For those looking to go into the field of healthcare, the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development hosted a local physician to give insight into the road to working in a hospital, as a doctor or beyond.

Thomas Martin, a family doctor at Lourdes Hospital and an associate professor at Clinical Campus SUNY Upstate Medical School, presented “Career Success in Medicine and Healthcare” on Tuesday to students and members of the community looking to pursue careers in medicine, science and technology. The presentation was the keynote of this year’s Sci Tech Career Connection, which aimed to educate students looking to go into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs.

Martin attended St. Lawrence University for his undergraduate education and went to the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine for his medical degree. Martin has spent the past 20 years as a family physician, ever since finishing his residency at UHS Wilson.

“It is a truly rewarding profession,” he said. “Although there are questions about many aspects of healthcare that come up, when it comes down to what healthcare is all about, it’s about the patient.”

Martin said it was important to form relationships with professors, study for the MCATs and showcase skills through extracurriculars and volunteering.

“To separate yourself, you need to show that passion, and part of that passion is applying yourself into the healthcare realm,” Martin said. “That can be anything from doing an externship at a physician’s office or a hospital setting working at a free clinic. Any of that stuff looks very good for admissions committees because it shows you have a passion to forward a career after medical school.”

He added that there were other jobs in the healthcare world, including physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and physical therapists. He also stressed the importance of fields other than medicine, like engineering and business, in creating healthcare technology and managing hospitals.

Molly Myers, a senior from Vestal High School, said she found his insight valuable.

“I learned a lot about what I should be doing when I get to college to advance myself,” she said. “I’m pretty set on what I want to go into so it was helpful to get specific ideas for the application process.”

Bill McCarthy, associate director of strategic employer outreach at the Fleishman Center, said they picked Martin to speak to give students insight into different opportunities in the community.

“The choice of putting on the Sci Tech fair was to help students learn about the STEM fields,” he said. “So we were trying to get help and information from local organizations, local speakers.”

Kerry Donnelly, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering, said she appreciated the opportunity to speak with Martin regarding her concerns about becoming a doctor.

“It was really helpful for someone who’s considering attending med school, just to get a perspective from a practicing physician and what he went through to get there,” she said. “Anyone I can talk to to get more experience in this is huge, so having this event is great.”

After the talk, Martin said he hoped his advice resonated with students looking to enter medicine or another scientific field.

“Hopefully I enticed some of them to consider healthcare if they weren’t considering it before, hopefully I’ve given them a little insight in the process of forwarding your career in healthcare,” Martin said. “And as a physician, I hope I gave some insight on how to apply and prepare yourself on the application process for medical school.”