MDIBL Experience by Dr. Solomon Dawson

My experiences at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (MDIBL) were defining moments
of my last year of nephrology fellowship. I had the incredible opportunity to go not once, but
twice, once as a participant in the fellow’s course and once as a teaching assistant for the
medical student course. My experience is highlighted by the relationships I made, the amazing
learning environment the program engenders, and the natural beauty of the lab and its
surrounding area.

I have an active role in our residency program and specifically the medical education elective.
The concept of “the learning environment” is commonly discussed and I am always drawn back
to one memorable teaching session behind the labs of MDIBL. An ELISA test was running so
we had some down time. Our professor took us out to an outdoor whiteboard to discuss some
more details of physiology integral to our experiment on which we were working. I appreciated
the relaxed nature that the program encourages that allowed whiteboard education, something I
believe is sorely missing from our modern medical education. The real thing that put all of us in
prime learning mode was the fact that we were outside in the bright sunshine under blue skies.
And I kid you not, there were dolphins playing in the bay directly behind the whiteboard! Truly,
this is the kind of place that allows you to learn without the other normal stressors we are
accustomed to in our labs and hospital wards.

I had the privilege of sharing those teaching moments with several fantastic individuals. We
have all gone into very different practice settings. Having gone into bench research,
Interventional Nephrology, private practice, and academia, we have covered the gamut of
professional opportunities available to nephrology. But we all came back that spring to help
teach the medical student MDIBL course (TREKS) which was a great experience as we
prepared to become attendings. We have remained close friends and in fact I just met with one
of them last week at the Medical Directors National Meeting in San Diego. Furthermore, one of
the medical students in that course is now a resident at my residency program and I have had
the pleasure of seeing her grow throughout these intervening years.

Finally, you cannot ignore the wondrous beauty of the surrounding national park of Acadia. The
program is run in a manner that lets you take advantage of all that the island has to offer. From
bike rides along the carriage roads, hikes up to secluded lakes, and holding on for dear life on a
metal bar on the side of a mountain, we got to see it all. Since that time, I have made two solo trips
back to Acadia, and I enthusiastically recommend Acadia National Park to my friends, sharing
the beauty I personally witnessed.

My memories at the MDIBL will be with me forever and perhaps the medical students at my
medical school will start to identify me as “that guy” that keeps talking about it. Hopefully one of
my medical students will take me up on the offer and attend the course. They can witness what
a wonderful experience it is and perhaps see what a wonderful world nephrology has to offer.
(Photos below!)