Interview with Wally Quenzer, November 9, 2018

Partial Transcript: Hi, I'm Karen Clancy.

Segment Synopsis: Dr. Wally Quenzer was born in Germany during World War II. Her entire family lived there, including her sister who was three years younger than her. While growing up in Germany, Quenzer moved to the city of Heidelberg, which was very fortunate because it the was base for the American headquarters in Germany, which meant that it never got bombed. In 1945, she had moved back to her hometown city. In 1951, her dad got hired by Lockheed as an aeronautical engineer. Then, in 1954, they got their visas to travel to the United States as legal immigrants. They moved to San Fernando Valley, California, where she went to 8th grade and some of high school. She graduated 13th in her class of 500 at her high school. Then, Quenzer proceeded to attend UCLA as a sociology major. Later, she applied to 17 medical schools and only got one acceptance letter, which was from the University of Kentucky Medical School.

Keywords: Acceptance; Aeronautical engineers; American; Bases; Bombing; City; College majors; Colleges; Family; Germany; Graduated; Headquarters; Heidelberg (Germany); High schools; Hometowns; Legal; Medical schools; Safety; San Fernando Valley (Calif.); Sisters; Sociology; UCLA, Los Angeles (Calif.); University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Visas; Wars

Subjects: Childhood; Emigration and immigration.; Families.; Immigrants; Universities and colleges--Admission; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher); World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: What part of San Fernando Valley were you from?

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer mentions her life during high school while she lived in San Fernando Valley in California. She recalls that it was a booming place, but she states that in regards to school, she focused mainly on the sciences in high school. However, she did not have much of a social life while she was in high school. Her family also never encouraged her much to hang out with her friends. She claims that she had wanted to be a doctor since she was 8 or 9 years old. Her love for animals made her apply to one vet school among the 17 medical schools she was applying to, but she knew she was not going to have a great shot. This is because it was the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and it was the only vet school in the nation, so it was very difficult to get in.

Keywords: Animals; Booming; California; Competition; Difficult; Doctors; High schools; Medical schools; San Fernando Valley (Calif.); Schools; Sciences; Single; Social life; Thriving; UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine (Calif.); Vet schools; Veterinarians; Young

Subjects: Medical education; Universities and colleges--Admission; Universities and colleges--Departments; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: So the first two years in med school, were science classes.

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer attended the University of Kentucky Medical School for her MD. Quenzer recalls that all of the classes she took during the first two years of medical school were science classes. She studied mainly by herself because she still was not completely fluent in English, therefore, she had a hard time studying with other people. While she was starting medical school, she was also enrolled in an English learning class. In this class, she was the only woman. She also took a horseback riding class in order to have a balance in her life while also addressing her love for animals.

Keywords: Alone; Animals; Balance; Classes; English; Fluent; Friends; Hard; Horseback riding; Horses; Languages; Learning; Love; Medical schools; Sciences; UK; University of Kentucky College of Medicine; Woman

Subjects: Medical education; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; University of Kentucky. Medical Center; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: So did you, um--which--were there any classes that you liked?

Segment Synopsis: In regards to Quenzer's favorite class, she states that she really did not have one favorite. However, she did meet a professor in pathology who in fact went to the same elementary school as her in Germany. However, Quenzer said she was too shy to take advantage of the situation at the time, but later on in life she was able to ask the professor to take care of her dogs when she needed her to.

Keywords: Advantages; Best; Classes; Dogs; Elementary schools; Favorites; Germany; Help; Identical; Later; Life; Pathology; Professors; Same; Shy; Timid

Subjects: Medical education; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; University of Kentucky. Medical Center; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: So then you started working on your clerkships.

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer proceeded to work on her clerkships during the second half of her time during medical school. She liked some of the clerkships (such as neonatology or pediatrics because she likes working with children), but she did not care much for psychiatry. She also liked the clerkships that dealt with community medicine. She did one in Puerto Rico where she helped deliver babies. However, the students had a cap on how many babies they could deliver due to them not being a doctor in practice yet. Lucky for Quenzer, she was able to deliver 42 babies, the most out of any of her classmates, 25 of which were in Puerto Rico.

Keywords: Babies; Classmates; Clerkships; Community; Delivering; High achievers; Medical schools; Medicine; Moms; Mothers; Neonatology; Pediatrics; Puerto Rico; Students

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Medical education; Medicine.; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; Women in higher education.; Women physicians.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: So, uh, you eventually wound up going into, to pediatrics, right?

