George
"Skip" Seese III, D.O. OU-COM '87
This story originally
appeared in the Spring 1999 edition of the Ohio D.O.
George “Skip” Seese III,
D.O. (’87), now a premier cardiologist and internist as well
as a clinical preceptor at Doctors Hospital of Stark County in
Massillon, was not your average medical student, says Chip
Rogers, director of advocacy for the college. “He was unique
in that he had a wife and three children and was more mature
and more determined.
Seese was born in
Pittsburgh but grew up in the Youngstown area. He decided to
become a doctor while attending New Springfield
High School in New Springfield, a rural suburb of
Youngstown. “I liked the idea
of being able to use biology to help people, and I enjoyed
science,” says Seese.
“His mother believes he wanted
to be a doctor when he was younger,” says Margaret (Neiheisel),
his wife of almost 19 years. “I think the death of his younger
brother, Greg, might have really cemented his desire to become
a doctor.” His brother died in a tragic accident at the
family’s home.
After graduating from
high school he went to Geneva
College in Pennsylvania, a NAIA Division
III school, where he played baseball. There, however, he
discovered that he couldn’t play baseball and study
adequately, because he would be forced to miss too many
classes and labs. He realized two changes were in order: he
should switch to summer baseball and switch colleges. After
one year at Geneva, he enrolled in Youngstown
State as a premed major, and
baseball became a summer pastime.
While at Youngstown
State, he sought help from a
counselor at the college to apply to medical school. “The
counselor told me it would be a waste of my time. I guess he
thought I wasn’t smart enough,” he says.
From his junior year at
Youngstown until graduation, he worked at JC Penney as a
stockboy. It was at Penney that he met Margaret, who worked in
housewares. They fell in love and planned to be married on
June 21 of his senior year. “I thought, if I’m getting
married, I’d better find something to support my wife.” What
the couple didn’t know at the time was that date would also be
his graduation day. “I graduated at 11 a.m. and was married at 6:30 p.m.,” says Seese. He finished
Youngstown State with a bachelor of science
degree in biology in 1980 and set off to work.
The newly married Seese
became an orderly at Northern
Columbia County
Hospital in Salem, working from 11 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. while his wife
continued to work at JC Penney. “When he began working at the
hospital he really enjoyed it. At one stretch he worked 300
days straight without a day off,” says Margaret. In the first
year of marriage, their first daughter, Amanda, was born.
It was at the hospital
that he met Ed Hartwig, D.O., and Jim Demidovich, D.O., who
were doctors in the emergency room. “They became the biggest
influences in my life. They didn’t think I wasn’t smart enough
to go to med school. ‘You ought to apply to med school,’ they
said.” The relationship between the doctors and Seese
continued to blossom, and they showed him how to do blood
pressures and other procedures in the emergency room. He
enrolled in the hospital’s School of Medical Technology to
become a medical technician. He took in classes from 8 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. and continued to work as an orderly at night.
“I usually didn’t sleep
from 48 to 72 hours at a time. I also worked as a cast
technician,” says Seese. The following year, during the time
he was studying to be a medical technician, his second child,
Andrew, was born. “I worked every weekend and holiday to
support my family.” But Hartwig and Demidovich continued to
encourage Seese to apply to medical school. In 1982 he did
apply, and just to one school, OU-COM.
“It was the only school I
could afford to attend,” he says. He was put on the waiting
list of alternate candidates for admission in 1983. Hartwig,
who had recommended Seese for admission, drove almost three
hours to Athens to speak with Dean Frank Myers, D.O., as to
why this was case. In his mind, Seese was a cinch to succeed
in medical school.
Although he was not
involved with admissions, Rogers, then-director of special
projects, was initially given the unenviable task of talking
to Hartwig. “He was quite upset when he found out Skip was put
on the alternate list,” says Rogers. By the time Myers arrived
to speak with Hartwig, things had settled down quite a bit,
says Rogers. As it turned out that meeting laid the groundwork
for a 16-year-old friendship between the Rogers and Seese
families.
Seese was eventually
accepted — but only three weeks before classes started. “I had
to resettle my wife and two children,” he says. They also had
to figure out how to make ends meet now that he was in medical
school and not working a full-time job. “We always thought
family was important. I thought it was important for her to be
able to be a mother. But she also did all kinds of things to
get me through school, in addition to being a wife and mother.
