest memories thus far have been delivering my first baby while I was on OB rotation and trying to find time to sleep while on my surgery rotation-even though I don't get much sleep, I still enjoy it.
On Making Career Decisions at CHM
CHM has presented opportunities which have given me the experiences that are helping me make career decisions. For instance, I've been involved in a number of leadership roles while at CHM like serving as student council president and being a voting member of the student section of the AAMC. These experiences are keeping me in touch with my desire to lead.
About CHM's Community Campus-Based Structure
CHM's community campus structure allows me to have different experiences at different campuses when I travel to rotations throughout the state during my fourth year. If my home campus doesn't specialize in one area of medicine, then I can go to another campus for a specific rotation to learn what I need. Sometimes being at different campuses makes it difficult to follow MSU events; but the Lansing campus does allow me to more closely follow MSU athletics. Go Spartans!
