Lucas Gilbride: Engineer to Radiologist Oncologist?
Whether you are eighteen or twenty-two, determining what you want to do in life can be stressful and overwhelming. Yesterday, at my internship, I listened to multiple people describe and stress over how they would manage to complete all coursework, volunteer and clinical hours, and extra circulars like study abroad and club organization requirements in less than a year in half. Do I take a gap year between undergraduate and graduate? How am I going to pay for everything? When am I taking the GRE?
These questions haunt undergraduates during their last two years of their undergraduate degree. Lucas Gilbride, a former buff, shows the importance of slowing down and finding your passion. Rather than focusing on a timeline, ensure you are studying what you enjoy and your end goal suits your personality and wants out of life. And, above all, Lucas advises us to simply enjoy your time in Boulder, CO because there is simply no place like it.
Lucas graduated from CU in 2006 with a joint bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering. While pursuing his degree, Lucas took multiple electives in biomedicine.
While interviewing for careers in the engineering field during the summer of 2006, Lucas questioned whether this was the correct field to pursue. In the end, Lucas declined all offers because of high interest in medicine and lack of satiety for a desk job.
“Engineering jobs are very isolating. You end up sitting at a computer all day working on projects assigned to you.”
While these projects are respected, Lucas wanted a career that had more interaction with people. This provided him with a tangible way to measure success.
After completing pre-medical prerequisites at CU after graduation, Lucas applied to medical school. He interviewed at CU Anchutz Medical School and New York Medical College. However, he was denied from both. Lucas was then advised to take more course work, which he decided against.
“I had been in school for 6 years. I was working at the St. Julian Hotel and living at home. I had no desire to stick around any longer.”
When Lucas heard about a seminar about Ross University in Denver promoting a medical school overseas, he took the opportunity. Lucas was interviewed and accepted a week later.
Lucas went to the Caribbean for three semesters. While at Ross University, Lucas learned about a new medical school that opened in his mom’s home town. He immediately applied and was accepted to Scranton Commonwealth Medical College in Pennsylvania. He dropped out of Ross University and started his medical education in Pennsylvania where he completed two years of course work, two years of clinical practice, and a research year. During his third year of medical school (a clinical year), Lucas was assigned a preceptor who was a medical oncologist, which would eventually influence his decision to become an oncologist radiologist. Lucas originally believed he would be an orthopedic surgeon, but he admired the establishment of personable relationships with the patient and their family when working in oncology care.
“It’s an honor to be a part of someone’s life in such a traumatic time.”
Lucas is currently completing is third year of Radiation Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Being a Colorado native, he hopes to return to Colorado after residency and work in a private practice. Lucas’s favorite CU memory goes back to when he rushed Folsom field after CU won, due to Rashaan Salaam, CU’s only Heisman winner.