She typed other students papers and did laundry,” says Seese.
“She truly has been the wind beneath my wings.”
“That whole family went
through medical school. If he was sleepy, she would bring him
a cup of coffee,” says
Rogers.
Now he felt he had to
prove anyone who doubted he could become a doctor that they
were very mistaken. But that first quarter at OU-COM his
resolve and confidence would be tested — quite literally —
when he failed his first biochemistry test.
“I was so worried about
anatomy and microanatomy,” Seese recalls, “I didn’t put in
enough time studying biochemistry.” Doubts began to seep in.
“I thought, ‘Maybe they were right. Maybe I didn’t have the
right stuff for med school.’ It was the most nervous I have
ever been in my life.” But he would turn that stumbling block
into a steppingstone.
From then on, he studied
everyday from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., regardless of the
other time he might have spent studying over the course of the
day. He refused to be unprepared for any subject, no matter
how strong or weak he felt he was in it. He also decided not
to “worry himself to death” about grades.
After finishing his first
quarter with a 2.6-grade average, the lowest grade he would
earn in a course afterwards was a B. “Success begot success,”
he says. “The more and more I succeeded, the more and more
confident I became. I knew I wasn’t too dumb to be here.” He
would graduate with a 3.81-grade point average, the second
highest in his class. He would help teach the laboratory
medicine class and start the emergency medicine club at OU-COM.
“He only needed an
opportunity to succeed, a chance to prove something that he
knew,” says Rogers. “He was determined to succeed but a
crucial element of success for him was the inclusion of his
family in his everyday life. No matter what he had to do, it
seemed as though he always had lunch and dinner with his wife
and children. I remember Margaret and the children stopping by
my office on their way to see him on campus, which was quite
often. I could hear them coming because of the commotion that
Amanda and Andrew would cause. I got to know them quite well.”
“Chip helped me grow up,”
says Seese. He was very supportive and helped with my family.
He made me feel welcome here and made it special to be here.”
In his third year, he
began his clinical rotations at Doctors
Hospital in Massillon, after the birth of
his third child, Michael. “He was born between the first day
of classes and my boards,” says Seese. (He now has six
children, including Chris, Katie and Steven.) His family was
with him in Massillon when he started his rotations at Doctors
Hospital with the aim of being an emergency room doctor, just as his mentors
Hartwig and Demidovich.
Seese’s work ethic and
knowledge immediately made impressions at Doctors
Hospital. “He was a superb student,” says Elizabeth Rhoads, now Northeast CORE
administrator, who became acquainted with him while an
administrator at Doctors Hospital. “He was hardworking and
mature, so really outstanding but not full of himself.”
After his graduation in
1987, Seese stayed on at Doctors
Hospital to complete his internship, as chief intern, and his residency, during
which he was named the hospital’s outstanding resident for two
consecutive years, 1989 and 1990.
While at Doctors
Hospital, his interest turned to cardiology. A two-year fellowship in cardiology
at the prestigious Deborah Heart and Lung Center in New Jersey
followed. He came back to Massillon where he joined Stark
Medical Specialties, a private practice. He also continued at
Doctors
Hospital where he had served as a clinical preceptor since 1989.
As superb as he had been
as a student, he fast became an equally superb or, perhaps,
even better teacher. Seese embraced a motto he remembers
seeing on the chalkboard of one of his teachers, “You fail
your teacher if all your life you remain a student.” Since
returning to Doctors Hospital he was named “Outstanding
Clinical Instructor of the Year” in 1993, 1995 and 1996. He
was named “Preceptor of the Year” in 1993 and received the OU-COM
“Master Clinical Faculty Award” in 1998.
“I think that part of
the osteopathic charge is to teach, to pass on what you’ve
learned from others. For me there’s a pure enjoyment in
teaching — I really enjoy helping students and residents. I
love the interaction.” He finds the same “joy” through
interacting with his patients, which is one principal reason
why he’s a cardiologist of “the non-invasive variety,” he
says. “I considered becoming a surgeon but decided not to.”
That’s another decision he hasn’t regretted.
“You could predict he was
going to be a star as a student,” says John Uslick, D.O.,
director of medical education at Doctors
Hospital. Uslick was the regional dean of education when Seese came to
Doctors
Hospital as a student. “Now he’s a confidant to students, interns and residents.
He’s an excellent role model, educator and motivator.”
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