THEN
Dr. Stanley Olson ’34, LL.D. ’53
FORMER DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS; FORMER DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AT THE BAYLOR UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
Dr. Stanley Olson ’34, LL.D. ’53 did not plan to attend Wheaton College. But when Lorraine Lofdahl ’34 decided to attend there, Dr. Olson transferred to Wheaton from the University of Wisconsin to join her. The two wed in 1936. (Lorraine passed away on May 3, 2006.)
Olson, 101 years old at the time of this interview [he passed away Feb. 13, 2016], recently recounted his experiences via mail.
“Associating with other Christian students at Wheaton [was wonderful],” Dr. Olson says, and “the literary societies that met on Friday evenings” were one of his favorite activities on campus.
“We had to prepare and deliver papers that would be discussed and criticized, and ran the night as a business session,” Dr. Olson writes. Many of the skills learned in those meetings proved helpful to him in his future work as a physician and leader.
After graduating with a chemistry degree, Dr. Olson attended the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He then interned at the Mayo Clinic and later took the position of dean and professor of medicine at the University of Illinois. Dr. Olson’s connection to Wheaton remained strong—he served as president of the Alumni Association from 1951-53. Dr. Olson was granted an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the College in 1953, as well as the Alumni Association’s Award for Distinguished Service to Alma Mater in 1956. Dr. Olson also served as a trustee of the College for 15 years. In 1953, Dr. Olson was hired as dean and professor of medicine at the Baylor University College of Medicine, where his leadership led to improvements and expansions in the program. Multiple students from Wheaton were admitted to Baylor during his time as dean.
Dr. Olson has helped establish, run, build, or advise medical schools in various locations stateside and around the world, ultimately impacting thousands of people. Still, when asked what he would like to tell current students of Wheaton College, Dr. Olson had one thing to say: “I have never regretted transferring to Wheaton.”
Dr. Stuart Brown ’54
FORMER CHIEF OF PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL DIRECTOR AT MERCY HOSPITAL IN SAN DIEGO; FORMER ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO; FOUNDER, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PLAY
Dr. Stuart Brown ’54 first encountered Dr. Olson while on campus for commencement weekend to celebrate the graduation of his older brother, Bruce ’52.
“Stan gave an address—a very inspirational talk about medicine and spirituality,” Dr. Brown says. “I buttonholed him afterward and he encouraged me to apply to Baylor for medical school. I was looking for a trajectory that combined the urgency to serve Christ with the practical use of my talents and skills. I think that’s what Stan personified for me—that there was enough room in what was [taking place] at Baylor for all of those things to happen.”
After Dr. Brown finished his medical degree at Baylor and his residency at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Olson hired him as an assistant to the associate dean at Baylor. Dr. Brown saw Dr. Olson’s leadership afresh when the two became colleagues.
“There was never any egocentricity on Stan’s part,” Dr. Brown says. “He had clear vision and spectacular administrative leadership. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Dr. Brown’s career led him to San Diego, where he acted as the chief of psychiatry and clinical director at Mercy Hospital and also as an associate professor at the University of California San Diego. He has worked with organizations including the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the National Geographic Society, and he founded and leads the National Institute for Play. Still, he says, Dr. Olson’s leadership stands out.
“A lot of inspiration to be who I am and what I am was influenced by Stan,” Dr. Brown says. “I learned the power of quiet and focused leadership that I’ve never been able to match in him. He remains a personal hero to me and a true medical statesman.”
Professor Emerita Dr. Evvy Hay Campbell ’68
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF INTERCULTURAL STUDIES EMERITA; FORMER MISSIONARY NURSE AT KAMAKWIE WESLEYAN HOSPITAL, SIERRA LEONE, WEST AFRICA
Like Dr. Brown, Professor Emerita Dr. Evvy Hay Campbell ’68 wanted to combine her desire to serve Christ with work in the medical field.
“The summer I was ten years old, I wrote in my diary that I wanted to be ‘a missionary and a nurse,’” Dr. Campbell says.
After graduating from Wheaton with a degree in English literature and completing her BSN at Columbia University in the City of New York, Campbell first worked as a nurse in Michigan and then served two terms at Kamakwie Wesleyan Hospital in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
“In Sierra Leone, I scrambled to care properly for patients who had often walked far and were severely ill,” Campbell remembers.
A desire to learn and help those she served at Kamakwie led her to attain several degrees, including a Ph.D. in adult education. Many of her papers “were written to address difficult issues” she encountered at Kamakwie.
During her career, Dr. Campbell also worked for MAP International, a Christian relief and development agency where she focused on HIV/AIDS and community development-related workshops. She then took a faculty position at Wheaton College Graduate School.
