Dear Visitor,
Welcome to the Night of the Notables! My chosen eminent person is Dr. James R. Doty.
You can find my learning centre below in the embedded book. For an immersive experience, feel free to use the “fullscreen” feature in the bottom right.
To comment, scroll down to the bottom of this post!
Hey Edward, I really enjoyed reading through your learning centre. It was easy to follow and was nicely formatted. I liked the idea of the book, I’ve never seen anything like that before! My question is what do you think Dr. James R. Doty would do if he won the lottery? Good job 🙂
Thanks Joanne!
If Dr. Doty were to win the lottery, his first thought would be to spend the money in a way that benefits others, whether this is investing in research, or donating to charities, etc. He would only think of himself afterwards, and even then, he would spend the money in a worthwhile way – his experiences in childhood and later life (losing everything) taught him many valuable lessons.
Edward
Your learning centre was really neat, Edward! I love the format that you chose, it was very fun to control the pace and watch the pages flip as I went through it. It was very engaging. It was also very nicely formatted within that, with your main points being very clear, organized and easy to read.
My question is, if Dr. Doty were to have gone into a different profession, what would it have been? Why do you think this?
I appreciate your feedback!
If Dr. Doty chose a different profession other than neurosurgery, it would still related to the medical field – whether as a different type of doctor, an entrepreneur to start off with (developing medical technologies), or medical researcher (learning about cures, diseases, etc.). In any case, his chosen field would be one where he can help others – directly or indirectly. In Into the Magic Shop, Dr. Doty describes a day at school where adults of a variety of professions visited his class. Out of them all, it was a doctor that inspired him the most because of the idea of helping others – one could argue that medicine is where this occurs the most.
Edward
Hi Edward,
I was wondering how you heard about this person?
Mrs. Chambers
Hi Mrs. Chambers,
Thank you for visiting my learning centre! I first learned about Dr. Doty through his memoir, Into the Magic Shop, and I have been significantly impacted by it. I have implemented many of the techniques he teaches in the book and have in fact been inspired to become a neurosurgeon! As a result, Dr. Doty was the first to come to my mind when we were first assigned this project.
Edward
Hello Dr. Doty! Excellent flip book! Very creative way to present information! I have a question: If you did not select a medical field to study in, where do you think you would be career wise? You said yourself that you had a low GPA. Would there have been something else that you would have excelled at? Excellent presentation.
– Kavyan
Hi Kavyan,
Thank you for your feedback! If Dr. Doty did not select the medical field, he would likely be in other fields where he could help/serve others. These could include becoming a teacher (he was interested in helping children, initially being inspired by a paediatrician), firefighter (although he notes how much of it is waiting around for something bad to happen), or community service worker, etc. Since the primary reason for Dr. Doty’s low GPA was needing to care for his family (and he later excelled in medical school), grades would not have been an issue (they were not for him after college).
Edward
Hello Edward. I found your learning center extremely enjoyable, and I loved how you used a unique way of presenting your information by creating a book. I also loved how the book looked, and it looked like you spent a lot of time on the front cover, because it looked exactly like a real book would look like! One question I have is: if Dr. James Doty could redo his life, would he do anything differently?
Hi Joshua,
A note on the cover: I actually modelled it after the cover on Dr. Doty’s memoir Into the Magic Shop! It appears my work has paid off :). As for the question, I do not think Dr. Doty would do anything differently even if he had a chance. Even with the significant failures and obstacles he has faced, each has taught him valuable lessons and have shaped who he is today. The quote, “Every failure is a blessing in disguise,” embodies this perfectly – if Dr. Doty did not encounter any challenges, I wholly doubt he would have become a neurosurgeon, founded CCARE, or be as successful as he is today.
Edward
Great job Edward! Dr. Doty is certainly a very important man! I would like to ask what you think his dedication to CCARE suggests about loss and trauma in developing one’s character/passions? How does the magic shop and his experience with Ruth introduce the idea of helping others to Jim?
Hi Ms. Wasstrom,
I believe Dr. Doty’s dedication to CCARE and helping others in general shows how strongly he wants to make others’ lives better than what he experienced in his childhood, knowing how bad it was for him. As he states in Into the Magic Shop, Dr. Doty thinks there are generally two types of people who arise from a traumatic childhood. First, the people who think their lives cannot be improved and as a result cede themselves to the lives they’d been born in. Second, the people who are resilient, and, with all their power, try to separate themselves from their past, and overachieve in what they do. Dr. Doty fits the latter group.
His experience with Ruth only amplified this desire and gave him first-hand experience. Ruth’s act of helping him literally introduces the idea of helping others to Jim – she changes his life and it is Jim’s goal to do so too. In fact, it was one of Ruth’s only conditions to teaching him her tricks: Jim had to promise that he would – like she has – teach someone else the “magic,” something that Dr. Doty has done through his book. The effect that Ruth had on him demonstrated the effect that a parental-figure, mentor, or simply an act of kindness can have a someone’s life and is a major motivator in all of Dr. Doty’s work.
Edward
Hey Edward, I really enjoyed your learning center! it was very engaging and fun to flip through. I liked how much time and effort you put into the flipbook itself to make it look good and how you put the perfect amount of information that was interesting and I feel like it went really in-depth. One question I have is: Did Dr. Doty always want to work in the medical field?
Hi Emilie,
Thank you for your kind comments! For the question: Yes, Dr. Doty did want to work in the medical field ever since he met a doctor on “Job Day” while in fourth grade. The profession was by far the most appealing to him – especially the chance to help others daily. The “tricks” Ruth taught him later on allowed him to reach this dream job.
Edward
Edward, great personal choice of eminent person. Your flipbook was informative and comprehensive. I wonder what other technologies have been developed as a result of his invention?
Thanks Ms. Mulder!
The Cyberknife (which Dr. Doty contributed to the development of) is one of the most used radiosurgery devices, that is, “surgically” removing tumors through only radiation. Compared to other devices, such as the Gamma Knife, the Cyberknife has the ability to “deliver radiation from thousands of angles,” reducing the impact of affecting healthy tissues around the tumor. It can also treat tumors all around the entire body, adjust for patient movement, and requires neither a “metal frame” to be mounted on the patient’s body nor anesthesia (or pain or recovery time). Thus, the Cyberknife is industry-leading, but since it is still relatively new (compared to other technologies in the field), it is difficult to say whether any other significant technologies have developed as a result of it – nevertheless, it has opened new possibilities and is certainly one of the gold standards of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), setting higher standards that future technologies will aim for.
Hope this answers your question,
Edward