Touching Kids’ Hearts, from Public School Intern to Pediatric Cardiologist

Dr. Lorraine James ’15 spent most of her undergraduate experience as a Dwight Hall Public School Intern. Ten years after graduating, she is finishing a pediatric cardiology fellowship at Northwestern and is heading to Dallas this September to begin work as a pediatric cardiologist. “I’m about to get my first real job,” Dr. James jokes.

After graduating from Yale in 2015 with a double major in Cellular and Molecular Biology and American Studies, Lorraine went directly to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She then took on a residency at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Lorraine attributes her time in Dwight Hall’s Public School Interns program (PSIs) as a “huge reason” she chose pediatrics for her residency, for the intensive exposure it afforded her in working with kids.

Public School Interns was established in 1995 as a two-year program during which undergraduates serve as liaisons between a New Haven public school and the Yale community. They support volunteer efforts in the schools, act as classroom assistants, and find new ways to match resources at Yale with school needs. There are currently 12 active undergraduate PSIs at K-8 schools and high schools across New Haven.

Back in 2011-2013, during her first year and sophomore year, Lorraine served as a PSI at Celentano Museum Academy (Now Celentano Biotech, Health and Medical Magnet School) supporting the school’s on-the-ground needs: volunteering in classrooms, coordinating Yale volunteer groups, and even helping the middle school science teacher with a sheep brain dissection. Lorraine expresses deep admiration for the educators at Celentano and credits the experience for setting her up to become a pediatric doctor. “So much of the job is observing play and interactions,” says Lorraine. “Being in that school environment taught me so much about kids.”

In her Junior year, Lorraine became the PSI student coordinator, managing the other student interns alongside Claudia Merson, Dwight Hall’s Education Advisor. Claudia has been with the program since its inception and now leads the program in collaboration with Mark Fopeano, Director of Programming and Evaluation. Lorraine is an effusive Claudia Merson supporter.

“What can be said about Claudia that hasn’t been said before?” Lorraine wonders. Claudia has guided Lorraine through tricky situations, starting from her first year as she worried about wanting to fill all the gaps she saw at her school but not being able to do so.  “Claudia could give a masterclass when it comes to listening and picking up the specific culture of an institution, location, or school,” Lorraine says. “She is the most generous person in the world, and I always feel very humbled that I got to know her so well, and I got to spend so much time with her and even download 2% of her brain.”

Claudia wrote a recommendation letter for Lorraine’s medical school applications, and the two continue to be close.

Following the Northwestern pediatric cardiology fellowship, Lorraine had a hard choice: stay within academia or pursue a more clinically heavy job. The PSI program, she says, shaped her recent decision to move back to Dallas to practice medicine at Medical City Children’s Hospital. “I think Dwight Hall is a great example of an institution that makes sure that you’re not just doing work in an insular way in an ivory tower,” she says. “I am using Dwight Hall as a reminder that the world is very big. I’m trying to cultivate expertise that will be useful, not just within the hospital.” As a practitioner returning to her home community, Lorraine looks forward to cultivating expertise about local resources in the Dallas area, the health literacy needs of her patients, and, as an immigrant from India herself, effective healthcare for immigrant populations.

Other alumni of the PSI program have gone into a wide range of careers including medicine, music, classroom teaching, and technology. Lorraine highly recommends the Public School Interns program for any student, not only as an important opportunity to develop skills that will be relevant in any career, but also to get to know New Haven outside of Yale, which she describes as “obligatory.” Lorraine also recommends the PSI program for students who want to become medical doctors. “There’s so many things in this world that I would want my doctor to know, besides biology, whether that’s nutrition or the history of race in this country or community advocacy. Spend some time learning about the rest of the world. You have the rest of your life to be a doctor.”