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Health & Fitness

Minnetonka High School Class of 2013 Highlights: Katherine Matthews

Katherine Matthews just wrapped up a six month mentorship at the University of Minnesota’s International Adoption Clinic (IAC).  With the guidance of pediatricians like Dr. Judith Eckerle, Matthews has gained firsthand knowledge of the unique health concerns of adoptive children.  The experience, made possible through District 287’s Honors Mentor Program, is a step toward her goal of becoming a pediatrician.

While all students taking part in the Mentor Program are expected to complete “on the job” projects, Matthews surpassed all expectations at the IAC.   “Initially, we gave her projects we thought she might get parts of done by the end of the program,” says Dr. Eckerle.  “I was shocked when she kept coming back with everything completed…and at a level far beyond her high school status.”  Her crowning achievement was a paper statistically analyzing the health of 105 Chinese children who had been seen in the IAC.  Her paper will help answer parents' and social workers' questions about what they might expect to see medically from children adopted from China.

Her resourcefulness also prompted Matthews to create a personal glossary of almost 60 complex medical terms culled from the referrals the clinic sees from China.   “Initially, I just did it for myself,” she says of the glossary. Filled with words like arthrogryposis and syringomyelia, and cross-references to relevant case studies, the document will soon find a larger audience.  Next year, Dr. Eckerle plans to make it available to her medical residents.  “Katherine is truly one of the best students I have ever encountered,” says her mentor.

When Matthews isn’t at the IAC, she stays busy with school, golf, and a part-time job as a freelance sports photographer—but, she spends the bulk of her free time reading.  “Everything I can get my hands on,” she laughs.  She recently finished Gifted Hands, the memoir of a celebrated neurosurgeon from inner-city Detroit.  She is also a voracious consumer of news media, utilizing a number of apps to gather and sort current event stories.  “I need to understand what’s happening in our world,” she says.  “I get saddened by much of it, but I can’t ignore it.”  Matthews credits her mature outlook to an early exposure to world problems.  Her grandfather and mother in particular encouraged her to read challenging material at a young age and gave honest answers to her questions about topics like child abuse and censorship.  “They did a great job of explaining the hard stuff,” she says. 

Her experience at the International Adoption Clinic has solidified her dream to be a pediatrician. She says she is drawn to working with kids, in part, because, “many adult diseases are caused by the choices people make.  Kids aren’t usually to blame for their diseases.”  Matthews can trace this clarity of purpose back to a moment in fourth grade.  She recalls cutting out a photograph of a woman standing in front of a refugee camp from National Geographic. The story focused on the need for increased medical attention in under-served countries, and it gave her new resolve for what she should do with her life.

Matthews’ work with the IAC won’t stop with the end of her mentorship: she has accepted a summer research assistantship with Dr. Eckerle.  Come fall, she will take her laser sharp focus and incredible work ethic to the University of Missouri where she plans to pursue a political science degree with a premed track.   She hopes to one day work as a pediatrician for an organization like Doctors without Borders.  “Ultimately, I want to help people who aren’t in a position to help themselves,” she says.

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Written by Kelly Bunte

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