Barbara Wagner and Dr. Jon Morris at Match Day. Dean J. Larry Jameson observes.
Imagine almost any official function that involves Penn’s medical students -- for example, the White Coat Ceremony, Match Day, or Graduation -- and the odds are excellent that Barbara Wagner would be there. Not as the speaker or guest of honor, but as director of the Student Affairs office. Wagner would be helping to keep things running smoothly. Or she might be the person being hugged by a grateful student she has helped along the way.
Wagner, who earned her B.A. degree in American Civilization at Penn in 1983, became associate director of student affairs in 1990, long before Penn’s medical school became the Perelman School of Medicine. She had been working in the University’s Alumni Relations office. She cites two particular experiences from that period that helped her in her new role: she was the staff person working with the Alumni Relations Student Advisory Committee, and she had organized tours for Mask and Wig, Penn’s all-male student comedy troupe. She had even gone on some tours with the “Wiggers.” Both experiences, she says, “made me realize how much I loved working with students.” She has now been director of Student Affairs under four deans, not counting those who served in interim roles!
Learning from the Faculty
When she crossed to the medical side of Penn, Wagner became involved with student organizations and residency matching, and the responsibilities of the position continued to grow. She also earned a master’s degree from Penn in Organizational Dynamics. Since 1995, when Gail Morrison, MD ’71, became vice dean of education, Wagner has officially reported to her. Over the years, Wagner has worked closely with several associate deans for student affairs. The first was Helen C. Davies, PhD, the beloved professor of Microbiology, well known for the way she helped her students memorize a vast number of facts by substituting new words to popular songs. Other associate deans were William W. Beck Jr., MD ’65, now an emeritus professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Harvey Rubin, MD, PhD, a professor of infectious disease and director of Penn’s Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response (ISTAR). The current associate dean is Jon B. Morris, MD, the Ernest F. Rosato-William Maul Measey Professor in Surgical Education.
“They were all wonderful people with very different styles,” Wagner says. There is a certain maternal aspect to the job, she learned, and Davies was a model in that way. “She gave 150 percent to the job,” Wagner says with a laugh. “But I also learned not to have students depend on you too much.” She has seen her role as helping them “to get to a point where they can be self-reliant.”
Jon Morris has shown her that “a sense of humor is so important.” He has had “an amazing way” of using humor to handle a difficult situation. Harvey Rubin she calls “so amazingly brilliant and a lot of fun. He knows about everything and yet is still a student, too.” Bill Beck, who retired to Montana, still visits Penn and Wagner every year. He showed a more paternal side to the students, Wagner says. In effect, “my education has been on the job,” she says, drawing from the deans and from the students as well.
Barbara Wagner (red top) and other members of the medical school’s administration help Stephen Wu, Class of 2016, celebrate his graduation.
Trouble-shooting and Counseling
Wagner considers herself something of a professional troubleshooter. Her career has involved academic counseling (and dealing with students’ academic problems), career counseling, advising during the residency process, and personal counseling. “Medical school is hard enough, even if nothing else is happening,” she says. Every year, too, there are students who have family emergencies or illnesses. Wagner emphasizes that she and her staff do not do psychological counseling but refer students to the University’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), which is available to all Penn undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. But throughout her time as director, she has always made herself accessible. “Most of the time, I just listen,” she says, when students get in touch. Usually, “students just want to be heard and get something off their chest.” And the problems they share run the gamut. At one extreme, a student once called Wagner to complain that there was a mouse in her apartment. At the other extreme, another told her “I’m really depressed and I’m not sure I can go on.”
Wagner has also dealt with what she calls “transition issues,” such as the move between college and medical school or between medical school and residency. Wagner and her staff try to help the students find their feet and learn how to balance their studies with the other parts of their lives. Many first-year medical students find the volume of work notably greater than what they faced during their undergraduate years. The transitions from the classroom to the clinical setting can also be challenging: students have to learn their place, learn how to act, learn when to leave and when not to, and learn to pick up on the social cues. “It’s often more difficult for the quieter students,” Wagner points out. In addition, the process of applying for residencies is very exciting, but at the same time, students know “the choice will influence the rest of their careers,” and they feel the pressure. The Student Affairs office also counsels students who are not sure they’ve made the right decisions.
Despite the rigors of medical education, the Perelman School of Medicine has a very low attrition rate, even among the first-year students. When a student considers quitting medical school, Wagner advises taking a leave of absence instead: “Sometimes the students need to put things in perspective and need time to decompress.” Wagner’s impressions of the typical Penn Med student are not surprising. She finds them very impressive, very bright, and idealistic. “They are superstars,” she asserts, but there is a great deal of stress on them as well – more than ever before, she notes.
Barbara Wagner and Dr. Jon Morris at the induction ceremony of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.
Clinical and Non-Clinical Paths
During Wagner’s time at Student Affairs, she has witnessed the growth of the “MD plus” trend. Given the demands of medical school, some observers may wonder how today’s busy students manage to earn more than one degree or take a program outside their chosen fields. Wagner points to the flexibility of today’s medical curriculum. Students, she says, are happy to try different things, and about 40 percent now stay at Penn Med beyond the standard four years. Health care itself has broadened to include areas like global health and social justice. In addition, according to Wagner, more students today seek to use their medical education outside clinical areas. This past year, for example, eight Perelman students chose not to pursue a residency, preferring to focus on different paths, particularly in business. Some students have developed apps, some have earned joint MD/MBA degrees and founded companies. McKinsey & Company, the global management-consulting firm, comes by to recruit medical students. Does that bother her? “No,” she replies. “I support students in any way -- we don’t push them into a clinical path.” And she quotes her father, who used to say, “No education is wasted.”
To summarize her role, Wagner says, “It’s the job of the office to advocate for the students.”
Following students’ careers has been a tremendous highlight for Wagner. She has had the good fortune to hear Michael Brown, MD ’66, the Nobel Prize recipient, speak on campus three times over the years. But she also particularly loves to meet the younger alumni who return during Medical Alumni Weekend, when she gets to catch up with the students she worked with so closely during their education. Wagner is keenly aware of “all the trials and tribulations” the students have gone through, and it makes meeting them again at various points in their careers all the more meaningful.
“I never really planned to become a Penn lifer,” she says, but it has certainly turned out that way. For her, retirement will mean more travel for her and her husband -- but it will also mean something very familiar. She intends to do some volunteer work: “Interacting with people is my greatest satisfaction.”