Med School Minutes

Med School Minutes-Ep. 61| 4x Olympian Becomes a Doctor | Dr. Kelley Hurley

• Kaushik Guha

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 40:37

She competed on the world stage… and then chose a completely different kind of pressure.

Kelley Hurley is a 4x Olympian and Olympic medalist who didn’t just chase one dream, she built another from scratch. 🥇 From intense training and global competition to long nights in medical school, her journey is anything but typical.

In this episode of Med School Minutes, she shares how she made the transition from elite athlete to physician, what drew her to emergency medicine, and the mindset that helped her push through doubt, pressure, and everything in between.

She matched into her #1 choice. She became a doctor. And she did it on her own terms. 🎓

If you’ve ever questioned whether it’s “too late” or “too different” for you, this is the story you need to hear.

00:00 Intro
00:27 Meet Dr. Kelley Hurley
01:19 Match Results & Specialty
04:42 Why Medicine
07:36 Overcoming Doubts
09:17 Matching Her #1 Choice
13:00 Balancing Medicine & Motherhood
15:10 Support System
20:18 Future Plans
27:20 Resilience & Mindset
37:35 Final Thoughts

#SaintJamesSchoolOfMedicine #MedSchoolMinutes #FutureDoctor #MedicalJourney #MatchDay #EmergencyMedicine #DoctorLife #MedStudentLife #ResidencyMatch #IMGSuccess

SPEAKER_00

Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Med School Minutes Podcast, where we discuss what it takes to attend and successfully complete a medical program. This show is brought to you by St. James School of Medicine. Here is your host, Kashikua.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to another episode of Med School Minutes, where we talk about everything MD related with a focus on international students, specifically students from the Caribbean. Well, today's guest is no stranger to our

Intro

SPEAKER_02

podcast. Her name is uh Kelly Hurley or Dr. Kelly Hurley, and uh this is the third time she's being a guest on our podcast. And uh I do want to preface this by saying that she is a four-time Olympian and an Olympic champion um in fencing, and we have followed her through her journey in medical school. So she has matched, and we are basically going to get an update on her life. So, without further ado, let's welcome Dr. Kelly Hurley. Welcome back, Kelly. Thank you so much for doing this. This is the third time on the podcast, and this is so cool because we have a full journey when you started midway, when you finished step one, and now when it is over. So

Match Results & Specialty

SPEAKER_02

now, the big moment, where did you match?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I mashed at my number one, which was UT Health San Antonio, which is in my home city and where all my family and friends are. So yeah, really all right.

SPEAKER_02

And and what specialty did you get into?

SPEAKER_01

Emergency medicine.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, wow. Oh, wow. That's that's intense. Um, I was actually thinking that you would probably be more focused on um uh family medicine and then specialize in sports medicine.

SPEAKER_01

You know, well, you know, you can do sports medicine from emergency, which I have considered.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, that's awesome. And is that is that something that you're thinking of?

SPEAKER_01

It is something I've thought about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

You thought of like coming back to sports, but through the medical way, like, I don't know, that really interests me.

SPEAKER_02

Full circuit. Yeah, I know. Full circuit, right? So I it does the uh so just so people don't know, I do have to preface this by saying that Kelly, you are a uh four-time Olympian and also an Olympic champion and medalist. Um uh and you know, first of all, taking the be making the undertaking of becoming a physician is remarkable. Like because I know I well, I don't know that many Olympians, I don't know any Olympians actually, other than you, but uh just the exercise. I mean, I've spoken to you before, just the demands and the regimen that you had to represent uh USA in the Olympics in and of itself is incredibly demanding. And I remember on top of that, you were still taking shelf exams and stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, I love to torture myself.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I know. But so it almost sounds like emergency medicine might be an easy pick for you because it's not going to be that demanding.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, you know, um going into going into medicine, going into medical school, I did not I never emergency medicine wasn't even on my radar.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I just thought it was this crazy uh, you know, television type of like specialty that it's just way too intense. And it really wasn't until I did my uh my elective um with St. James that I just like day one just fell in love with it. And it there's a lot of similarities you can draw between emergency medicine and like high performance, high-level uh sports. So it actually like fit my personality perfectly. And that's all I talked about in all my interviews.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. That's all I mean. So, what were your interviews like? Did did they talk to you about your Olympic experience at all?

