Something began to interfere with Ben Kershberg’s successful technical career in the automotive industry. That something took a long time to come into clear view and become a point in which he would need to rethink not only his values, but his career direction, as well. It didn’t seem totally logical to those who knew and worked along side him at the time. Ben was a very personable and outgoing guy with a great sense of humor. His technical skills were more than proficient; he was an extremely good programmer.

“It wasn’t like I woke up one day and decided to leave my job. It was more gradual. It goes back to how I got into programming when I was in college…I just sort of fell into my ‘computer job.’”

A math major at UCLA, Kershberg worked as a programmer for his brother to help defray his college expenses.

“Writing code was an easy fit to my math skills. It paid pretty well and I found that I was good at it.”

Kershberg was an educational whiz kid. He graduated from high school early at age 16 and then roared through college graduating at 20. Shortly after graduating, he considered doing post-graduate work in his major and possibly teaching mathematics at the high school or college level. However, he was tired of being in school. Kershberg passively elected to continue with his programming as an occupation. By his description, it wasn’t a career choice, more the path of least resistance at the time.

As he gained experience writing code, he became more successful and took on more challenging programming assignments. He worked at both Mazda and Honda in the information technology area.

“There were aspects of software development that I did enjoy. I loved the challenges of problem solving and I enjoyed going out to the auto dealerships on rare occasions to see our customers use my software as a productivity tool,” Kershberg says.
 
Despite his success and positive experiences, he was not able to block out the nagging feeling that continued to hum steadily in the back of his mind. Perhaps, he rationalized; many people find themselves in the same situation – working in a job with marginal to medium personal reward, yet unable or unwilling to identify their lack of satisfaction.

On the other hand, Kershberg was able to observe people on his team who clearly were passionate about computer programming. It was obvious to him that these people were much more enthusiastic doing the same exact type of work he was doing. It seemed that it was a better fit for them than it was for him.

“Throughout my twenties, I was going to work each day and it was an easy routine. Yet I could not seem to find a level of satisfaction that would indicate, to me at least, that I had found my calling. By the time I reached my thirtieth birthday, the question became more pertinent and persistent: Is there something else I could or should be doing?”  
   
Kershberg was soul searching to find out where his career angst was originating. Money was not the problem as he continued to earn a healthy income. It may have been his increasing awareness of social seclusion.

“In programming I would sit behind a computer monitor all day. I really enjoy one-on-one interactions with people and, other than meetings, I was missing the opportunity to truly be with people. Even though I was surrounded by other people in low cubicles, it was a subtle feeling of isolation that I found increasingly difficult to tolerate. But I’d also have this feeling that I was underutilizing my capabilities working in the corporate world.”

Extending His Outreach
Kershberg made an effort to remedy some of the feeling of isolation by volunteering hours of his free time to recording material for the blind and dyslexic, as well as donating (blood) platelets. 

“Donating platelets is better than donating whole blood because you get to watch a movie and they use smaller, less painful needles,” Kershberg breaks out in a grin, recalls the experience and adds praise to the institution. “They treat you really well at the Red Cross.”

His volunteering efforts continued but did not effectively ameliorate his discomfort on the job. Kershberg increasingly began asking himself, Why am I spending my free time on these volunteer activities when I could be more involved in something that would be fulfilling and much more directly related to a career?

Epiphany!
He wanted to be doing something where he could be helping people. He reconsidered teaching math and decided that the classroom aspect was not likely to be the more person-to-person experience he was looking for. One day, for seemingly no particular reason, he reflected on his younger brother’s experience. His brother had applied for medical school but was not accepted. To Kershberg, it was one of those “aha!” moments.

“The idea of medical school began to appeal to me. I wanted a profession that could challenge me. I have all these brain cells that ought to be put to use. I’ve always loved learning and medicine involves both, the application of science as well as complex problem solving.”

From the point of making his decision and the eventual putting the decision into action took a bit longer. Enrolling in pre-med courses would take four or five years longer to occur. However, by 2000, he became a new but “not so typical” pre-med student.

Kershberg - at age 34 - began taking his pre-med classes in the evening. Initially concerned about competing with considerably younger people, he soon realized that, based on his breadth and depth of experience and age, his Med School entry essays did not require as much creative writing to differentiate his background from his more youthful fellow students. In his subsequent interviews, he was able to convey his maturity, sense of purpose and his character which proved to be an advantage.

“At first, the classes were easy. I was much better organized and more disciplined than when I was a kid in school. I knew what areas to focus on and what things to place in the background. But I soon noticed that my memory was not as good as it used to be. So I had to work a lot smarter.“

Medical School in Israel
At age 37, Kershberg selected an American Medical Society approved Sackler Medical School at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel. During the four-years it would take to graduate, he would fulfill a lifelong quest to live in Israel, embrace the ethos and get in touch with his own cultural roots.

“I had a friend who went to Sackler Medical School and she recommended it as a great experience. I loved my time in Tel Aviv. It is a modern, cosmopolitan city with many historical places to visit. The popular music radio in Tel Aviv was fascinating because I would hear a montage of music from Europe, from the Middle East, from America and from Africa,” Kershberg explains. “The Israelis I met tended to be well informed about what is going on in the world. I found them often better informed than people of the same age in the U.S.

Kershberg also discovered that the Middle East was a very convenient central hub that connected him to many places. His travels included skiing in Europe, as Tel Aviv was only a three-hour flight to Switzerland; a weekend jaunt to Cairo to see the pyramids, a safari in Kenya and trips to Crete, Prague and Istanbul.

Advantages and Disadvantages
His first two years were dedicated to lectures in the classroom; the third and fourth years were more clinical involving time in the hospital. The lectures were given in English. However some quizzes and exams would include, at times, questions that were not exactly worded with an American syntax in mind as most of the professors were native Hebrew speakers.  Occasionally, reviewing “wrong” answers on a test became the subject of lively discussions between students and the faculty over the actual intent of the question.

 “One advantage I noticed was, during our third and fourth years, the heads of departments would give us lectures. We were also able to spend a good deal of time with the senior physicians. In contrast to U.S. medical schools, more contact would take place between students and the residents and interns.    

“On the other side, the U.S. the students are considered more part of the team and are intimately involved with the patients, including updating their charts. In Israel, the charts are in Hebrew and the students weren’t allowed to update information on patient status. In that area, we missed some hands-on clinical experience. 

How the Program Works  
Sackler Medical School uses exactly the same U.S. medical licensing exams and gives the exams at the same times as they are given in the U.S. The program was initially limited to students coming from New York. However, now it is open to the students from both the U.S. and Canada. It is well known among hospitals in Los Angeles, New York and other large cities. In the fourth year, half the rotations (16 weeks of time) are done in the U.S. in preparation for doing interviews for internship placements.

“I interviewed primarily in Southern California where my family is located and I selected the field of pediatrics,” Kershberg explains. “because pediatricians were, by far, the nicest people I would meet throughout my academic experience. They treated the students nicely, they were cordial to other physicians, they rarely were stressed out, and were fun to work with. Whenever I was around the kids I would find that I always had a smile on my face.”

Currently, Kershberg is serving his three-year residency with Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

“I was fortunate in that I did not have a family to support while I was in school and I had savings to draw on to help offset my medical school expenses.  But even if one has family and may incur some debt, it is important not to be stuck in a field that is unrewarding. Age should be a consideration but should not be a barrier to a career change." 

Ben Kershberg’s story is to be continued….