Alumna Physician Aims to Make a Difference
2023
For the secular world, suffering is an evil to be avoided at all costs. To many, being ill, being weak, or being helpless is not something that evokes compassion—it is an unnecessary burden that is best ignored or eliminated in order to keep life comfortable. This reality is perhaps most stark in the medical field, with the realities of abortion and euthanasia ever-present. What can one do in the face of such darkness and despair? How can one person make a difference?
Olivia Musilli ’17 entered the medical field after graduation with these same questions. In the five years since, she has come to a profound realization: that Catholic physicians have a unique perspective on suffering, not shared by any other background. This perspective provides not just a contrast but a solution to the problems in the medical field today, a solution that can change the medical field—and the world itself—for the better.
A native of New York, Musilli attended Christendom College from 2013 to 2017, earning her bachelor’s degree in English language and literature. At first glance, such a degree does not seem a likely indicator for success in the medical field. But for Musilli and other Christendom graduates before and since, her background in the liberal arts was integral during both her time in medical school and after.
Following a year spent completing a palliative care internship and studying for and taking the MCAT, Musilli began her studies at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, taking classes in didactic learning for two years before completing various rotations in New York and Pennsylvania for the final two years of her studies. She graduated this past May, receiving her Doctorate of Osteopathy degree and, in the process, becoming one of Christendom’s first alumnae physicians.
This story comes from the latest issue of Instaurare Magazine, the official magazine of Christendom College. Read more from Instaurare here!
Today, Musilli is in a family medicine residency program in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where she will spend the next three years completing rotations in every aspect of medicine, including hospitalist medicine, emergency medicine, surgery, ICU, OB/GYN, pediatrics, geriatrics, addiction/behavioral health, psychiatry, cardiology, endocrinology, hematology/oncology, neurology, night float, dermatology, ophthalmology, hospice/palliative care, and electives. In short, Musilli is getting firsthand experience in every aspect of the medical field, giving her firsthand knowledge of how best to treat patients of all ages and of all backgrounds as a physician.
Treating the sick and the injured is an enormous responsibility, one that requires a great deal of both knowledge and compassion. For Musilli, the weight of this responsibility—and, ultimately, why she wanted to join this field—became clear to her on the first day of medical school.
“On my first day of medical school, one of the professors told our class there are only two professions allowed to enter so intimately into a person’s life: clergy and physicians,” said Musilli. “Just as the seal of confession protects the sacred bond between sinner and confessor, legal and ethical protections protect the confidentiality between patient and physician. The reason I chose family medicine was because I have seen utter brokenness in the world, in families, and in patients’ personal lives. While this can be a depressing reality, I see my role as a physician as an opportunity to offer perhaps the only concrete relationship a patient will know in his lifetime. I hope my professional promise to my patients to stay with them through illness and health and to not abandon them in their lowest moments will plant a seed of desire to seek a more permanent relationship and healing from the Divine Physician Himself.”
In the five years graduation, Musilli has come to a profound realization: that Catholic physicians have a unique perspective on suffering, not shared by any other background.
In moments like these, the importance of the Catholic physician becomes ever clearer. Being present at one’s lowest moment is one thing, but being able to help them and offer hope is quite another entirely. Musilli is bearing witness to that in her daily work, especially after completing her first inpatient medicine rotation. Daily, she would prescribe and adjust medications, order labs and testing, initiate consults to various specialties, perform a number of procedures, speak with patients about treatment plans, and even pronounce deaths, from 7:00 in the morning to 7:00 at night, twelve days in a row.
As one might imagine, within this work, Musilli has encountered many moments of hope and inspiration but also challenges as well. In a secular society that views suffering as only burdensome, Musilli has met providers and patients who view the lives of the ill, weak, disabled, and unwanted as unnecessary, better ended now than to continue without “quality of life.” In these moments, Musilli realized the profound importance of the Catholic physician in the medical field.
“I have debated medical professionals on the ‘need’ for medical abortions and the use of aborted fetal cell lines in research and vaccines,” recounts Musilli. “Sometimes, I have become filled with doubts and question what I can do in the face of such darkness and despair. In those moments, I turn to St. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ After spending some time to process these events, I have come to realize Catholic physicians have a unique perspective on suffering, not shared by any other background. Just as I learned in my Christendom theology classes that while suffering is not an end in itself, Christ’s Passion and Death has elevated suffering to possess a salvific quality. For the secular world, suffering is the worst evil to be avoided at all costs; but for the believer, suffering has value insofar as it can transform us into the best version of ourselves if we allow it to do so.”
What Musilli has realized is the contrast and the solution to the problems in the medical field today: suffering is not something to simply be ignored or eliminated. Rather, it is something that can be salvific. It is something that can transform not only the person suffering but all around them into the best versions of themselves—a people united in Christ’s own suffering for the salvation of the world.
It is this perspective that elevates all of Musilli’s daily work and has helped her overcome the challenges and trials she has faced thus far. For her, completing medical school and becoming a physician is the most difficult thing she has ever done. She has encountered the human condition in all its forms, from unapologetic evil to supernatural virtue and everything in between. And yet, as a result of all of this, she has seen something beautiful: that being a good physician requires an extraordinary amount of virtue and that this calling is her particular path to sanctity.
“As a Christendom alumna, I have been called to help restore the medical field to Christ.”
“As a Christendom alumna, I have been called to help restore the medical field to Christ,” says Musilli. “In discovering how to accomplish this in a concrete way, I have learned the best thing I can offer my patients is my humanity. The medical field can be a dehumanizing place. Patients are often questioned about particular details of their past medical history, completely exposed for examinations, and required to relive incredibly painful experiences. While I may not be able to cure the illness or fix the problem in that moment, I can offer a listening ear and a compassionate word.”
Once Musilli is finished with her three years of rotations, she will work in family medicine, seeing and treating all ages, including infants, children, pregnancy patients, and the elderly. An enormous responsibility, to be sure, but a position she is not only prepared for, but called to.
For the secular world, suffering is an evil to be avoided at all costs. In the face of this darkness, one person can still make a difference. Compassion, hope, love, and the Truth can be restored to the medical profession. Musilli, and other alumni, are the evidence of that.
“I have learned that no matter what vocation God is calling you to, do not be afraid,” concludes Musilli. “Do not be afraid to ask the hard questions. Do not be afraid to strive for excellence and defend your values. Do not be afraid to offer your humanity. He is with you always.”
Read more fromInstaurare Magazine here.
Contributed by Zach Smith, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications at Christendom College.