SPEAKER_01

Um, most of them did. Yeah, some of them only talked about it, which was kind of funny. Um, but most of them mentioned it at least a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. So I want to rewind so first of all, how many interviews did you get in total?

SPEAKER_01

12.

SPEAKER_02

12. Okay. That's that's you know, so interesting, a lot of our students have been getting a significant number of interviews. I think the average is somewhere around eight or nine nowadays, uh, which is I was really happy.

SPEAKER_01

I I was aiming for over 10. So I was happy.

SPEAKER_02

And but I will say that you got all 12 in emergency medicine. Did you have any fallback options? No, no, okay.

SPEAKER_01

I mean I was all off all out

Why Medicine

SPEAKER_01

for emergency.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. And so when you started, um, you know, obviously you nobody just you know is meddling in the Olympics and and you know, fencing, and then all of a sudden one fine day you don't get up and you say that I want to be a doctor. Tell us about how this came to your mind.

SPEAKER_01

Uh just medicine in general, you mean? Yeah, yeah. Well, my dad was a doctor. Um he's uh he's a hundred years old now, so he doesn't remember anything from those days, but he's literally he's 92 years old, so he's almost actually 100 years old. Oh, okay. Um but he was a doctor, and all that he can remember from it is that it was amazing. And he would talk about just how much fun he had and how great it was to be a doctor, and he just always made it seem like this really awesome profession. And um yeah, so once I started medical school, I was like, this is not awesome, this is hard work. Um, but once I start something, I refuse to quit, obviously, since I've done four Olympics. So I'm glad I stuck with it. But yeah, it was definitely um not as amazingly fun as my dad like chalked it up to be. But um now that I'm here and hopefully we'll continue experiencing, I just I love being able to help people. I went from being completely clueless about where even the thymus was to uh to now where you know I can actually like provide um advice and and help people. And as an emergency doctor, which is one of the things that drew me to emergency, um, just like actively helping people. Wow. So um that has always been something I wanted to do.

SPEAKER_02

But then uh when you decided to do this, um, you obviously uh with your background, I can only imagine were there a lot of questions like why do you want to do this?

SPEAKER_01

There was questions about how I got into medicine, yes. Um but it for the most part is always been about me wanting to help. I mean, it wasn't just because of my dad's great stories. That's kind of what like got me thinking about medicine, but really it was I just I've always wanted to help people. Um I've you know traveled a lot and and seen a lot of you know different types of cultures, different types of situations, and I've always just had this feeling I just I want to help and I want to contribute to uh to society in some way. So that's awesome. Yeah, this is definitely worth a good way to do it.

SPEAKER_02

Were were there any naysayers?

SPEAKER_01

Um no, for the most part, everybody kind of felt like that is a good a good place for me to be. Really? Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Well that

Overcoming Doubts

SPEAKER_02

that's awesome. So I do have to ask you this. You know, I mean, obviously, even in social media, whenever you put something up, there's always people like, oh, going to Caribbean school, you're never gonna match. The fact that you came to St. James, were there any naysayers at that point? Oh my god, why are you doing this?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah, actually, you know, come to think of it, um when I was in college, which was a long time ago, um, but when I was in college, all of my friends were, I had a lot of friends that were um doing the pre-med um journey, like starting pre-med and and with the intention of going into medicine. And I was doing art and I wanted to do pre-med, but couldn't because I was traveling so much and and competing so much. Um, and I remember telling them, like, oh, after after college, you know, at some point when I'm done with my fencing, I'm I'm gonna go into medical school and I'm gonna become a doctor. And a lot of them were like, Oh, if you don't start from like day one in college, like you're gonna have a really, really tough time getting in.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

And I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Um, I don't think I'll have any uh any issues. Even though I did have like a few naysayers, I never listened to it. Right. Um and once I got into St. James, it would I don't know if I had any specific friends tell me it was gonna be difficult, but just like the overall vibe of Caribbean schools, if you look on any social media stuff, it's always like, oh, good luck getting into a good residency. Like it's gonna be really tough. But so when I was applying for residency programs, I definitely like felt like I should apply to places that had high IMG acceptance rates, um, just because I was worried that that would be the case, that I would have trouble getting into a good program otherwise.

Matching Her #1 Choice

SPEAKER_01

Um, but actually the program I matched into uh had has like barely any, at least on the the the websites like Frida and whatnot, has barely any IMGs. And so I was thinking like maybe I shouldn't even bother applying, like they probably won't accept me. But I applied anyways, and I got in.

