Student Spotlight: Lisa Kojima

As Lisa Kojima (’23) rounds out her final year of medical school, she reflects on the opportunities that CCLCM has provided and how she felt like CCLCM was the perfect program for her.

“What I love about CCLCM is the vast amount of opportunities that exist. I think the program does a great job of exposing you to basic science and translational research as well as clinical research opportunities; you’re guaranteed exposure to all of it. CCLCM’s curriculum is structured to broaden your horizons to different types of research, and I really loved that.”

As a non-traditional medical student, Lisa’s experience has been a bit different from others in the program. Lisa graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey in 2015 and worked for three years prior to coming to CCLCM. She discovered CCLCM through her familiarity with Case Western Reserve University. Once she read more about CCLCM, she remembers thinking that it was the perfect program for her.

“I felt like Lerner was built for me. I loved every aspect of it, so it was immediately my number one choice,” she says.

One of the main draws for Lisa was the curriculum; more importantly, the portfolio system of evaluation. Students aren’t graded on work product. Rather, they are evaluated by the portfolio of work they build during the five-year program. Because of Lisa’s prior work experience, she felt that the portfolio system aligns with the work world and is what students can expect once they leave medical school.

“The evaluations felt more true to the real world in the sense that they encourage self-reflection. I think it’s a skill set that needs to be learned, and the portfolio system definitely helps you grow in that area.”

Problem-based learning groups were also a large draw for Lisa because it allowed her to pave her own way for her learning.

“I really enjoyed the PBLs because I like working in small groups. You take initiative of your own learning because you’re developing your own learning objectives during these sessions. No one’s telling you to do a presentation on ‘XYZ’. Obviously there’s some guidance and structure, but you’re also setting those topics up as well.”

Early exposure to clinical experience was also appealing to Lisa. Students go to the same outpatient clinic every week or every other week and have the opportunity to develop a relationship with their mentor and practice communication skills with real patients. During Lisa’s fourth year, she even had the chance to volunteer as a student preceptor/facilitator for the first- and second-year communication skills class.

“It was so fun. I loved working with the first- and second-year students because there aren’t a lot of other opportunities to work with medical students who are in the years below you. That really made me want to hone my patient communication skills; it’s not really emphasized in the specialty I’m going into as much because it’s a lot about technical skills and being the best technical surgeon you can be, but at the forefront of every patient-physician relationship is communication skills and understanding.”

As someone who’s about to graduate from the program, Lisa emphasizes making sure CCLCM is the right program for you (Do you thrive in small groups? What kind of learner are you? What learning environment do you thrive in?), while also emphasizing the need for prioritizing one’s non-medical work life.

One activity Lisa particularly enjoys outside of school is going to the gym and using exercise as a stress reliever. She’s been focused on weightlifting recently and has just accomplished lifting her goal weight.

“Now I’m in the process of figuring out what my next goal should be, but I like weightlifting because you can see your progress and how far you’ve come. It’s a refreshing sense of accomplishment. It’s also just a nice way to clear my mind. I can really empty my brain at the gym and just get in the zone.”

Lisa’s career goal is to be a physician who puts the patient and their families at the center and keeps their goals in mind while also seeing each patient as more than just their medical condition. As someone who plans to specialize in general surgery, she emphasizes the importance of having personal relationships with her patients and how she wants to genuinely care and foster those relationships.