Segment Synopsis: Although Quenzer had loved neonatology, she wound up in pediatrics. This was because she claimed that there were too many dangerous tumors to deal with in that field. She ended up doing her rotation in pediatrics in Los Angeles and she did her clerkship at the UK College of Medicine. She claims that she always had an interest in pediatrics, but she wanted to pursue surgery or anesthesiology in that field. However, she knew that that meant early mornings, which she was not too fond of, and surgery was more of a male field at the time she was in medical school.

Keywords: Anesthesiology; Clerkships; Dangerous; Early; Los Angeles (Calif.); Males; Medical; Medical schools; Medicine; Mornings; Neonatology; Pediatrics; Physicians; Rotations; Surgery; Tumors; UK; University of Kentucky

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Medical education; Medicine.; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; Women in higher education.; Women physicians.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: Okay, then you decided you were going to do your internship. And how did that happen?

Segment Synopsis: After medical school, Quenzer did an internship because it would cut down on a year of residency in the future. She did the internship in LA County and Orange County. After the internship she worked with Kaiser Permanente in 1969. Her whole career was at Kaiser.

Keywords: Careers; Future; Internships; Kaiser Permanente; Los Angeles County (Calif.); Medical schools; Orange County (Calif.); Residency; Years

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Medical education; Medical residents; Medicine.; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: So you worked your whole career for--at Kaiser.

Segment Synopsis: The history of Kaiser involves the reason that Kaiser developed as a company: to aid the middle class people. Therefore, Quenzer worked mainly with middle class patients. She did it mostly in Orange County, California, so she worked mainly with white patients. However, she also encountered quite a few Mexican patients, and after 1975 they had number of Vietnamese patients as well. Some years she worked in Downey, California, where there were more diverse patients. Eventually she retired quite early because of health problems due to her lungs. She had lung surgery during her junior year of medical school in November, specifically the day before Thanksgiving. She got discharged a few days after Thanksgiving and went home for break. She then started class again in January for the new semester. She was off of school for about six weeks. She was then offered to graduate the next year, but she stayed with her class and graduated with them. Quenzer explains how her lung disease was caused by whooping cough that she had when she was just 3 years old. She often missed school for weeks in Germany, but she did much better with her lungs when she moved to California later in her life.

Keywords: Absence; Absent; Breaks; California; Company; Coughing; Coughs; Diseases; Diverse; Diversity; Downey (Calif.); Health; History; January; Kaiser Permanente; Life; Lungs; Mexican; Middle class; Orange County (Calif.); Others; Painful; Patients; Problems; Schools; Semesters; Surgery; Thanksgiving; Three; Vietnamese; Weeks; White; Whooping cough; Young

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Health.; Medical education; Medicine.; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; University of Kentucky. Medical Center; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: Okay so, when you were a pediatrician, did you encourage children to--parents to get their children immunized?

Segment Synopsis: One Quenzer became a pediatrician, she made sure that she told the parents to get their children immunized. In fact, she would get upset when the parents did not do that. She then explains how her daughter is currently in the field of public health, and how her daughter wrote a research paper about how a child can obtain a chronic illness from the mother. This just further emphasized her point that children should get immunized.

Keywords: Children; Chronic illnesses; Daughters; Immunizations; Immunize; Mothers; Pediatricians; Pediatrics; Public health; Research

Subjects: Family medicine.; Health.; Medicine.; Physicians (General practice); Physicians--Kentucky; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; University of Kentucky. Medical Center; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women physicians.; Women--Education (Higher); Women--Employment.

Partial Transcript: Was that during your--when you were taking your science courses or when you were working on your clerkship?

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer explains that she always had a cough throughout her life. However, she then proceeds to explain how it did in fact get better after the surgery that she had during junior year of medical school. This is the year that medical students usually earn their clerkships. She then recalls how she was seen by doctors with whom she either worked with or worked under. Although the surgery was performed during November, it was not until February when she could fall asleep throughout the entire night without waking up out of pain. For the surgery, they had taken out her ribs and removed almost half of her right lung. After her clerkship, she went back to Los Angeles and Orange County, California to complete her medical residency and internship.