SPEAKER_02

Right. So well, I mean, so now are you did you once you match, did you email your naysayers and tell them that hey, by the way, I just posted on social media like on Facebook and whatnot, like I got in.

SPEAKER_01

And I had a lot of the people from from college that told me, Oh, good luck, it's gonna be tough. Yeah, they all told they all told me congrats. So maybe they forgot about their hating ways.

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, so first of all, I do want to point out that uh you're not the typical IMG, you're a four-time Olympian. That in and of itself is a cut above what 99%, not even that, 99.9% of the population. So I would think, and you know, we've seen in our school where people have matched into programs, and the programs have liked them so much that they have completely changed their rules um for the particular student. So you would have matched pretty much anywhere you wanted to go. Uh and and uh the great thing is that you matched into your first choice. Um but I I never would have doubted that you would not match where you wanted to be. And but I speaking of matches and and you know, speaking about your dad, who you said is 92 years old, uh St. James is actually going to be um has made history because the oldest graduate in the world at 73 years has matched this year as well.

SPEAKER_01

Well, 73.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And uh, you know, I was uh talking to her. We were we were uh walking through the match process and we were constantly on the phone with her. Um, and I was uh asking her, How are you feeling? And then she's like, Oh, I got injured, and I was like, How did you get injured? Oh, I was cycling in uh Patagonia and I kind of uh you know missed the jump, and I was like, Wait, what just your casual injured and I was like, wait, I can barely get a bike over a sidewalk and you're like cycling in Patagonia of all places.

SPEAKER_01

Well, she's clearly different than yes.

SPEAKER_02

I've met her, what an inspiration, and so are you. What like you guys both of you have made this match process for us so extra special. Every match is incredibly special for us, but you guys, uh, what amazing stories. And I I really want to emphasize that there's so many, especially on social media. When this goes up on social media, we're gonna get all people like, oh, Caribbean school this, Caribbean school that. And I just really want to point out from your story, uh, and as well as uh Dawn's story, which is the other person, they're the only thing that is holding people back from getting their dream jobs and matching and get doing what they want to do is themselves. Like they're constantly getting in the uh getting in the way of themselves. And we've already posted uh Dawn's story on social media and some of the weird, bizarre comments that we've received. And I keep wondering, how do these people get by a single day in their lives? They must be so like, oh, they're gonna, you know, the residents. First of all, it's initially it's like, oh, they're never gonna match. Then when they match, it's like, oh, then the residency is gonna be terrible. And then when they get into amazing programs like yours, they're like, oh, you know, I mean, uh, something's wrong. It's always something, yeah. But uh, we're so incredibly proud.

Balancing Medicine & Motherhood

SPEAKER_02

So, but the bigger news for you is that obviously you matched, but there's also um uh an additional extra good news that is two and a half months ago, is that right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, my little baby.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, yes. So are you nervous?

SPEAKER_01

Um, yes, I am nervous because even being away from her for like a day is really tough. So, yes. Yes, I'm nervous.

SPEAKER_02

Well, you know, we we do have some alumni who are very much in your shoes. I would be happy to connect you with them and how they're managing the stress of uh new mom, uh first-year residency, uh, and and maybe you guys can talk and maybe even have a support group eventually because you're you're there are a lot of students who go through this. Because uh, but but at the same time, I will tell you that the ones I've seen, and you're not there are quite a few people I've seen that go program directors and residency programs have been incredibly supportive of this process. And I will have no doubt that your program director and your residency will be just as supportive. So, for example, you will be taking her to trainings on occasion, so she so um yeah, I know it is, and besides, medicine is hard, you gotta keep starting earlier and earlier anyway, right? So, right. So, um, and and but it's at two and a half months, it's still a little challenging, but after three months, I think it gets I wouldn't call it easier, but definitely a lot more fun.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, yeah, that's good. I mean, she's mostly kind of well, she's starting to babble and smile. Yeah, um, but she was pretty much just a sack of potatoes until that point.

SPEAKER_02

So right, right. Well, I mean, but I think uh three months onwards they start reacting, they start recognizing, yeah, and then they start trying to walk, and then they start trying to talk, and then when they actually walk, that's when all hell breaks loose. Right. That's what I've heard. Yeah, and I think that'll happen around 10 months, but uh but it it's going to be awesome.

