On Friday, October 25^th, PC alum and neurosurgeon Dr. Evan Packer (Class of ’90) visited the PC Pre-Med Club to give some insight into what his unique career is really about. Neurosurgery is one of the most specialized and competitive areas of the medical field, with only 0.6% of active physicians currently practicing in the United States. Dr. Packer is currently in private practice in Boca Raton and is affiliated with Florida Atlantic University.

To begin his lecture, Dr. Packer gave some background about his PC and college years. Initially, he did not achieve his high school goal at the Pine of getting into his “dream Ivy-League school.” His father, also a doctor, advised him to attend the honors program at the University of Michigan, where he had gone himself. Dr. Packer emphasized that this decision was crucial to his happiness in college, saying, “My experiences at Michigan were the best of my life, and I would not replace them with any other memories.”

Dr. Packer also stressed the importance of majoring in a subject aside from the sciences, even if interested. “I was actually an English major in college until med school. College will be the last time you have the chance to study something that interests you aside from science, because once medical school starts, it’s science, science, science. So you should really study something that you love first, and then pursue medicine if it interests you.”

The toughest part of Dr. Packer’s neurosurgeon training was his seven year residency, which was required after his completion of medical school. “I would get up at 4 A.M. and get home by 10P.M. every day for several years…the hours were rough and the work was extremely arduous. You had to be alert all the time, because sometimes you, as the intern doctor in the hospital, was the one who all the nurses turned for help because the senior doctor was not there.”

Dr. Packer also shared some knowledge about his profession, which isn’t just operating on the brain. He added, “My profession is extremely specialized, but at the same time is extremely broad. Everything under neurosurgery includes tumors, cancers, trauma, the brain, the spine, and much more. Because of this, there are other neurosurgeons that specialized in other parts of the body, such as the neck or spine, (or) any part of the nervous system which I would not be able to operate on…we all have our specific areas on the body.”

To conclude his talk, Dr. Packer highlighted his profession and encouraged the PC Pre-Med Club students to consider pursuing neurosurgery.  “I continue to be extremely busy today, and there are not many off-days due to the high demand of my profession. But the benefits are well worth it, not just the money. Neurosurgery is not an average job because you never know what is around the corner, and that’s why I really enjoy it.”