"If She Can Do It, I Can Do It"

JEWS OF THE UNIVERSE: Introducing Dr. Ellen Wald

“I was the first person in my family to go to college. I remember at 13, we had to write down a career we were interested in exploring, and I wrote down Medical Technologist, which was what we would now call a lab tech. It absolutely never occurred to me that I could be a doctor. Growing up, I don’t think I ever encountered a physician who wasn’t a man.

After high school, I went to Brooklyn College, which was very accessible to kids who couldn’t afford to go to private schools. A lot of the student body at that time was Jewish. I majored in math -- I liked it a lot and was good at it and I was planning to be a math teacher.

But something unexpected happened right at the beginning of my fourth year of college. It was September of 1963 and I had just registered for my final semester of school. I was on track to graduate a semester early because I’d taken several summer courses during my earlier college years.

And just after leaving the registrar’s office, I ran into a friend from my first year. She was a Hungarian refugee and her name was Olga. She was a very smart woman and we’d had several classes together during our first two years, because we’d both taken a lot of math and physics classes.

I hadn’t seen her for around 18 months at that time, but I ran into her then, and I was very happy to see her. I asked what she was planning to do after college, and she told me, ‘I’m going to medical school.’

It’s so hard to describe the shock of that moment. I remember I stood there gaping at her. Medical school? Olga was going to medical school?

And a revelation just kind of hit me like lightning, right there on the sidewalk. I remember I just lit all the way up. I thought: *Wow. Wow. Medical school! Now that is a really good idea.*

Then right after that thought came another one that rocked me from the roots of my hair to the soles of my feet. *If she can do it, I can do it.*

And I turned around right then and there. I went straight back into the registrar’s office and changed my final semester courseload to all pre-med classes.

If I hadn’t run into Olga on the street at that moment, I might well have spent the last six decades teaching math.”

*

My first Jew Of The Universe in 2025 is my most essential heroine: my mother, Dr. Ellen Wald.

I always wanted to interview my mom, but I knew the challenge would be to get her to talk about her achievements, because she never does that.

When she stepped down as Chairman of Pediatrics at her hospital, I flew to Wisconsin for her retirement party and listened as dozens and dozens of people spoke for more than 3 straight hours about her, and believe it or not, the speeches never became repetitive. Everyone had something different to say. This profile represents about 5% of what she's done.

But it was an honor and a privilege to write it anyway.

The link is here.

Shabbat shalom!

Am Yisrael Chai.