Student Spotlight Nathaniel and Brandon Johnson
Brandon and Nathaniel Johnson always knew they wanted to become doctors.
Inspired by their father, a family medicine physician, the twins have been in school together their whole lives. Now, as fourth-year students in the Carver College of Medicine, they are pursuing residency training programs in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
With Match Day coming up, are you hoping to continue this journey together?
Brandon:
We were looking at similar places. We were born in Iowa, and we both prefer to stay in Iowa. I hope to come back to Iowa after residency and practice here.
Nathaniel:
People always joke that we should “couples match” to end up at the same program. The goal was never to be in the same residency program. It was just to find the best fit for each of us, and if that happened to be at the same place, then it was the same place. We've been with each other this long throughout our lives. Whether or not it continues, it's not in our hands anymore.
Did you have a specific experience that influenced your decision to pursue physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R)?
Nathaniel:
My first [clinical] rotation in the hospital was surgery. We had a patient that had come in with an infection in her leg, and we were there to amputate it. The patient stuck in my mind because we never addressed what her life was going to look like when she left the operating room—that just wasn't our job as the surgery team. Was she going to be able to walk? Was she going to be able to enjoy all the activities that she had done before? A year later, my first time in the PM&R clinic, I walked into the patient's room, and I instantly recognized her from a year before. She had her prosthetic leg on and she was up walking around. To see her progress really solidified the field for me.
Brandon:
For me, my first day on my PM&R rotation was in the ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease] clinic. Growing up, I had a baseball coach who passed away from ALS, and that always stuck in my mind. Now, I'm looking at it from the other perspective—not from the patient or friend perspective, but from a clinician perspective. I really enjoyed how we were addressing a lot of these issues, like mobility, function, types, and problem-solving. At the time, when I was this 12-year-old kid, it really piqued my interest, but I didn’t know that this field existed. Going through that my first day, it came full circle and it really solidified my choice.
Do you have any mentors here at the Carver College of Medicine?
Brandon:
I went to undergrad here, and I started doing research really early on with Charles Jennissen, MD, who's a pediatric emergency room physician. And I continued doing research with him all the way up through medical school. He was a big influence on me. Also, my dad—he worked in family medicine, and he was a big influence on both of us. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2016, pretty unexpectedly. It was actually the day both of us were going to submit our medical school applications. So, unfortunately, he didn't get to see any of that. It's going to be bittersweet for us, going through Match, and then also graduating, and not having him there.
Nathaniel:
Both of us got involved in research with Dr. Jennissen our sophomore year of undergrad. So we've known him for seven, eight years now. He was a big help for us, especially when our dad passed away. He was the person that we went to for support, and helped prepare us for entering medical school and interviews.
How did COVID-19 impact your last year of medical school?
Brandon:
I was taking the board exams—I took my Step 1 exam in February [2020]. So, I was able to get it done before COVID-19 really ramped up. A week before my Step 2 board exam, it got canceled. I'd been preparing for weeks and I was about take it—then it got canceled. I learned some things are out of your control, and you just have to go with the flow. I feel like medical students, in general, we like to have things planned out. You have goals, and you have timelines for those goals, and then, a global pandemic happens, and no one was ready for that.
Nathaniel:
I got pretty lucky because I took both of my board exams a month apart, so I got my Step 1 in February and then Step 2 in March, like a week before things really started to get crazy and shut down. I was able to do the rotations I really wanted to do in person. The new rehab hospital in Coralville opened June 1, and I was able to be the first medical student to rotate at that hospital. So, just reshuffling around the rotation, for me, was the biggest thing.
What are your long-term goals for your career in medicine?
Brandon:
It would be to come back to the University of Iowa. I'd really like to help start a residency program, if possible. There are academic programs in the Midwest that have physical medicine rehab programs, but Iowa doesn't have one. I’d like to come back and just be a part of the department and then be a part of starting some sort of residency program—10, 15 years down the down the road, if possible.
Nathaniel:
I like to be involved in teaching academics. I've always enjoyed having students around and just being in that type of learning environment. And so, whether that be at Iowa or some other place in the Midwest, that's just a goal of mine. I hope be the type of mentor that I would want to have, have the students look up to, and to be able to be a role model for them.