Convocation 2008
The art of medicineBy Sharon Gray
Monica Kidd had a well-established career as a CBC radio reporter when she decided to become a doctor in order to have a more direct impact on people’s lives.
It took three tries, but she was finally accepted as a medical student at Memorial and on May 29 will receive her MD. She’ll continue at Memorial in a family medicine residency.
Her strength in artistic pursuits has followed Ms. Kidd through medical school.
In 2006 she won a Gracie Allen Award from the American Women in Radio and Television for her radio documentary A Map of the Body. That year she also she also received an award from the William Carlos Williams poetry contest and last year her debut collection of poems, Actualities, was published.
Recently her production A Good Question was featured on CBC’s Performance Hour.
She’s also contributed to the development of the humanities within the medical school, establishing an online database in Humanities, Arts and Medicine and serving as editorial co-ordinator of Body of F(r)iction, Vol. II of the collected works of MUN medical students.
Ms. Kidd said the medical curriculum was often a struggle for her, especially the sheer amount of material that had to be learned in first year. She broadened her experience with international medical electives in Slovakia, Haiti and most recently South Africa.
Her darkest hour came in July 2006 when she and fellow medical student Steve Hunt were canoeing on the Kootenay River in British Columbia. During a lunch break, wind from a thunderstorm knocked a 500 pound tree onto Ms. Kidd, breaking her back. Passing boats helped them take their gear downriver so Mr. Hunt could paddle the empty boat and patient to the nearest community and travel on to the nearest hospital. It turned out her first lumbar vertebra was smashed and some of the bone was sticking into the spinal canal. It took three months in a back brace before she recovered.
But recover she did, and today she enjoys daily runs with her dog.
And to end the story on a happy note, she and Dr. Hunt, now a first-year orthopedic resident, will be married May 25.
Ms. Kidd is just one of the tremendous stories coming out of convocation 2008.
More than 2,000 students are graduating at convocation in St. John’s, May 27–30 and Corner Brook, May 16. To read more of their compelling stories, see below.
Passion to dance
Bridging success
Ecologist finds career path
The ACE of her class
Safe Haven
Lured back to Labrador
Mother and son celebrate graduation
Future looks bright
Official whirlwind
