“I am one of those lucky people. I always knew what I wanted to do with my life. I have wanted to be a physician as far back as I can remember. I’m not sure where the desire came from. It was something that my family, especially my father, encouraged me to do. He taught me that I could make a difference and helped me to believe in myself.”
This is the opening paragraph of Donna Marie Woods’ resume. She and her husband, Tom Darga, and their two young sons live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Donna is the daughter of Rosebud Rashid Woods and the late Robert Woods of the Chicago area.
After getting her B.S. in Psychology at the University of Michigan (1988), Donna received her M.D. degree at the Loyola Stritch School of Medicine in 1993. In 1998 she became a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry.
A decade of academic study and clinical practice! On paper, these years seem to be a sequence of easily won accomplishments. But it was far from easy. Donna remarks that her first two semesters of study at Michigan were far from stellar. She had always been at the top of her high school class. But so were many of the other freshmen at the University! Donna was worried about her father’s health, and this made it even more difficult to do well in her classes and to adjust to college life.
After getting through a tough first year, Donna did well and was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree. An important decision had to be made now. Donna wondered if she should pursue a Ph.D. instead of an M.D.. After a long discussion with a former professor, Donna realized she might be abandoning her lifelong dream because of a fear of rejection. She decided to work through this fear. Instead of applying to medical school, Donna worked for two years on a Childhood Cancer project. The project team studied the effects of cancer on children’s feelings and thoughts about this disease and, ultimately, on their lives. This psychosocial research project served as a useful transition and affirmed Donna’s desire to become a physician.
Medical school was “four long and grueling years.” Gross Anatomy Lab (that was its name!) was just one notable experience. Donna remarks that each lab began with a priest blessing the cadavers and giving a sermon about the sacrifice these people made to the students’ education. The year ended at this lab with a funeral for the cadavers. There was a great sense of relief among the students that Gross Anatomy Lab was now history.
During the last two years of medical school, Donna went through rotations of study in all of the major medical areas. Although hours were long and on-call duties were seemingly endless, these rotations convinced Donna to pursue psychiatry instead of pediatrics. She completed her four-year residency at Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry. Another hard won step on the path to achieving her life long goal of becoming a physician.
Today Donna is in her second year of a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry, participating in a research project on bereavement. The project compares how individuals in different kinds of families deal with a parent’s death. Just a few of Donna’s research and clinical interests include a focus on mentally ill homeless people, children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and the biological basis of children’s behavior disorders.
Donna hopes to stay in academic medicine working at a hospital associated with a major medical school. This would enable her to combine clinical work with teaching and doing research. A very full agenda! But there is so much more than her profession on Donna’s life agenda.
Donna says it’s very hard to find just the right balance between work and family. Her husband, Tom, and her mother and siblings have been a great support system. Being a good parent to two young sons is as exciting to Donna as anything in her repertoire of psychiatric knowledge, experience and skills.
Donna Woods Darga is a Rashid family member who had the motivation, intelligence and determination to pursue her life long ambition to become a physician. With the support of her husband and her family, she has fulfilled her father’s belief that she could achieve her dream.