Benjamin Schurhamer // preventive medicine maven // class of 2010

How do you follow a successful undergraduate career, the startup of a business and a two-year stint in the Mississippi Delta teaching eighth-grade science for Teach for America? For Benjamin Schurhamer (B.S. Biochemistry), the answer seemed clear: enroll in medical school and begin to tie all those pieces of experience together in a truly entrepreneurial way.

Currently a student at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Schurhamer says, “Between undergraduate and medical school, I had the chance to work with a variety of different groups. At CBS, and with my company, Blue Water Ponds, I was able to experience the Minnesota start-up community and learn about the incredible opportunities and brilliant entrepreneurs in our state.

“In Teach for America, I was exposed to a resilient group of recent college graduates who were willing to forgo 'better' opportunities at investment banks, consulting firms and Silicon Valley start-ups to help solve the opportunity gap. Finally, in medical school, I am surrounded by an intensely service-focused and detail-oriented group that persists regardless of the situation.”

Schurhamer says he wants to bring an entrepreneurial approach to solving America's healthcare problems. “I hope to create preventive medicine programs that focus on patient wellness and health education,” he says. “I’d really like to work with the current diabetes and obesity problems that are plaguing so many states.”