Inspiring health awareness through education
Story by Dr. Mary Mason, MD, MBA
1996
Here, Genie and Mary are at Washington University, and Mary is a a 4th year medical student.
2015
Dr. Mary Mason, MD, MBA started franchising Little Medical School
2018
A Little Medical School student learning about being a pediatrician
I am a doctor’s kid.
My mother was one of four women in her medical school class in 1954. She loved being a physician and did everything she could to get me, my siblings, our cousins, and friends to pursue a career in medicine. As a 6-year-old, I couldn’t wait for her to get home from her office. She would bring me tongue depressors, gauze pads, bandages for my “doctor’s office” in our playroom. I had a little white coat, stethoscope, and an old-fashion black doctor’s bag… and I felt like a real doctor. At Thanksgiving, we would “suture” the stuffed turkey. As I got older, I learn how to give an injection to an orange. I had no doubt in my mind that medicine was an achievable career path for me, even when adults thoughtlessly reminded me how many years I would have to go to school, or how hard it would be.
It was only later, as a first-year medical student, did I realize how powerful those early experiences were in shaping my conviction to pursue a career in medicine.
In 1998, I was a chief resident in Internal Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, and I decided to recreate my childhood experiences and wrote the first Little Medical School. I recruited fellow residents and medical students to help me teach. Our first class attended by 13-year-olds surprised me. They were acting silly and were not embracing the experience as I had hope. I went home and gathered up a basketful of white coats and stethoscopes and brought them to the second class and made the students put them on.
Dressed in a white coat with a stethoscope around their neck, the students were engaged, attentive, and having so much fun, they didn’t realize how much they were learning. That was the “Ah-HA” moment. the power of role-play and this has been a key pillar of all Little Medical School programs.
In addition to inspiring children to see themselves in healthcare careers, we teach real-life skills. Students learn what to do in there is a medical emergency, how to use a first aid kit, and how to prevent hypothermia. We also stress the importance of a health care professional being a role model. That means taking care of yourself… eating right, exercising, getting your immunizations and flu shot, and not smoking.
We are dedicated and believe in our mission of inspiring and shaping tomorrow’s healthcare professionals today through our numerous after-school programs, summer camps, birthday parties, special programs and our award-winning line of educational toys. My greatest hope is that future medical, nursing, veterinarian, and pharmacy school classes will be filled with Little Medical School graduates!