Alumni Board President, Quinton Dowling ‘05, recently met with alumna Kathy Altman ‘05 to discuss what she is doing now and what SAAS Memories stand out the most to her.
After majoring in college at Stanford University Kathy is now studying Osteopathic Medicine at Touro University in California. At Stanford she majored in Biology saying she “thought about majoring in something non-sciencey... but in the end if I wanted to graduate in 4 years, be a full time athlete, and premed that was not gonna happen.” Finding the balance between academics and sports paid off. Kathy rowed in high school and at Stanford, culminating in captaining the Stanford Women’s Rowing team to an NCAA Division 1 championship. Going into the championship the team was considered an underdog but they came away with the title: “We surprised everyone and came away as national champions. I will never forget that day.”
While at SAAS Kathy took American Studies, taught at the time by Rob Phillips and Joe Puggelli. “You had to work your butt off and you felt nervous a lot of the time but it's one of those things that when you put the work in, you feel great about it,” she says of the experience.
Kathy is now in clinical rotations; she loves interacting with patients and hearing their personal stories. “I also really enjoy working with my attending (physician),” she says. “Thus far they have all been really great. They enjoy what they do and love to teach.” Kathy is unsure if she will specialize or be a general internist, but she is interested in dermatology, gastroenterology, or rheumatology. “I honestly don't know what field I will end up in just yet but I'm sure I'll be working really hard and never sleeping!”