Support System

SPEAKER_02

And obviously, we've talked this about this before in some of the other podcasts. I want you to talk a little bit about your support system that has gotten you this far.

SPEAKER_01

Enough. Uh honestly, I it it can't be said enough um how lucky I am to have the support that I do have. My husband, I mean, he's been with me from the very beginning, from since before I was in medicine. Um, and he's been even waiting around for me to get to get that paycheck one day. Uh no, but he uh he's supported me all through everything. And I mean, it's been really tough. Even when I was, you know, fencing uh full-time, I would, we would, I would travel and I'd be gone for months. We would be doing long distance. I would be training in France, Hungary, New York, whatever, for like months at a time sometimes. And so we did a lot of our relationship long distance. Um, and then once medicine happened, uh med school happened, he actually moved to me, uh moved with me to uh to Anguilla. Um he moved with me uh to McAllen once I started my my rotations. He's in it for the long haul, I guess, apparently.

SPEAKER_02

No, I mean, you know, I mean, I've heard you talk about him. Uh obviously, this is the third time I'm hearing you talk about him. Um and he sounds like such a remarkable man. And and when he comes to Chicago, I would definitely like to meet him. And if with your permission and with his permission, if we could record a podcast with him when he's here, that would be amazing because what you know, I mean, and and I keep telling uh people this that yes, the students are obviously the ones who eventually get the accolades and and have the success. But we have statistically definitely seen this that if you do not have a support system, whether it whether it's moms and dads, uh, whether it's siblings, whether it's uh spouses, that support system is the one who really bears the brunt of it, which is essentially, you know, dealing with the long nights, deal dealing with the stress, because when you're stressed, he's stressed. Absolutely. Yeah. And have and and keeping things in uh uh on track. And you know, and I remember you telling us uh some of this before that when you were in Anguilla, making sure that you can come home and get what you need to eat so that you can focus on entirely studying.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, absolutely. I can't tell you how many dinners and coffees he's made me just uh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

So I think rightfully he is waiting for that paycheck now.

SPEAKER_01

He is he's like, I've waited this long, I can keep going.

SPEAKER_02

But uh I and it's just amazing, and it's obviously now. I mean, emergency medicine, no residency is easy, and and there is a little bit more of a challenge in uh the next couple of years, but I heard at PGY2 onwards things get better. So there's hoping. And and then eventually it uh eventually there will be one day, maybe I'll feel like I'll know what I'm doing, you mean I I'm pretty sure just based on your decisions that you've made, I genuinely think that you know what you're doing. I think you knew what you were doing when you went to the Olympics the first time.

SPEAKER_01

The first time, the first time was chaos, the second time was a little bit better, the third time I was definitely getting in the swing of things, and the fourth time, yeah, was a veteran. So every time is better.

SPEAKER_02

So when you're done with uh residency, do you think that uh you want to be involved with the Olympics or the International Olympic Committee or something like that?

SPEAKER_01

I would think I think it would be so cool to go to the Olympics as uh like an emergency doctor. You know, that that sounds super cool. And also, I don't have to worry about competing, so it would be even better because that is definitely the worst part about the Olympics is actually competing. It's so nerve-wracking, and just uh I've lost years of my life with how much stress it is leading up to that, you know, that actual event. So it would be nice to uh to to go to the Olympics and like just enjoy myself and also um be able to help the athletes that are there. Like that sounds so cool. I would love to do that.

SPEAKER_02

And and is there a particular pathway to do that, or is it just once you finish and you get your license, you just apply for a job there?

SPEAKER_01

Or I believe that there is a fellowship and emergency med uh emergency medicine has a a a path into sports medicine. I've definitely seen it and heard of it. So um I don't know for sure if um my program has has a fellowship attached to it with sports medicine, but I know I've seen them around.

SPEAKER_02

So I mean I will say this though, University of Texas is such a big system.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. I'm sure somewhere, one of the UTs somewhere has something.

SPEAKER_02

If if anybody has it, it's definitely going to be you know them. Um and

Future Plans

SPEAKER_02

as far as uh generally um you know your overall uh uh you know expectations of life in general. Where are you now with that? Now that you've met, now that you have a little one?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I can't believe it's all coming together exactly how I wanted. Uh-huh. I mean, we bought this house in San Antonio specifically to like what's the word I'm looking for? Like um just like really hopeful that I would get into the program here in San Antonio. Okay, that we bought the house close to the medical center, close to the hospital that the that the um residents work out of, specifically because we were hoping I would get into this program.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

So like everything actually worked out, like it actually happened. Um, so it's still like I'm still trying to like I'm like bugging out about it, how like it really all came true.