Keywords: Awake; Better; Bosses; Clerkships; Colleagues; Coughs; Doctors; February; Internships; Juniors; Lifetime; Los Angeles (Calif.); Lungs; Medical schools; Nights; November; Orange County (Calif.); Painful; Residency; Ribs; Students; Surgery; Third year; Waking

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Health.; Medical education; Medical residents; Medicine.; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: Was there, um, a moment that you can remember where you felt like, "Wow I'm a doctor now."

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer talks about her feelings about becoming a doctor considering her personal history and background. She claims that it was not universal for women to be doctors in Germany, as only 30% of doctors were women. She also explains how her dad would have preferred her to be a biophysicist, but he was okay with the fact that she wanted to be a doctor.

Keywords: Acceptance; Biophysicists; Doctors; Fathers; Germany; Physicians; Preferences; Women

Subjects: Education; Families.; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.

Partial Transcript: Did you--when you applied to all those medical schools, and then you only got the one, the one invitation, do you think that was because you were a woman...

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer admits that the reason that she only got one acceptance letter out of all the medical schools that she applied to was because of her bad grades. She had a straight C average after her undergraduate years. But, this was not because she was a bad student, but because she had only been in the U.S. for a limited amount of time, so she had not been able to completely understand the English language yet. She therefore could not understand the textbooks very well. She spent her undergraduate years at UCLA, starting her freshman year during 1958. She claims that she took many different science classes, so it was very difficult for her to understand the content since it required a lot of reading.

Keywords: 1958; 3.0 GPA; Acceptance letters; Colleges; Content; Difficult; English; Grade point average; Grades; Hard; Incomprehensible; Languages; Natives; Reading; Science; Students; Undergraduates; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Zoology

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Medical education; Universities and colleges--Admission; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: So, at what point did you get married?

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer recalls that she got married at almost 30 years of age. She met her husband in 1970 and got married within 5 months of knowing each other. They were only about 9 weeks apart in age. At this point, she had already bought another house in Orange County because she had a second dog, so this worked out well for them.

Keywords: Age; Dogs; Husbands; Months; Orange County (Calif.)

Subjects: Families.; Marriage; Married life

Partial Transcript: So did--when you were, um, when you were working as a professional woman, a physician, were you seeing patients...

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer explains her time working as a physician in a hospital. She says that there was a lot of hospital work. However, since she was married and had kids, she worked overnight so that she could get the next day off (that is how the rule worked). She also made her schedule in a way so that she could take the afternoons off. During the nights, however, the pediatrics team had to be there for the OB-GYN procedures because she had to take care of the premature babies and the C-sections. The premature babies had to be at least 30 weeks from the due date for her to be allowed to take care of them. The first year that she worked in the hospital, there were no neo-natologists, so she had to do all of the work and take care of the babies. She also took care of the small kids as well.

Keywords: Afternoons; Babies; Children; Hospitals; Husbands; Kids; Marriage; Married; Natology; Nights; Obstetrics and gynecology (OB-GYN); Overload; Overnight; Pediatrics; Physicians; Premature; Schedules; Work

Subjects: Medicine.; Physician and patient.; Physicians (General practice); Physicians--Kentucky; Women in engineering and science; Women physicians.; Women--Employment.; Work life

Partial Transcript: Were there differences?

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer discusses how the medicine in Kentucky was different, but for personal reasons. She states how she was a student in Kentucky but a physician while she was in California. So, it was a different experience in that sense. She also claims that she was able to personalize her life in California to the demands of her family. Her career and family life were able to work together well. Throughout her career and educational career, Quenzer never lost her love for animals. She got her first St. Bernard dog that was not in great condition; luckily, she was able to nurse it back to health. She had to leave the dog with one of her friends while she was out of town, and when she came back home, the dog was pregnant with puppies. Later, the dog gave birth to eight puppies, but unfortunately only four made it through the night. Quenzer made sure to take very good care of her pets. She also made sure to leave them at a place where there were many fields.

Keywords: Animals; California; Careers; Conditions; Demands; Dogs; Experience; Family; Farms; Feed; Fields; Health; Home life; Kentucky; Love; Nursed; Personalize; Physicians; Pregnant; Puppies; Schools; St. Bernard dogs; Students

Subjects: Medicine.; Physicians (General practice); Physicians--Kentucky; Women in engineering and science; Women physicians.; Women--Employment.; Work life

Partial Transcript: So have you--your love for animals, have you done any kind of special things through the years, gotten involved with groups, or--

Segment Synopsis: To not let go of her love for animals, Quenzer decided to join some organizations that were made just for helping animals, specifically dogs. She first volunteered at a wildlife rescue, where they helped with sea birds. However, she did not like working with the animal shelter. She got her current dog from the rescue. She had also obtained her second dog from the rescue as well, but she had to re-home the second dog because he got too over-protective of Quenzer. All of the dogs that Quenzer has always owned were St. Bernards. When she got married, she had three St. Bernard dogs. She claims that they were not easy to train, and she states that she is too old to own any more big dogs.

