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IU Kokomo alumnus Dr. James Ong profiled on IU half-time show Saturday
November 24, 2004 | |||||
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KOKOMO, Ind.—Indiana University Kokomo alumnus and former Kokomo area art teacher Dr. James Ong will be interviewed during the half-time show of the IU vs. Western Illinois basketball game Saturday, November 27. The game starts at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN Plus. Today, Dr. Ong works in private practice in internal medicine for St. John’s Health System, based in Anderson, Ind. During the pre-recorded half-time broadcast, he will recall how science faculty at IU Kokomo helped prepare him for his dramatic career change from teaching to medicine. With a master’s degree in art from Ball State University, Ong taught at Northwestern High School, Kokomo, from 1987–1990. He then took a leave of absence from his teaching duties and enrolled at IU Kokomo to pursue prerequisite courses for admission to the IU School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree there in 1997. Dr. Ong credits the science faculty at IU Kokomo with helping him silence those who doubted he could successfully switch careers. “Dr. [Bob] Roales, Dr. [Marcia] Gillette, all the IU Kokomo professors worked very hard with me, and I did really well on the test for entrance into medical school,” he said. IU Kokomo administrators also helped him get part-time work tutoring other students in chemistry and working in the campus child care center. “I had a wonderful experience at IU Kokomo and have recommended the campus to lots of people,” Dr. Ong said. While his medical practice leaves little time for art, Dr. Ong said he does occasionally find it easier to sketch illustrations of patients’ injuries on medical charts, rather than write out descriptions of their conditions. Doctors and artists do use similar “problem-solving skills” to get at very different ends, Dr. Ong believes. “You have to think abstractly to find the answers to problems in art, especially in sculpture, which I focused on,” he said. “Sometimes, in medicine, you have to think outside the box and get creative to solve a patient’s problems.”
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