Beyond Kent: Stories of Community and Purpose

Beyond Kent is a new alumni spotlight series featuring Kent School graduates who carry the School’s Mission into the wider world, contributing to the common good. Each story celebrates engaged citizens living with purpose, strengthening the communities they serve, and making an impact locally and beyond. 

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Alumni Spotlight: Scott Mitchell '11

Scott Mitchell '11 is Chief Resident in the neurosurgery residency program at Indiana University School of Medicine. A graduate of the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and holder of a dual degree in biomedical engineering and biochemistry from Dartmouth College and Bowdoin College, Scott focuses on both the hard and soft skills of medicine as he nears the end of a seven-year residency. While still in college, Scott founded Stand With Me, a nonprofit that provides pediatric standing frames to children in Guatemala, many with cerebral palsy. 

I realize a lot of people gave me opportunities to see things, to learn things, to mentor me, and invest in me as a person. And so now I try to return that favor as much as I can.

 

When did you become interested in neurosurgery? 

I took AP biology my 8th-grade year, and I thought it was cool. The brain was an interesting organ, and it had this whole human experience [within it], and that was really neat. Through my time at Kent and going into college and med school, I was trying to prepare myself to be a good neurosurgeon. I was pretty focused on that. 

Do you see any connections between what you learned at Kent and your work now?

I really enjoyed rowing [at Kent]. That was a great experience — learning how to work together as a unit; no one person can do it all. And that's kind of present in neurosurgery too. Neurosurgery is very much a team sport. All of our patients are getting care from multiple other doctors. Even in the operating room, we’re not alone. You rely on your partners. You rely on people not to miss things, and we try to do a really good job taking care of people. Somehow, I also ended up being really oriented towards being a good communicator. It started with learning Chinese and Spanish [at Kent]. It opened up a whole world of approaching conversations in a new way. You're more open to different cultures and perspectives. You understand language and the nuance that language carries.

You’re very committed to teaching residents and mentoring. How do you find time for that with your busy schedule as the Chief Resident?

My dad asked me a question one time: “What do you have that you haven't been given?” You stop and think about it, and a lot of things are given to us, and it's up to us to use that opportunity that we've been given to make something out of it. I realize a lot of people gave me opportunities to see things, to learn things, to mentor me, and invest in me as a person. And so now I try to return that favor as much as I can, starting with anyone who's interested.

When you were only 15, you served as an English-language interpreter with a medical missionary organization in Guatemala. How did that experience influence you?

I think my interest in neurosurgery kept growing as I used my Spanish language skills to be an interpreter for the medical teams. I got to see firsthand all those operating rooms in the developing world. I noticed that we needed surgical equipment, and we needed a way to do surgery more safely, more efficiently, more cost-effectively. Being part of the interpreting team, and making sense of what the physician was saying, and trying to convey to someone who has very limited medical knowledge, I also learned how to navigate those situations. I think it made me sensitive and thoughtful about the way I talk to people in medicine.

What led you to establish Stand With Me? 

For me, it’s three things that I love: the skill of language, the skill of medicine, and the skill of person building and education, all built into one project. As I went through college and I was developing my engineering skills, [I thought], how can I make neurosurgery more accessible in the developing world? And that led to Stand with Me, and also led to a couple of other projects for making devices for neurosurgery that hopefully will make it more accessible and more safe. It’s allowed me to get a lot of experience, getting volunteers, learning how to fundraise money, and how to culturally interact with a medical project in another country or other countries, and grow a network of people that are invested in what we're doing and the problems that we're trying to solve. Stand With Me is a really cool part of my life. It has nothing to do with neurosurgery right now, but it is a really rewarding thing because of that soft side of medicine.

What needs do the standing frames address?

Most of the kids that we’re treating have cerebral palsy, and about a third of kids with cerebral palsy can't stand up for one reason or another. Their muscles are contracted. They can't straighten out their joints. They don't have enough tone in their muscle rigidity to hold themselves up. When you lie down flat all the time, you get a bunch of complications. In most countries in the world, even in some places in the United States, there's not really a mechanism to get yourself upright. So a standing frame helps those kids get upright, and then there's a bunch of things that happen positively for you. 
 

What are some of the positive impacts? 

A lot of the kids will have significant improvements in their physical abilities and social abilities as well. We have kids who go from not being able to walk and just lying down 24/7, to, six months to a year later, they're walking independently, or with a little bit of help with a crutch. That changes the quality of life for the caregiver and for the child — more dignity all around. Oftentimes, [the families] are very scared of the world because they're fighting a war that they're losing. And then you give them some hope with a device, or with some caring compassion, and you show them that they are important. There is a way that they can help their child. It really changes their perspective quite a bit. Really happy to do that.
 

How did you come up with the name Stand With Me? 

I was thinking about the story where Jesus says, “Let the little children come unto me.” And ever since, I've viewed it as both an invitation and an imperative. “Stand with me,” as in, “Let's do this together,” but it's also “Stand up and walk.” It'll be a good name even when we outgrow the standing frames, and we're doing a lot of other things. It's a good name for the spirit of the organization, which is to build people up and unlock the potential they have.
 

What are your long-term goals for Stand With Me?

My goal is to turn Stand With Me into a multidisciplinary medical project that's not just [focused on] standing frames and cerebral palsy. I would like to eventually do neurosurgery in the developing world, probably in Guatemala, where there’s an opportunity to do that.
 

What’s next for you, now that your residency is almost over? 

I'm applying for jobs right now, so we'll see where I end up.… And I also want to teach residents, if I can. I’d love to be in an institution where I can teach learners of any level, and keep my commitment to education and teaching, so I can provide opportunities for people behind me who are interested in doing this kind of work.

What advice would you offer to Kent students?

For our Kent graduation speech, [retired faculty member] Mrs. Roney gave a talk that she called “Go Exploring.” It was about motivating us to go have [an] experience. I think that's critical — use your Spanish language or engineering skills or whatever it is, to pair your classroom [experience] with the real world. I think I would also have people focus on acquiring skills. There are skills like languages, instruments, and creativity that you can build as a young person that will stick with you your whole life and will outlast these other technologies that threaten a lot of industries.