AED Spotlight Interview: Dr. Richard Sanker
This week, we spoke with Dr. Richard Sanker to get the inside scoop on how to succeed as a Baylor Pre-Health student and hear the story of how he got involved with AED.
Dr. Sanker is the Director of the Office of Pre-Health Studies at Baylor University and received his Ph.D. from Saint Louis University. He was also the editor of AED National’s publication, The Scalpel, until 2012 and now serves as Regional Director for Region IV (Southwest) which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
How did you first get involved with AED?
Dr. Sanker has a long history with AED, starting before he even came to Baylor. He worked closely with Dr. David Pennington, who served as National Vice President, and met Dr. Virgil L. Tweedie, who used to be the National President of AED. (These names should sound familiar because we all paid attention for our New Member test… right?) With their advice, Dr. Sanker came to Baylor to lead our chapter of AED and has been here ever since.
What advice do you have for AED’s current members?
Dr. Sanker said that the hardest advice for students to hear is “If you don’t love what you’re doing you should stop doing it”. While he doesn’t mean everything you want should be easy, it is important that it is something fulfilling to you. “There is this misunderstanding that you should struggle in a way that you’re unhappy. Where you see struggle as being unhappy when struggle should be happy. You should struggle with things that you care about because that is when it is worth it. If you are playing a sport that you love, you don’t mind practicing and doing all the work to get better at it, because then it is almost fun. But it’s funny when it comes to the sciences and the Pre-Health world, students think they are supposed to be miserable. Not that doing Organic Chemistry or Biochemistry makes you wake up thinking it is a blessing, but the hope is that at the end of the day, you see the value and know that what you are learning is important”. The goal, in the end, is to look back and know that the struggle was worth it because that is when you will be successful and satisfied with the career you choose.
What is one Pre-Health “myth” that AED members should know about?
The biggest myth that Dr. Sanker works hard to get rid of is the idea that your MCAT (or the DAT, etc.) score determines the rest of your life. “While the MCAT is a very important aspect of going to medical school, it’s not the only thing”. Of course, Dr. Sanker emphasized that you should work hard to get a good score, but students often put a disproportionate amount of energy and stress into that score while service, research, academics, and leadership are equally important aspects that students should pay attention to. To put it into perspective, Dr. Sanker mentioned, “Imagine if people dedicated as much to doing service as they do to the MCAT”. He hopes that students recognize that those standardized admissions tests are just one part of making a strong application.
What is your favorite part about being the Director of Pre-Health Studies at Baylor?
It was hard for Dr. Sanker to pick just one thing, but above all, his favorite thing to do is to work with student leaders. He loves watching how their creative ideas and initiatives come to fruition. He says the best part is watching a student realize they want to accomplish something, with him just being involved in the process, and then seeing the joy when all the hard work pays off. He specifically mentioned watching the AED Pre-Health Symposium come together and seeing what students are capable of doing overall.
What do you do within your role as Regional Director for AED National?
Dr. Sanker does a lot of the behind-the-scenes technical work that keeps AED running. He helps go over proposals for new chapters of AED, establish new chapters in our region, and review applications for the AED scholarships. Outside of that, Dr. Sanker also works to bring together the larger community of AED. “What I try to do on my own is to get the region to engage and cooperate”. As a part of this, one of Dr. Sanker’s goals is to invite other chapters to participate in AED events held at Baylor. A great example of this has been inviting other AED members in our region to attend our Pre-Health Symposium.
What was your academic path to where you are today?
Dr. Sanker had a unique path that highlights what it means to follow your instincts and find a career that fits your passions. He started out his undergraduate journey as a pre-med biology student, but after doing some shadowing his sophomore year, realized that medicine was not quite his calling. Dr. Sanker reflects that the identity confusion he felt during that time is what gives him the ability to understand what it’s like when Baylor students come to him facing that same dilemma. After that point, he decided to pursue a path toward a Ph.D. by continuing with a BS in Biology but also picking up a BA in English. As he neared the end of undergrad, he realized he wasn’t inspired by long hours in the lab or the prospects of being an adjunct English professor. That was when he started finding his interest in higher education, sparked by getting a job at his university in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. From this, Dr. Sanker decided to get his Master's and then a Ph.D. in Education. That was when he was introduced to the Pre-Health world. As Director of Pre-Health studies, he was able to combine his interests in science, medicine, education, and working with students. Altogether, this is what brought Dr. Sanker to Baylor. Looking back on his path, Dr. Sanker added “I know the doubt that it made me feel to not know what career path I wanted to pursue. So when I construct my program, I construct it in a way to help people resolve that question. I wish someone had explained to me how to do that when I was a freshman”. And now Dr. Sanker is able to confidently say “I love what I do”, and wants to pass that on to others.
Why is research important for aspiring medical professionals?
Dr. Sanker also touched on why research is an important part of the Baylor Pre-Health experience. “Research is such an integral part of being a good physician. When you’re seeing patients, the goal is that someone is developing a new therapy or cure so that you can be empowered as a healthcare provider. Without research, all you can do is to keep trying random fixes. Being a part of research means that someone can devise new options for patients”. He emphasized how research is what moves the field of healthcare forward, and his goal is to get Baylor students engaged and involved with it now so that they can incorporate it into their future careers.
Written by Jasmine Hartman Budnik