Keeping Up with ‘Dr. Flo’

Argentinean student Florencia Kantt ’11 crafts a creative path to medical school

by Michelle Simmons

April 1, 2009

When she was a small child, says Florencia Kantt ’11, “Everyone knew that the best birthday present for me was a new chemistry set or Fisher Price doctor’s briefcase.”

Florencia Kantt ’11 has a problem. It isn’t that she’s interested in everything; it’s that she also happens to be good at everything.

“I love languages, I love writing, I love art, I love math,” she says with a smile. “Most people think, ‘I love science, and that’s why I want to be a doctor.’ I just think that [becoming a physician will] let me combine everything.”

The native of Buenos Aires is fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, Hebrew and English and is learning Chinese. “I’m sure I’m going to have patients who speak Spanish or French, and I would love being able to talk to them in their own language,” she explains.

Kantt’s double major, biochemistry and molecular biology and international business &

management, don’t naturally go together. But they mesh with her plans to attend medical school and become an obstetrician.

“I recently found this passion for chemistry,” she says. “I was never interested in chemistry before; I was more of a biology person. But I took my first chemistry class, and I loved it. I wanted to read more—that’s a good sign, right?”

Sarah St. Angelo, the assistant professor of chemistry who taught Kantt in Foundations of Chemistry last fall, describes Kantt as a “true Renaissance woman.” She noticed her as a standout among top-notch students.

“She would get a bit of a squint, working out the question or what was going on,” says St. Angelo. “You could see the wheels working.”

An only child, Kantt grew up surrounded by adults and is especially close to her doting grandmother, Thelma Mendoza. Mendoza stayed up late with the precocious 12-year-old, looking at stars and talking with her for hours about anything on her mind. And she began calling her “Dr. Flo” as soon as Kantt announced her plans for medical school, a first for the family.

Kantt grew up during uncertain economic times, when Argentina’s economy collapsed in 2001. No one was immune. Still, in the midst of a deep recession, Kantt joined 19 other Argentinean students on an exchange trip to the United States, sponsored by the Davis Academy, a Jewish day school in Atlanta. The opportunity was supported through donations by Academy parents and private donors. Kantt stayed with her Atlanta host family for nearly four months and fell in love with the United States. She still keeps in touch with them today.

She remembers tagging along with her host father, a neonatologist, when he went to work at the local hospital. It was one of the first times she began thinking seriously about becoming a doctor. When Kantt returned to Argentina, the decision seemed to be made for her as she talked with an older friend who planned to attend medical school. “It was one of those moments when you come to realize that everything just makes sense,” she recalls.

Kantt threw herself deeper into her studies, earning a 4.0 GPA at ORT Argentina, the premier Jewish academy and institute in Buenos Aires. She started her own Junior Achievement company and became a Red Cross-certified volunteer; she also excelled at poetry and fiction. In 2005, she to returned to the United States to join other promising high-school students at Dickinson’s Young Writers Workshop, a summer writing-immersion program.

“No sooner had I arrived on campus than I realized it was the place I wanted to attend for college,” she says. “Something clicked, and the chemistry was great.” A John Dickinson scholarship, the college’s highest recognition for academic achievement and leadership, enabled her to enroll.

She’s making the most of her Dickinson experience, with plans to study in Australia and England during her junior year. And she’s involved with the Pre-health Society and Chemistry Club, is president of the French Club, treasurer of the Business Society, has served as vice president of Hillel and written for The Dickinsonian. This spring she starts a medical shadowing rotation program at Carlisle Hospital.

A double major can restrict a student’s flexibility when choosing classes, and Kantt’s unusual combination is especially challenging because of the number of required courses. But this cross-disciplinary approach should prove advantageous, says David Sarcone, assistant professor of international business and management and Kantt’s advisor.

“The usual path is, first, medical school, then maybe an MBA,” he explains. “There’s a real need for physician-leaders, and this gives her a head start in management and policy areas. She’ll have a medical degree, language skills and strategic organizational skills.”

Kantt already is considering medical schools. “Next year’s going to be really hectic, because that’s when I start with applications,” she says.

Since opportunities for doctors are bleaker in Argentina, Kantt’s primary concern right now is how to pay for medical school in the United States. She’s marshaled her entrepreneurial skills to create a Web site, www.florenciakantt.com, which collects donations to help with those future expenses.

Kantt’s chemistry teacher also is reflecting on “Dr. Flo’s” future. “I can’t wait to see what kind of stuff she’ll be into, where she’ll be in the world,” says St. Angelo. “The job for her isn’t even invented yet. She’s going to see it and create it herself.”