Member Highlight: David Story, MD

Member Highlight: David Story, MD

David Story, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Emergency Medicine
Wake Forest University Medical Center

1. What is your most memorable moment of teaching?
   There isn’t a specific moment, but I love seeing that point at which a certain idea “clicks” with a student and their eyes light up with the sudden understanding of something that was previously unknown.
2. Who or what is your biggest influence?
   I have been blessed to have been surrounded by several outstanding clinician educators during my training and practice years. Physicians who not only have an extraordinary knowledge base, but are complete practitioners: excellent bedside manner, patient advocates, supporters of ancillary staff, and can disseminate their knowledge to others in a meaningful, respectful, and understandable fashion. A few that come to mind are Josh Broder, Randall Best, Bob Hoffman and David Manthey, but that is far from an exhaustive list!
3. Any advice for other clerkship directors?
   Listen to your students. They are a great resource for what is working, or not working, on the rotation. And don’t be afraid to change things within the clerkship experience. Just because “its always been done this way…” doesn’t mean its the best way!
4. What is your favorite part about being and educator/director?
   My favorite part about working in an academic setting is that we get to wear so many hats: educator, mentor, physician, administrator, advocate. We as EM physicians are often attracted to the specialty because of the breadth of patients and complaints that we see clinically, and academic EM provides the opportunity for variability/versatility adjacent to the clinical realm. In my case, being involved in education (student and/or resident) really inspires me to keep learning so that I can effectively guide and educate the future physicians of the specialty.
5. Any interesting factoids you would like to share?
   My fourth year of medical school was interrupted when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. I spent the next 5 months doing away rotations, allowing me to  spend significant time in some of America’s great hospitals and cities. Side note, Katrina was the 3rd of 5 hurricanes to effect me that summer and fall of 2005. You’ve heard of “storm chasers”, well it felt like I was the one being chased!