Dr. Will Turner Can Teach Us Something About Resilience

Dr. Will Turner is an accomplished physician and leader at Columbia University’s Vagelos School of Physicians and Surgeons, serving as an Advisory Dean. He’s also Vice Chief, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Division of General Medicine. He’s a team internist for the New York Yankees (and thankfully didn’t end this interview prematurely knowing I’m a Boston Red Sox fan). Amherst College, his alma mater, honored him as the 2023 recipient of the prestigious Wade Fellowship.

But it would be a mistake to assume that he was able to achieve all this purely because of his innate talent. In fact, Will is well practiced in overcoming setbacks and disappointments, and he believes that the qualities of resilience and perseverance are as important an indication of potential as grades are.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, he is passionate about exploring more ways in which medical schools can attract and retain candidates from diverse backgrounds. That includes recruiting students who can demonstrate their grit.

In this episode, you’ll learn all about:

• Will’s belief that students are way more than their GPA.
• How overcoming academic challenges at Amherst helped him avoid a collapse of confidence in medical school that afflicted some of his classmates.
• Why math and science students should not despair if they’re not getting the grades they want.
• His approach to overcoming imposter syndrome.
• The Amherst classmate he wants me to talk to next.

If you’d like to get in touch with Will, you can email him at wt62@columbia.edu.