Rowing Through Med School

Temple Athletics has an incredible variety of majors amongst its student athletes with the Resnick Academic Support Center providing guidance to student athletes with especially difficult majors. Even with all the resources that Temple provides, it is not every day that you find a student athlete enrolled in Medical School.

The rare example is Liz Kogan, a graduate transfer from Rutgers University in New Jersey, who joined the Owls Rowing team in the fall of 2020 while enrolling in the Katz School of Medicine.

Kogan graduated from Rutgers in three years with a degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience in the spring of 2019. During her time at Rutgers, Kogan had a very successful career, consisting a contribution to the school's highest ever Big Ten finish along with earning All-Academic Big 10, and an Honorable Mention for All-American.

Following her graduation, she was invited to the Team USA U23 Selection Camp. "That was an incredible experience, having the opportunity to row aside some of the best collegiate rowers" explained Kogan.

Similar to many incoming medical students, Kogan opted to take a year to gain experience before starting her M.D. During the year away from school, Kogan worked as a medical scribe at Passaic County Orthopedics. "During that year, I had the chance to work with patients and shadow surgeries," said Kogan.

Following her acceptance into the Katz School of Medicine, Kogan reached out to the Rowing coach to pursue using her remaining years of eligibility and the stars aligned. However the question is not always whether the coach will allow it, but if the academic rigor will allow it.

Kogan discussed this in saying "I reached out to the medical school and they were very supportive, and I was very very pleasantly surprised."

Getting in is just the start of the challenge for a medical student, especially if you are a student athlete getting on the river at the crack of dawn.

Kogan talked about some of the conveniences that modern day medical school offers. "What's really great about med school is that all the lectures are online, so they're all recorded, and you don't have to actually attend lecture in person" said Kogan, "the way it works with rowing regattas or races are usually on Saturdays, so it is a lot of things falling into place."

Kogan did note some of the difficulties with the balancing act discussing the occasional missed workout. "I got lucky that rowing is my sport, and that it's super flexible, kind of, and I can do the workouts on my own if needed" she said.

Although her experience at Temple has been greatly altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kogan has been able to get into the swing of things both at Katz and with the woman on the rowing team. All eyes are on this spring and hopefully being able to compete and take all of the hard work to the river.

She hopes to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery due to her own experience as an athlete. "I love the idea of working with athletes, they're super motivated to get better and get back to their sport and I think it's super rewarding to help an athlete, get back to what they love doing.

While only an Owl for one semester, Kogan already exemplifies the hard work that Temple student athletes demonstrate daily.

Temple University Athletics

Rowing Through Med School

Players Mentioned

Liz Kogan

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