SPEAKER_02

And just a couple of minutes ago, you were just saying that when I actually know what I'm going I'm doing. Well, it as I said, I feel like you have probably one of the best plans I've ever seen of anybody of their lives. I mean, you did fencing, you rep, I mean, you've essentially not essentially you had two parallel careers, which most people most people can barely handle one. And you had two parallel careers, you're getting into the other one, and you're still relatively young. Um, so you know, if I may, where do you see yourself say 15 years down the road? Since you do have and everything's actually fallen into place. I have to ask this question.

SPEAKER_01

Well, um, I just want to be able to make the best life possible for my baby, I guess.

SPEAKER_02

I mean now that she's you know here um right now that I have a child like that's all I really want is to have uh be able to make it to where her life is comfortable um and just provide for my for my family essentially finally finally live how we've always wanted to live hopefully I know I'll be working a lot but um yeah it's definitely worth it whenever you can like give the best life for your family so right right right right that's awesome and um do you think San Antonio is going to be home even post residency or are you thinking of other places maybe other places in the world?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah I've always wanted to I mean I've that's the thing I miss the most about the Olympics is all the traveling I used to do all the international traveling I mean I would be in a different country every every month so by far the thing I miss the most is traveling not competing but traveling so I absolutely would love to take this this uh this job internationally I don't know if I can and I have to look into all that I'm sure but um I would love to practice internationally that would be that would be the dream that would be the real dream honestly or at least be able to have enough time off that we can travel a lot and bring the baby.

SPEAKER_02

Well I can tell you I think you are in the right specialization for that because I actually know a lot of uh emergency physicians because uh the emergency physicians tend to be a couple a couple of weeks on and then a couple of weeks off so because of that's why I took it yes exactly and those couple of weeks weeks off so for example I actually have a friend um she's traveled to over 70 countries because she has a couple of weeks on and then uh on the couple of weeks off she just takes off uh that's awesome yeah and uh she travels the world and unlike most travel bloggers she actually travels in style because she is a doctor and she right right I can hardly wait to not be in the in the back with the right you know you you get tagged as baggage and they throw you in it's not definitely not one of the just like shove us in the back with like like like cattle.

SPEAKER_01

So you can hardly wait to be in the front.

SPEAKER_02

So I think you can definitely do that. And you know in due course of time I definitely want to introduce you um to some of the physicians that we work with and so now now we have a tropical health and global health program as well at St. James. Super cool and I want you to I I want to introduce you to these guys or maybe when you have a little breather from uh in uh post-PGY1 I'd like you to come to Suriname and check out uh the program I want to introduce you to Dr. Frayden he's uh you know uh a big name in tropical medicine quite the celebrity if you will then we also have in our global health program we have uh Dr. Haywood Hall he's from Baylor actually from Texas and I think you're yeah well yes um and and uh he like they practice medicine globally like they're pre making policies and they work with the WHO they work with I love that I think that's really cool yeah they work I would be interested in something like that too yeah I mean I I mean I would love to make that connection I uh give me some time I'll wait till May I'm going to meet Dr. Fraden very uh in May in person and I definitely want to be able to introduce you to him because he's traveled the world Europe uh all across South America all across the Caribbean he's even consulted with the United States um then you have Dr. uh Hall he's again traveled the globe all across the world uh how they exactly get through the licensing processes and stuff that's something I I'll you know maybe you can ask them directly I've never really asked them yeah I love to know but they're all obviously licensed in their uh own countries and uh right now Dr. Hall if I'm not mistaken is licensed in Mexico and the United I mean uh and in Texas so uh and in Boston because I believe he worked in that region as well so that's something that definitely you know and and then obviously doctors without borders is is a great option however from my understanding they really don't really pay a whole lot but I I do genuinely think that there is a way for you to get the rewards for all of your hard work and still be able to give back to all the different countries that some of these physicians are currently doing. Yeah I I would love to to talk their ears off definitely oh I and and I think I I will definitely make those connections for you as time goes on. But uh I I'm I heard that you are coming for our graduation. Yes yeah I'll be there that that is so awesome and I hope we get to see your uh family family as well yes my husband I I'm pretty sure I'm bringing the baby but definitely bringing the husband at the very least okay that's awesome