Keywords: Animal shelters; Dogs; Helping; Love; Married; Organizations; Protective; Seabirds; St. Bernard dogs; Training; Wildlife rescues

Subjects: Animals; Families.

Partial Transcript: What are some of the highlights of your career?

Segment Synopsis: In 1996, Quenzer was not doing much hospital work because she worked a lot in the neo-natology ward overnights. She recalls a story at the hospital where there were some triplets that were born to a German couple (through a surrogate mother). Quenzer got to help them, and they paid for her to go to Germany. Some years later, she got a message on Facebook from one of the girls that she helped deliver. Overall, she helped deliver two sets of twins, not knowing they were twins.

Keywords: Couples; Delivering; Delivery; Facebook; Germans; Germany; Hospitals; Messages; Mothers; Neo-natology; Surrogate mothers; Surrogates; Tickets; Triplets; Twins

Subjects: Childhood; Education; Health.; Medicine.; Physician and patient.; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women physicians.; Women--Education (Higher); Women--Employment.; Work life

Partial Transcript: Are--were there differences in terms of like the way medicine was practiced...

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer claims that she never looked for differences in medicine between Germany and America. On the other hand, she tried to find the common factors between Germany and America to help her fit in as much as possible. She claims that no matter the country, it is still a patient, a disease, and a doctor. The gender of the doctor does not matter at the end of the day. There is especially no difference between the two countries because women have successfully stepped into the field of medicine.

Keywords: America; Commonalities; Countries; Country; Differences; Diseases; Doctors; Factors; Fields; Gender; Germany; Medicine; Patients; Woman; Women

Subjects: Education; Health.; Medicine.; Physician and patient.; Physicians (General practice); Physicians--Kentucky; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher); Work life

Partial Transcript: How has medicine changed since you started out?

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer claims that not much has changed since women first stepped into the field of medicine. However, she did claim that there have been external changes that have affected the medical field. For instance, the introduction of the computer has been important, although Quenzer states that it may not have been for the best. Additionally, she also talks about how it was very important to have her dog with her throughout medical school because she could talk to it and tell it her problems. She had always had close relationships with animals and her dog was like her best friend during medical school. She even tried to start a pet therapy program at Kaiser Permanente to help the patients, but the head of Infectious Diseases was not a big fan of the program. To successfully run a pet therapy program, the dogs would have to put in a lot of work as well. The role of dogs is very important in the field of medicine because it helps the patients a lot. She gives an example of how dogs helped when working with children at the hospital.

Keywords: Beneficial; Closeness; Computers; Detrimental; Dogs; External; Field of medicine; Friends; Helpful; Kaiser Permanente; Medical; Patients; Pet therapy; Pets; Relationships; Sedation; Women

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Health.; Medical education; Medicine.; Physician and patient.; Physicians (General practice); Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women physicians.; Women--Education (Higher); Women--Employment.; Work life

Partial Transcript: Um, so kind of winding up a little bit.

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer recalls how her 50th anniversary/reunion with her friends from medical school went. She said that many of them got together and ate dinner, and Quenzer made a presentation of all the pictures that she had from medical school.

Keywords: 50; Anniversary; Fiftieth class reunion; Fifty; Medical schools; Pictures; Presentations; Reunions

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Medical education; Medicine.; University of Kentucky. College of Medicine; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)

Partial Transcript: What, what kinds of things would you recommend to students today that are, uh, getting started?

Segment Synopsis: Quenzer says that if she were to give advice to students these days as to what they should do when enduring medical school, she advises that they should be adaptable. She says they have to be able to adjust to whatever situation comes up. They must also have an open mind. There must also be a balance between work and life. She claims that is very important.

Keywords: Adaptable; Adaptation; Advice; Medical schools; Medicine; Open minded; Work-life balance

Subjects: Education; Education, Higher--Kentucky; Health.; Medical education; Medicine.; Physicians--Kentucky; Universities and colleges--Admission; Women in engineering and science; Women in higher education.; Women--Education (Higher)