The Mind-Body Connection
Michael Murphy ’20
Meet Michael Murphy ’20 (neuroscience, health studies), a track-and-field student-athlete who researched telemedicine through an internship at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware.
Hometown:
West Pittston, Pennsylvania.
Major(s):
Neuroscience, with a health studies certificate.
Clubs and organizations:
Varsity track and field, Neuroscience Club and Pre-health Society.
Honors/scholarships/awards:
Dean’s List, Alpha Lambda Delta and John Dickinson Scholarship.
Favorite movie:
Get Out.
Why I decided to attend Dickinson:
I feel like Dickinson had the most genuine, down-to-earth people on my visits. Also, I wanted the option to walk on the varsity track and field team, so picking an NCAA Division III school was important.
Favorite place on campus:
Late-night Quarry.
Favorite Dining Hall food:
Boneless wing toss.
Favorite class:
Biology of Behavior with Professor [of Biology Tony] Pires. The course helped me decide on my major, and the labs were fun and engaging.
Favorite professor:
Tough question, but my favorite professor is Meredith Rauhut. Practically everything she taught in Neuroscience 200 has resurfaced in other classes, and she pushed me to do my best.
As I kid, I wanted to be …
… a doctor.
Little-known hobby/talent:
I can do all four swimming strokes (freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke).
On studying abroad:
I’m recently studied abroad in Copenhagen. One of the highlights was traveling to western Denmark for Core Course Week.
About my research:
Last summer, I researched the potential of telemedicine to streamline orthopedic transfers to a Level I Trauma Center. After review by the orthopedic surgeon, it was found that almost 90 percent (219/244) of transported patients in our cohort might not have needed formal ambulance transport. This has many implications for resource utilization and financial savings for families and hospitals. This project is important because I believe telemedicine will have a larger role in healthcare as technology advances. I learned a lot about biomedical research and more about what career path I want to pursue after Dickinson.
I conducted the research at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware, through the Nemours Summer Undergraduate Research (NSURP) program. After the program, I realized that a career in clinical medicine is not something I want to pursue directly after graduation. It helped me more strongly consider another goal of mine, namely a master's degree in behavioral and decision sciences.
Read more Student Snapshots.
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published June 26, 2019