Resilience & Mindset

SPEAKER_02

so now that you have two you know nuclei off your life which is fencing and then you have medicine what do you think identifies you more resilience oh wow I think that's a good additive yeah yeah I that that's that's definitely so it's neither like fencing or neither so you know you are definitely a resilient person because without either of those uh without that neither of those possibilities would not be yeah absolutely I mean it it takes some serious self-motivation to push yourself through those those um those ways that I I did I mean the Olympics was was one thing training hard you know it's all there's no like there's nobody that's you know pushing you to do it you have to do it yourself um the same goes for medicine so very you can draw a lot of similarities between the two and that's what I did in my interviews. Wow and um and uh you know with with uh with these with medicine um as you said um as you continue on with your um journey uh in in future um I I kind of asked this but uh do you plan on staying in Texas? You said you wanted to travel but as a fallback I would like to keep San Antonio as like a home base okay I see I see all right yeah I mean my husband's whole family's here um I see you know they're all gonna be helping with the baby at some point so all right so that makes a lot of sense okay yeah and so all the residency programs that you did apply to were they all in Texas?

SPEAKER_01

Nope actually San Antonio was the only Texas one I applied to some in Houston and I was I was a little surprised I didn't get an interview from Houston but um yeah that's the only one in in in Texas. Oh no you know I take it back I uh got one from uh Lubick from uh Texas Tech.

SPEAKER_02

Okay okay okay um yeah I have to ask you this and and you know you you rotated at South Texas Health System did you apply for any of the programs there? They have a very good emergency program too.

SPEAKER_01

I thought about applying to the one down in McAllen yeah um but they were they're pretty new right um I was looking for more like yeah just just programs that have been around for longer yeah established programs.

SPEAKER_02

Okay I'm I I can almost guarantee they would have taken you to for sure and um uh generally speaking can I ask you just for the uh benefit of our other students um we have an average number of programs that our students apply for how many programs did you apply for overall um 52 okay so well that's dramatically less than the number of students number of programs that our students apply for our students I've heard some people apply to a bunch our students at an average apply to about 120 programs. Oh my god 52 was expensive enough so I but um also the average American student uh applies to about 40 programs so um I mean I'm not surprised that you applied to I mean we would expect you to have less than uh average but um 120 programs is kind of what we recommend when students come to us and ask us how many programs should I apply to that's what we say and obviously that depends on um we we break it down by specialty we always say that you should always have a main focus and then you have to have a backup focus. And if it wasn't San Antonio what what were what would have been your choice number two?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah honestly if I hadn't gotten into San Antonio it didn't matter that much after that like I had I had things ranked um I had Albuquerque as number two because my sister lives there.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

But other than that of the other ten programs that I that I ranked after those two um it didn't matter. I like I would have had to have moved and once I move anywhere I can make anywhere home. Like I've traveled enough that it doesn't really matter where I go I can I I'm happy pretty much anywhere. I I was a little hesitant on like Michigan and New York which were my two other interviews um because they're so cold but um I'm sure we would have made it work. So it would have been an adventure and I love adventure and that's what I told the the programs in the interviews is I would have no problem moving. I've lived all over the US I've lived all over I've lived in different parts of of the world and um it's no problem for me to acclimate to places. So okay well and my husband you know he's set up his life to be able to go wherever I go yeah so really like I have my support system and that's all I need.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah and you know I mean I can't uh tell you enough how much I admire your husband even without having met him or even spoken to him he j just sounds like such a remarkable man and I am yeah you said this in the last interview too and I told him after the interview was over I told him how much you were like talking him up no I mean I I I I have to say that the the the dedication and um the to be honest the focus that you need to have to be able to support and and I know a lot of physicians obviously and how demanding a career is but forget about the career just the process of going through this um it's not easy and we're all human and the I think a uh a very trying um process like medical school creates a lot of ups and downs and it does better term multiple personalities easily at my worst yeah and and being able to adjust with that and and especially you know with a background like yours where you've traveled the world and he's gone everywhere with you and being able to adjust like that that in and of itself is just so incredibly remarkable and I and I can't really wait to see him in in Chicago and I can't wait to talk to him um and I just uh I I think you should absolutely tell him that I have nothing but admiration for him I will tell him he loves to hear it I don't tell him enough i i I should say it more but um well I mean you're you're his wife you don't have to tell him that you know I'll tell him he might be like what do you want but uh just compliment but I I can I can you know we've seen this statistically for the students for them to succeed they need to have a support system and the better the student the stronger the support system I believe it's and uh and I I I don't mean to get ahead of myself by saying this but I have a feeling a lot of your success is really because you and you said this in your previous uh podcast was because you didn't have to worry about everything else that life is throwing at you because he took care of it all it's so true.