“It was an enormous privilege to serve 15 years at Wheaton,” Dr. Campbell says. “Attending Wheaton College as a student had been a positive and significantly formative part of my life, and I was keenly aware that returning to Wheaton was an opportunity to ‘pay it back’ and make a contribution by investing in current students.”
Dr. Kathy Albain ’74
PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE IN THE HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY DIVISION AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO STRITCH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND LOYOLA’S CARDINAL BERNARDIN CANCER CENTER IN CHICAGO, DIRECTOR OF THE BREAST CANCER CLINICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM AND DIRECTOR OF THE THORACIC ONCOLOGY PROGRAM
Unlike Dr. Campbell, Dr. Kathy Albain ’74 had no childhood dreams of working in the medical profession. In fact, she entered Wheaton as a pipe organ major. But while taking a chemistry elective, Dr. Albain “fell in love with investigation and the scientific method.” Although not her plan, “a gentle inner leading from the Lord” guided Dr. Albain to switch to a chemistry major and attend the University of Michigan Medical School. She specialized in adult medical oncology and now practices at Loyola University Chicago’s Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center in Maywood, Ill., caring for patients with breast and lung cancer. She also designs, conducts, and publishes national clinical research studies, several of which have changed the standard of care worldwide.
What is most satisfying in her work?
“How medicine can be ministry in the secular, academic, medical environment,” she says. In a field where diagnoses are life-changing, the opportunities for talking about Christ and praying with and for her patients are myriad. “Looking back, I can be certain that it was God who equipped and superintended my life—at Wheaton, and to this day.”
NOW
Dr. Joshua Lawrenz ’10
SECOND-YEAR RESIDENT IN ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY AT CLEVELAND CLINIC IN OHIO
Dr. Joshua Lawrenz ’10 attributes his decision to pursue medicine to his experience at Wheaton. “It was at Wheaton that I fell in love with human anatomy and physiology,” he says.
Now Dr. Lawrenz spends his days evaluating patients and learning how to perform surgeries. His time at Wheaton consistently impacts his work, both spiritually and practically.
“Wheaton prepared me to think critically, to manage my time well, and to develop a disciplined lifestyle—intangible but necessary things that allow you to have success in the medical field,” Dr. Lawrenz says. “There are times when it’s impossible not to struggle in medical school and residency. But I’ve been given a foundation through my faith and my experiences at Wheaton that daily remind me of why I got into this in the first place.”
Dr. Elena Zitzman ’11
FIRST-YEAR RESIDENT IN GENERAL SURGERY AT WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER
The twin experiences of struggle and success in the medical profession are also well known to Captain Elena Zitzman ’11.
“I attribute my successes in medical school to a balanced lifestyle, which Wheaton encouraged in me,” Dr. Zitzman says.
But Wheaton is also where Dr. Zitzman says she learned how to fail.
“Failure is an integral part of our human experience, but I’d venture to say that most Wheaton students don’t encounter it before coming to college.”
Dr. Zitzman sees her experience of learning how to fail—while in a protected environment—as a gift.
“Wheaton’s rigor—academically, socially, and spiritually— introduced to me a world that remains very much in need of redemption,” Dr. Zitzman says. “The medical field highlights that need tangibly. Doctors fail, too. We don’t always have answers, our prognoses are sometimes inaccurate, procedures can go poorly. Being able to ‘fail well’—to put failure in perspective—is absolutely requisite for avoiding burnout as a physician while maintaining compassion and humility.”
Scott ’11 and Hannah Haskell Wambolt ’11
THIRD-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT AT TOURO UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE CALIFORNIA AND 2ND LIEUTENANT IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE (SCOTT); REGISTERED NURSE ON THE MEDICAL ONCOLOGY FLOOR AT LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER MURRIETA (HANNAH)
Like Dr. Zitzman ’11, Scott Wambolt ’11 also serves in the military. His wife, Hannah Haskell Wambolt ’11, works as a registered nurse. Both Scott and Hannah were applied health science majors at Wheaton, where they met as undergraduates. They married in 2013.
“Spiritually, Wheaton challenged me to know what I believe and why,” Hannah says. “On the oncology floor, I face difficult situations. Caring for the spiritual needs of others is very much intertwined in caring for their overall well-being, and Wheaton helped prepare me to do both.”
Scott’s time at Wheaton influenced the way he pursues his work as well.
“Individuals at Wheaton helped model for me what it means to be a Christian pursuing a career in medicine,” Scott says. “It was the people at Wheaton who showed me the type of physician and leader that I strive to be.”
