Demystifying medicine for high school students

Since the JGH is a teaching hospital, you’re bound to see medical students accompanying doctors on their rounds from bed to bed. But look a little closer. Don’t some of those trainees seem awfully young? Could they actually be…teenagers?

Indeed they are, but they’re not really medical students—just high school students getting a behind-the-scenes peek at what day-to-day life is actually like in a major hospital.

They’re participants in The Auxiliary’s Hospital Opportunity Program for Students (HOPS), and their experiences at the JGH might just steer them toward a career in medicine, nursing, research or a related profession.

The program accepts students who have shown an interest in the health sciences and, during their participation in HOPS, can maintain high grades and make up any missed tests or other school assignments.

HOPS was established in 1973 as a way of demystifying the medical profession, making the JGH seem friendlier and more accessible, and giving students a valuable opportunity to be on-the-spot observers.

The program, operated in conjunction with the English Montreal School Board and several Jewish day schools, generally accepts at least 50 students a year for two six-week rotations.

This takes students through such hospital departments as Geriatrics, Hemodialysis, Cardiology, Emergency Services, Occupational Therapy, Dentistry, Dermatology, Oto-laryngology, Nuclear Medicine, Radiology and research at the Lady Davis Institute.

Recently, The Auxiliary touched base with some of its HOPS “graduates” to see what they’ve been doing since their time at the JGH. Included below is the name of each person’s high school and the year they participated in HOPS.

Dr. Allan Lisbona
Director of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
JGH Department of Dentistry
Bialik, 1990

Dr. Jamie Rappaport
Associate Chief
JGH Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
Herzliah, 1982

Dr. Jonathan Wyse
Gastroenterologist
JGH Division of Gastroenterology
Bialik, 1995

Dr. Moishe Liberman
Thoracic Surgeon
Montreal
Hebrew Academy, 1993

Dr. Carolyn Perugino
Optometrist
Montreal
Laurier-MacDonald, 2006

Dr. Eric Horlick
Interventional Cardiologist
Toronto
Herzliah, 1987

Dr. Joshua Guttman
Emergency Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia
Hebrew Academy, 2001

Dr. Mitchell Rubin
Family Practitioner
Vancouver
Bialik, 1982

Dr. Christopher Lobos
Cardiologist
Montreal
Lauren Hill Academy, 1999

Dr. Cristina Mottillo
Ph.D. in chemistry
Co-founded start-up
from Chemistry Dept.
at McGill University
Laurier MacDonald, 2006

Dr. Richard Friedlander
Cardiologist
Montreal
Herzliah, 2000

Dr. Roni Munk
Dermatologist
Montreal
Herzliah, 2001

Dr. Robert Altman
Neurologist
Montreal
Bialik, 1997

Dr. Darren Albert
Ophthalmologist
Montreal
Herzliah, 1982

Dr. Benjamin Burko
Pediatrician
Medical Director – Tiny Tots Medical Centre
Assistant Professor – McGill University
Staff – Montreal Children’s Hospital
Bialik, 1979

Dimitri Lambrinakos
Applying to medical school
from Marianopolis College
Westmount High School, 2017