SPEAKER_01

I mean even before I had him um my mom and dad were always there with us supporting us 100% of the way um my sister and and me in our early fencing careers they were always there um you know so we my mom would take care of all the logistics my dad would coach us he would go to all the tournaments with us my mom would be at home command central like figuring out all the hotels the travel everything so all my life I've been very lucky and um you know and and my husband has been around for we've been together for almost 14 years now so he's he's seen me through through a lot of different journeys um and without a doubt what you said is completely true.

SPEAKER_02

I mean and as I said statistics never lie we've seen that people who have uh come with solid from solid families but come with their partners they just do remarkably better I mean I'm not talking about one or two basis points I'm talking about dramatically uh better uh speaking of your mom I remember interacting with her right in the beginning when you were just starting um I think she was uh helping us out with um helping sort out some of the paperwork with you right in the beginning so that was my interaction with your mom but this is yeah oh yeah I remember yeah yeah yeah four or five years ago I know it seems like forever ago so yeah it's like I've I've interacted with your whole family seriously but uh and and uh you mentioned your dad is 92 he was a surgeon though right I I think you'd mentioned that he no he was um what was he he was a general physician he oh okay he worked in clinics okay okay okay that's awesome and and he's kind of the main reason that you went into this this field and he's the main reason you got into fencing too right well my both my parents fenced that's actually how they met so both of them equally but my my dad is the reason that medicine was put into my head um yeah that's what like put the seed planted the seed um but ultimately like because I wanted to help people I wanted to make a difference that's really why I went after it after did your mom and dad represent the United States at all?

SPEAKER_01

At the Olympics no they never quite made it to that level my mother would have qualified for the Olympics that they boycotted back in whatever year that was 80 something maybe or 70 something I for I forget what Olympics was boycotted but um you know when the US um boycotted and the then Russia boycotted right back. It was one of those Olympics I see a bajillion years ago.

SPEAKER_02

Well I I can I can see you've given enough reasons to make uh your entire family proud and uh I

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_02

really appreciate the time as always and and what we're really going to do is we've never really done this before have a student uh have a podcast where we've highlighted uh the different phases when you started when you were uh just starting clinicals and now when you've come full I'm so honored I I well I mean we're honored that you chose St. James uh for your journey because I think with a person like you your journey could have would have been completed no matter where you went. But uh we're we're very honored that you chose us and you chose to share this journey with you. And we're very honored that you're gonna come and uh see us in um uh for the graduation me too it'll be like kind of the first trip we take as a family of three oh that's awesome that's awesome yeah yeah and you're flying directly from San Antonio is that right yeah all right uh so you should make sure that you get a direct flight because I'm telling you flying with little kids break journeys are not fun I believe you but now now it's good because she's probably sleeping a lot um still about 12 hours a day uh noise doesn't make much of a difference my my son he's three he's a light sleeper and it's pretty annoying so I'll enjoy it while it lasts yeah yeah exactly I mean you really enjoy it when they start interacting with you but then they become light sleepers and then you know you can't make too much of a noise because they get up so yeah no we we vacuum around my baby while she's sleeping right I mean she is out enjoy that while it lasts because I think around six months things change. Great can't wait but uh thank you so much Dr. Hurley what a pleasure to talk to you once again and what an honor it has been to see you come full circle right from the very beginning and uh and then when you started clinicals and then now when everything has come to a close I'm so happy for you and your family and we can't wait to see you in person. If you like the content please download uh our podcast from any of your favorite uh podcast platforms uh and please give us a like and a share and a follow because that really goes a long way for the production team and it helps us do what we do best. Um and remember there is no shortcut to becoming an MD. Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing you at the next episode.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much for tuning in to our show. We hope you enjoyed another episode of Med School Minutes if you like our content please follow us and receive notification when a new show is posted. This podcast is brought to you by St. James School of Medicine for a video version of this podcast please check us out on sjsf.org slash video