Bill Wood is not someone who sits around and complains. When construction of the new medical student lounge was not progressing after several years of talks, he decided to take action. After being shuffled between administrators, Wood went straight to the architects and together they changed the blueprints on the spot.
The lounge should be completed in a month or so, said Ali Raja, vice president of the Davison Council--the student council for medical students.
Wood hopes to utilize this energy as the new graduate and professional student young trustee.
Although Wood has never served on the Graduate and Professional Student Council, he is president of the student council at the School of Medicine, the Davison Council. He said his primary initiatives on the council have been directed toward curriculum changes, and he has also served on the curriculum task force for the medical school.
Shaheen Wirk, a third-year medical student, said Wood's dedication and persistence in achieving the changes in the curriculum--even when facing obstacles--impressed him.
"He has his finger on the pulse of medical students," said Ryan Fields, a third-year medical student. "He is great at pleasing as many people as possible, while still getting the results most people want."
Wood majored in government at Harvard as an undergraduate, and now, in addition to earning his doctorate at the University, he is earning his master's in public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He said that such a diversity of experience is one of the traits that differentiates the graduate and professional student young trustee from the undergraduate one.
"I think I would bring a breadth of experience to the position," Wood said. "On one hand, I have a good perspective of how things are done at different institutions, and I also have a multidisciplinary perspective, so I can be knowledgeable about how the different departments work."
Wood said this diversity of experience, teamed with leadership roles he has played, would help him represent the entirety of the graduate and professional school students.
"Bill's greatest weakness is one which is out of his control--he comes from a professional school, not the grad school itself, so some might say that he's out of touch with grad student issues," Raja, a third-year MD/MBA student, wrote in an e-mail. "However, I think that the issues pertaining to grad students and professional students are much alike (housing, child care, tuition) and Bill will do a great job representing both."
Wood said he plans to blend his interests in medicine and public service upon his expected graduation in May 2003.
He currently holds positions with several medical associations, including the North Carolina Medical Society Ethical and Affairs Committee and the University's chapter of the American Medical Association.
He also interviews prospective students for the medical school's admissions committee and has served as a student representative on the executive committee of the Durham-Orange County Medical Society. He enjoys playing the piano and training for marathons.
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