fisher article
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8/14/2019 Fisher Article
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in part to help pay o her student loans.
Serving as the chie medical ofcer and
medical director or the Plain View
Health Center in Greenevers, North
Carolina, with the National Health
Services Corps, she was the only physician
doing obstetrics in a county o 50,000
residents. It was during this service
obligation that she witnessed frsthand
the desperate state o healthcare in rural
areasand the isolation that can make
such areas seem like less than attractiveplaces or physicians to locate.
That experience helped me to see
that there are many people who are not
receiving medical services who could be
i the money was spent dierently, she
says. She was moved to earn a Master
in Public Health degree rom the Johns
Hopkins University School o Hygiene
and Public Health (now their Bloomberg
School o Public Health), and entered
health services administration. She
recently was able to apply some o those
public health lessons oering medical
assistance in Mississippi ater hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.
But it wasnt Fishers medical career
that frst taught her to reach out to
her larger community. Growing up in
Durham, North Carolina, as the daughter
o a Baptist minister, she learned early on
the importance o amily, community and
service to others.
She also knew that she would have to
learn to see beyond her amiliar world
and extend her vision. And so, ater
earning a bachelor o arts degree rom
the University o North Carolina in
Greensboro, Fisher moved to Wisconsin
or medical school (thanks, in part, to
Cornelius Hopper, MD, an Arican
American neurologist at UW, who helped
recruit her to Madison).
It was as ar away rom home as Icould get. I knew I needed to broaden
my experience base, she says. UW was
looking or black students, and I wanted
to be a doctor. It was a decent trade-o.
The transition wasnt always easy. In
addition to the shock o encountering
a new culture, Fishers ather and
grandather died during her frst semester
away. Whats more, her frst-year studies
proved to be a challengeespecially or
one who struggled to see what she now
calls the big picture in medicine. Shewrestled with gross anatomy, oering
that she was petrifed o dead olks, even
though my brother runs a uneral home.
I was struggling every day to keep
up, so Id return at night, Fisher recalls.
And I tell you, there is nothing more
rightening than those anatomy labs at
two in the morning, with those rows o
cadavers in tanks. Every little sound was
unnerving!
Furthermore, Fisher says, she ound
it highly ironic that racism could existin Madison, known to be a bastion o
liberalism, while small communities
beyond the capital, where she spent
FishertobeFeaturedatJulyReunion
AdaFisher,MD75,MPH,willbe
thespecialguestspeakeratareunionoftheAfricanAmericanalumniofthe
SchoolofMedicineandPublicHealth
thissummer.
OrganizedbyRev.RonaldV.
Myers,MD85,thereunionwillbe
heldinconjunctionwiththeUW
DepartmentofAfro-AmericanStudies.
Severaleventsarescheduledfor
ThursdaythroughSunday,July20-23,
2006.
FisherwillspeakonFridayinthe
HealthSciencesLearningCenter,the
schoolsnewhome.Toursofthenewbuildingwillbeheld,andcurrent
AfricanAmericanmedicalstudents
willbeonhandtogreetreturning
alumni.
Aconcertfeaturingthe
ExperimentalImprovisationalBlack
MusicEnsemble(EIBME)isplanned
forSaturdayevening,July22,
beginningat7p.m.intheUnion
TheatreatMemorialUnion.The
concertwillhonorJimmyCheatham,
formerUWprofessorofmusic,and
JeannieCheatham.Thereunionwillkickoffafund-
raisingcampaignfortheWisconsin
African-AmericanAlumniCenterin
Madison.The$10millionproject
wouldhouseaperformingartscenter,
livingspaceforhistoricallyblack
fraternitiesandahistorycenter.
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As a second year medical student, Fisher tooknotes in the medical microbiology laboratory.
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AdaM.Fisher,MD75,MP
23Spring 2006
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a good deal o time, could be more
receptive to minorities.
But in the midst o these challenges,
there were individuals who recognized
her abilities and tenacityand reached
out to her.
Among them, Fisher names June
Osborne, MD, now a national medical
leader, who then taught virology and had
sat on Fishers admissions committee.
When Fishers grades altered, Osborne
took her aside, and together they worked
to fnd solutions.
Not only did Fishers grades steadily
improve, but she also began the clinical
portion o her education, where she
could really excel. Im a people
person, she explains, so it was thenthat I got some idea o how it all hangs
together.
Working with patients gave Fisher
the opportunity to do what she did
bestcare or people in distress.
Coming rom lie as a preachers kid, I
could deal with lie and deathId sign
up or the cancer services when others
didnt, or example.
Similarly encouraging or Fisher were
her summer externships. She spent the
summer ollowing her reshman year inthe small town o Baldwin, Wisconsin.
The ollowing year, the schools Family
Medicine Club asked her to share
her experiences with ellow members
who were about to embark on similar
externships. The address was adapted or
use in The New Physicianjournal, with
Fishers portrait appearing on the cover.
The summer externships were
arranged by pediatrician Mark Hansen,
MD, and with the monetary support
o community beneactors Mr. andMrs. Wayne Brown, who were aware o
Fishers fnancial constraints. Thanks to
them, she happily worked every summer
ollowing a handul o patients through
their pregnancies.
They were delightul people, she
says o Hansen and Brown. In act,
it was partially Fishers wish to visit
with Hansen that brought her back to
Madison last July to attend the 30th
reunion o her Class o 1975.
Fisher also drew inspiration and
got encouragement rom UW cancer
researchers who were prominent
nationally during the 1970s. These
included Charles Heidelberger, MD,
who invented the cancer drug 5-FU, and
Nobel Laureate Howard Temin, MD,
who discovered RNA-DNA polymerase.
Looking back, it is clear that both
the challenges in Fishers medical
education and her early clinical
experiences encouraged her to serveas an advocate or otherswhether
patients, ellow black students, veterans
or the multitudes o corporate employees
and common citizens she has reached
as a health administrator. She regularly
receives letters rom ormer patients
who have benefted rom her care, and
she dotes on pictures o the babies she
delivered who are now grown.
Fisher says that though she had
challenges in medical school, on balance
the experiences were lie changing andenriching. Wisconsin was pivotal in my
intellectual growth and I will always be
grateul and appreciative to the people o
Wisconsin or giving me, an out-o-state
student, a chance to ulfll a dream.
Fisher has been grateul since the
beginning.
The frst money I made ater
graduating rom medical school I
spent on a lietime membership in the
Wisconsin Medical Alumni Association,
she says. I always wanted to be a doctor,and Wisconsin gave me that chance.
Fishers account of her summer externshipspent in Baldwin, Wisconsin, appeared as thecover story in the journalThe New Physician.
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