Physician Mentor, Medical Student Go the Extra Mile

FORT WORTH – The road to becoming a physician is partly learning to go the distance, and for many medical students it can feel like running a marathon.

For Carter Clatterbuck, a third-year medical student at Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, her medical school journey includes running a marathon – with her physician mentor.  

Clatterbuck has been training side-by-side with her Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) preceptor Jamie Erwin, M.D., assistant professor at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU.

“It’s really great to be able to share something together outside of medicine and build that relationship in a different setting,” Clatterbuck said.  

The pair participated in the 2024 Cowtown Marathon half marathon hoping to outdo their personal best records and continue to cultivate their teacher-scholar mentorship. “I want her to see that you can be an OB-GYN. You can be a woman in leadership. You can be a partner. You can be a mother and you can be an athlete,” Dr. Erwin said. 

The mentoring began long before Clatterbuck was running trails around Fort Worth or seeing patients with Dr. Erwin at Andrews Women’s Hospital at Baylor, Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Fort Worth as a medical student.  

In 2017, Dr. Erwin was invited to speak to the Zeta Tau Alpha Gamma Psi Chapter at TCU about women’s health. Clatterbuck was a sophomore majoring in pre-med at TCU at the time. At the end of the chapter meeting, she introduced herself to Dr. Erwin and asked if she could shadow her at her clinic.  

“I’m really lucky she said yes,” Clatterbuck said.  

From the beginning, Dr. Erwin was impressed with Clatterbuck’s initiative and drive. Between her sophomore and senior year, she shadowed Dr. Erwin frequently and when Clatterbuck applied for medical school, Dr. Erwin wrote her a letter of recommendation.   

“I was thrilled to know she got in and would be in Fort Worth for four more years,” Dr. Erwin said.  

Clatterbuck began medical school at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU in 2021. Shortly after, Dr. Erwin became a faculty member at the medical school, but it would be a while before the two reconnected.  

At medical school, Clatterbuck began the Burnett School of Medicine’s LIC curriculum.  

In Phase 1 of the curriculum, students get clinical experiences alongside a primary care preceptor for 21 weeks. During Phase 2, the LIC experience begins with 10 weeks of inpatient hospital immersions and 40 clinical weeks of ambulatory LIC rotations in eight clinical disciplines (Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Neurology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Surgery).  

“It’s been really wonderful to have a longitudinal clerkship,” Clatterbuck said. “I was able to meet patients at the beginning of my rotation from their pregnancies to their deliveries.”  

In her spare time as a TCU undergraduate, Clatterbuck ran marathons. She decided to sign up for the up for the Cowtown Marathon’s Trailblazers Training Program in Spring 2023 hoping to improve her best personal record of 1 hour and 59 minutes in a half marathon.  

In the middle of a warmup session, Clatterbuck noticed a woman who look familiar – it was Dr. Erwin. “At the time I thought to myself I would love to work with her again,” Dr. Erwin said. 

As Clatterbuck started Phase 3, the medical school coincidentally paired her up with Dr. Erwin as her Obstetrics & Gynecology preceptor. 

 “Neither one of us requested each other but it just so happens that the school placed us together,” Clatterbuck said.  

The LIC shows off the beautiful part of being a physician and continuity of care, Dr. Erwin added. 

 “I love it because Carter and other students have gotten to get to know my patients and my patients have gotten to know them building trust,” Dr. Erwin said.  

Phase 3 also gives students time to explore career interests and prepare for the residency match process.  

“I think this is a great opportunity for the students to get more of a grasp of what the real-life career is before they make that next big decision for residency,” Dr. Erwin said.  

For six months, Clatterbuck learned alongside Dr. Erwin as a part of her patient care team at Andrews Women’s Hospital.  “I’ve had this amazing opportunity to continue building this relationship and now as a medical student be directly involved in patient care,” Clatterbuck said.  

Taking their passion for running off the marathon trails and into the clinic is a great way of role modeling for patients, Dr. Erwin said.  

“It’s a very important part of being a physician,” Dr. Erwin said. “It’s integrity to really live up to what you’re recommending for others.”

Dr. Erwin “is living the kind of life that I hope to have as a physician,” Clatterbuck said.