NAME: Melanie Wiseman
SPECIALTY: Internal medicine
RESIDENCY MATCH: Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD
REACTION: “I am proud to be joining Walter Reed for my residency. As a part of my residency experience, I’m also excited to work with the National Institutes of Health, Washington DC VA Medical Center and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (the military medical school). Overall, Walter Reed has a very academic feel, similar to IU School of Medicine, which I really appreciate and have grown to love.”
A match made in (the) military
Melanie Wiseman found out where she’ll be spending the next years of her medical training three months before her classmates: the Internal Medicine Program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, MD. Wiseman matched in December 2017 through the Military Match program, which takes place separately from the 2018 National Resident Matching Program Match Day on March 16.
“I commissioned with the United States military before I began medical school,” Wiseman said. “I believe that the men and women in our military deserve the best medical care, and I would like to provide that for them.”
Finding the magic in medicine
Wiseman didn’t waste any time as a medical student to start providing much-needed medical care. As the inaugural Women’s Health Chair and Director of Operations for the IU School of Medicine Student Outreach Clinic, Wiseman spends many of her weekends treating underprivileged patients on the east side of Indianapolis.
“One family shared with me some of the hardships they had experienced in Nigeria and their struggles since moving to the United States,” Wiseman said. “Their 6-year-old daughter wants to be a doctor, so at the end of their visit I let her use my stethoscope to listen to her heart and mine. Because of families like this, medicine is magical for me. I see patients with incredible stories almost every day.”
Patient-centered mindfulness
Practicing internal medicine was love at first (clerkship) site for Wiseman, who chose to pursue the specialty during her third-year clerkships with IU School of Medicine.
“I didn’t want my internal medicine clerkships to end,” Wiseman said. “I am convinced internal medicine is the career I am meant to have. I am fascinated by the medical complexity of illness, but my real passion lies in treatment of the whole person.”
Wiseman makes a clear distinction between focusing on treating just an illness and holistically caring for a patient; an important mentality she picked during her training medical training.
“I learned a wealth of medical knowledge at IU School of Medicine,” Wiseman said. “But – maybe even more importantly – my attending physicians, fellows, residents and classmates showed and taught me compassion, integrity and leadership.”
Wiseman’s leadership at IU School of Medicine will be missed. However, her thoughtful and compassionate legacy will live on at the school through the Peace and Reflection room – a space for medical students to meditate and reflect – that Wiseman opened in 2018 with three of her classmates.
