Maxwell Mirande is a fourth year medical student and hails from Southern Oregon. He attends Western university of Health Sciences, Comp-Northwest, and is this year’s recipient of the E.L. ‘Doc’ Burnham “Wonderful World” Scholarship Award.
Maxwell told us a moving story of a woman he was seeing for an annual physical. She presented as healthy and strong physically, but it was when he spent time listening to her that she opened up about a traumatic event that had happened in her life. She then talked about her low back pain, which he was able to treat with some Osteopathic Medical Manipulation (OMM). “This experience inspired me to dig deeper, to fully invest myself with each interaction I am a part of, and to always treat the whole patient”.
Paula Crone, DO and Dean of Comp-Northwest had this to say about Max, “He is bright, caring, compassionate and always focused on doing the right thing with a strong moral compass. He is the type of individual that makes the world a better place”.
Robyn Dreibelbis, DO, and Vice hair and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine for Comp-Northwest states, “Max was nominated, applied, and was one of very few classmates who was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in March of 2019. The person who nominates a student for the GHHS must provide a quote in support of that nomination. This is the quote:
“Max is a leader. More than that, he is a servant leader. This is part of his fabric and you can see that in his life both before, and after, he got to Comp-Northwest. Medical school is challenging for every single student and it is hard to find time to just remain grounded in who you are as a person, but beyond all of the curriculum responsibilities Max was the SGA President of the DO2020 class, and continues to model leadership. He is kind, he cares about others, and he always has an inviting smile regardless of the day and the challenge he is facing. he not only embodies the descriptors above, he lives them every single day”.
Max says this about his future in medicine, “I will contribute to my community not only as an osteopathic physician, but as a leader, a teacher, a philanthropist, and hopefully, as the coach of my children’s sports teams”.
We are looking forward to watching you fulfill these dreams and more, Max. Job well done.