The Journey

Marian Benjamin, Editor, 24x7

In May, our youngest daughter graduated from law school. It was a wonderful achievement—one of which we are very proud. The journey for her began when she enrolled in a junior college after high school graduation. From there she transferred to University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Upon graduation she worked for 2 years, but realized that, outside of academia, jobs for art history majors are a little scarce (something her dad told her repeatedly). She had always been interested in the art works from Germany that went missing during World War II. She was especially curious about the legal cases that arose when Holocaust survivors tried to reclaim their property, which in many cases ended up in museums. Maybe by marrying art and law she could get involved in this fascinating work.

Many of you have taken similar journeys or are about to embark upon them. You get a position as a BMET at a hospital. After time, you realize that education is the key to advancement and enroll in a 2-year technical program. Some time later you might decide you would like to manage the clinical engineering department or even start your own business. For that, you think, a 4-year clinical engineering degree is necessary.

It’s a lifelong journey, as attested to by the biomeds interviewed for our cover story. They stress that technology is changing too fast not to have continuing education be part of your plan throughout your career. It could lead you to unexpected destinations and present you with challenges you never dreamed of. So it is with our daughter, who with her new law degree in hand is, for the first time in her life, going to be living far, far from her family. A challenge for Mom and Dad, too.

mbenjamin@medpubs.com