An Aptitude for Science and a Reverence for the Humanities
Biology Major Ellie Sommers’ Path to Becoming a Medical Doctor
Ellie Sommers ’22 has always been passionate about math and science. Her decision to become a doctor truly revealed itself when she was a freshman in high school and her father, Thomas, was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. As his illness progressed, Sommers realized that she wanted to play a role in improving other people’s quality of life and healthspan as a physician. It was during her time on the Heights, where she swam competitively, that she zeroed in on the idea of specializing in orthopedic surgery. Being able to provide people with what she calls “the gift of movement and restored function” appealed to her as a person, a scientist and an athlete.
A Manlius, New York, native, Sommers will soon graduate from SUNY Upstate Medical University and begin a residency at Geisinger Northeast. Looking back, she says that Le Moyne prepared her for medical school in all of the ways she expected it would. A biology major and member of the Integral Honors Program, Sommers enrolled in one challenging course after another, including Endocrine Disruptors and Immunology. She availed herself of the services of the College’s Health Professions Advisory Committee and served as the president of the Pre-Health Society. However, the lessons she learned about humanity in her philosophy, religious studies and English courses have proven to be equally valuable to her, as has everything she discovered about leadership and perseverance as a swimmer.
Unfortunately in today’s medical system it is easy to move through your work as though you are just checking boxes. You are focusing on so many things that are truly important – biology, physiology, pathology – that sometimes the art in medicine is lost. Le Moyne gave me a really beautiful perspective on the humanity that is central to medicine that I carry with me every day.
For Sommers, being a well-rounded person is key to being a good doctor. In fact, she says that one of the best pieces of advice she received over the course of her time at Le Moyne was to “be open to new opportunities.” It is wisdom that she heeded. During her first year of medical school, she served as a color commentator for Northeast Conference’s national championship swim meet, and last year she and a friend ran the 2025 Boston Marathon, raising $60,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Both were wonderful outlets for her. As it turned out, her stint as a color commentator even came up in her interviews for a residency in orthopedics.
Sommers now looks forward a long career of working with her patients, and of making sure that they feel seen, heard and understood.
She offered this advice to other ‘Phins carving out their own path in medicine:
Work really hard and remember: It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
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