Q&A:
Jose Bazan, D.O.
(’04)
Infectious Disease
When
did you first know
that you wanted to
be a doctor?
When I was at the
University of
Dayton, John
Schriner invited me
to a talk he was
giving about OU-COM
at Grandview
Hospital. I knew I
wanted to do
microbiology,
specifically
infectious diseases,
but I was leaning
towards the Ph.D.
route until I met
John. He said,
‘Microbiology is
good, but have you
ever thought about
how those things
truly affect
patients?’ A light
bulb went off on my
head, and that’s how
I ended up here.
Do you still conduct
research?
My training so far
has been mostly
clinical; that’s how
internal medicine
is. Now, as an
infectious disease
fellow, I am
researching the
transmission of HIV
from mother to
fetus—studying
placenta cells to
identify cell
receptors that HIV
might use to get
through.
What
was your most
memorable OU-COM
experience?
Meeting my wife. In
the second year of
med school, there
was this regular
OU-HCOM volleyball
game, and it could
get pretty
competitive. I
actually ended up
breaking her arm
during a game. So we
went to O’Bleness,
and she had a pretty
bad wrist fracture
on her writing hand.
She was in a cast
for six weeks, so I
took notes for her
(laughs). About a
year or so ago she
told me she actually
never read the
notes, but she
appreciated that I
took them.
I
hope your first date
was better.
It was. We had
dinner at Seven
Sauces. She had to
eat with her other
hand.
What
should every medical
student know about
infectious diseases?
You will deal with
infectious diseases
whether you’re a
primary care doctor,
an emergency room
doctor, a
surgeon—any field.
You will prescribe
an antibiotic at
least once a day.
You have to have a
working knowledge of
what you’re
treating, how and
why.
It’s such an
evolving field. No
matter what we throw
at microbes, they
come back. We have
to switch our
thinking, develop
new antibiotics.
We’re seeing new
immune-suppressed
patients, transplant
patients—you always
have to be on your
toes and thinking,
‘How can I outsmart
the microbe?’
