When she looks back at her time as a biology major at Rose-Hulman, Elizabeth “Paige” (Stewart) Darnell, a 2011 alumna, appreciates how the college encourages students to strive for excellence, avoid stagnation, and pursue continuous improvement. Those ideas are especially true when it comes to problem-solving skills she has applied throughout her career as a physician.
“Rose taught me that while problems may look daunting, if you step back and break them down into individual steps, it's just like a puzzle to be solved,” Darnell said. “That's an engineering mindset, and it's served me throughout my career.”
The Brazil, Indiana, native went on to attend Indiana University School of Medicine. From there, she worked as a pediatrician at UNC Health Caldwell and now serves as the organization's chief medical officer. She says the mindset she learned at Rose-Hulman has applied throughout her career, whether through improving processes or helping patients succeed.
Darnell always wanted to practice medicine in a rural health setting. UNC Health Caldwell is located in Lenoir, North Carolina, a small town larger than Brazil but smaller than Terre Haute.
“I really enjoy the families and taking care of the whole person,” Darnell said. “Being a doctor allows me to have conversations with patients. When I treat an ear infection, I can also ask a child how school is going and ask mom or dad how parenting is going. I can engage the whole family.”
In her current leadership position, Darnell still carries that mindset of striving for excellence, which she finds particularly important in rural communities.
“I want to drive a cultural change of not settling for less just because we are in a small town,” she said. “High standards should apply to everything, regardless of population size.”
Darnell credits much of her success in medical school and as a physician and leader to her undergraduate experience at Rose-Hulman.
“I loved the small class sizes and getting to know your professors and other students,” she said. "Medical school is really hard, but Rose was also hard. Comparatively, I was extremely prepared for the workload and studying.”
“When I graduated from medical school, I had never met some of the students standing next to me. At Rose, it was different. We lived together and cried with each other during finals. Those relationships are what make Rose-Hulman so special.”