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In This Issue:
Department of Surgery
Helena Taylor never questioned her destiny as a doctor. Her grandmother and grandfather were doctors. Her aunt and uncle are doctors. Four of her cousins are even doctors. “I’ve just always planned on becoming a doctor,” said the 28-year-old from Manhattan.
The question was what kind of doctor did she want to be? For a while she didn’t fret over the choices. She went to Princeton, where she studied chemistry. Next she accepted a two-year fellowship at Cambridge University. Two years turned into three and she returned with a graduate degree in biophysics. Now she was ready. She entered Harvard Medical School, where she found her answer.
As a little girl, Taylor built her own robots, using wooden dowels, springs and electrical circuits. Surgery gave her the opportunity to put things back together.
“As a surgeon, you see patients throughout the continuum of care,” Taylor said. “You hear the patient complain in clinic. You feel the mass in the OR. You see it under the microscope in Pathology, and then you follow up with the patient in clinic.”
Taylor decided to combine her training in general surgery with plastic surgery, which will take six years to complete. “I recall observing general surgeons remove a portion of an individual’s shoulder due to extensive cancer,” said Taylor. “Plastics then reconstructed the shoulder completely. I was really moved by the experience and the important role of reconstructive surgery in many patient’s lives.”
She completed her first rotation – in Plastic Surgery – in late July, where she was involved in breast surgery reconstruction, hand surgery and wound care. And her new rotation in Thoracic Surgery already has been all encompassing. “The residency has already been such an education,” said Taylor. “Imagine the experience that six years brings.”