44 | AUGUST 29 • 2024 J
N
A
visit to a former
concentration camp is
somber, emotional, thought-
provoking, transformative — and
especially eye-opening for someone
like Christopher
Carpenter, M.D.
The reason?
Carpenter viewed
the experience through
several lenses: As
the dean of Oakland
University William
Beaumont School of
Medicine, as a longtime
practicing physician and, of course, as
a human.
It was all part of the OUWB
Study Trip to Auschwitz — the third
consecutive year the journey of
personal and professional discovery
has been made by a cohort of 20
future physicians from the school.
Carpenter, named Stephan Sharf
Dean of OUWB effective July 15,
went on the study trip for the first
time and recently shared his thoughts
on the experience.
“Initially, I viewed everything as the
dean … I was in a role of recognizing
that the focus of the program is for
our students and for them to gain this
amazing perspective,” Carpenter says.
“But as the week evolved, I felt
I was more of a participant, too.
Recognizing that I’m 30 years ahead
of them, I was able to share some of
my own experiences and perspectives,
and I felt like the students gained
from that.”
They did, according to second-year
medical students like Ahmed Ahmed.
“(Carpenter) was able to share with
us the parallels between the choices
he’s had to make and the choices
physicians faced back then,” he said.
“It was incredibly valuable to have
a physician with three decades of
experience with us on the study trip.”
STUDENTS ARE IMPRESSIVE
In June 2022, Oakland University
William Beaumont School of
Medicine began offering a new
transformative learning opportunity
to its medical students through the
OUWB Holocaust and Medicine
program.
Part of the program — the
OUWB Study Trip to Auschwitz —
is designed to prompt students to
delve into this distinctive and tragic
era in the history of medicine and
critically reflect on its implications for
one’s own personal and professional
development within the medical
profession. The study trip relies
entirely on donor funding.
This year, the study trip took place
June 13-20.
Upon arrival, the group spent
two full days in Krakow, where
they participated in tours intended
to help the medical students better
understand how Jewish people lived
pre-war and how things changed
relatively quickly leading up to and
during World War II.
Sites visited in Krakow included
the Galicia Museum, Eagle Pharmacy,
Ghetto Heroes Square and the Oskar
Schindler Factory, which features a
permanent exhibition called “Krakow
under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945.”
Jason Wasserman, Ph.D., professor,
Department of Foundational Medical
Studies and program co-director, has
called the time in Krakow a “ramp
up” to tours later in the
week.
The deep dive into
Jewish life and history
continued the third
day of the trip when
the group moved to
Oswiecim, the location
of the Auschwitz I and
Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration
camps. The cohort visited the
Oshpitzin Jewish Museum and
learned more about the town.
On the fourth day of the week, the
group visited Auschwitz I. English-
speaking tour guides led students
through the site of the former
concentration camp. Many former
cellblocks have been turned into
exhibitions, each designed to help
today’s visitors better understand
what once took place within the very
walls.
The following day, the group
toured the massive site of the former
Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Carpenter says the impact of
physically being in such places is
“more tangible and more immediate”
than studying them from afar.
“It’s not like watching a movie,
where you feel like you’re a distance
from it,” he says. “You’re there and
you see the ruins of crematoriums …
the gas chambers, the bunks.”
Reflective writing sessions were
held at the end of most days during
the study trip.
Students like Tate Shepherd say
having Carpenter participate in
the sessions helped tie everything
together.
“There were many instances in
which (Carpenter) provided insight
and examples of when he or other
physicians he’s known throughout his
TOP: The group of OUWB students, faculty and staff that went on the 2024 Study
Trip to Auschwitz take a moment to pose for a group photo. ABOVE: Christopher
Carpenter, M.D., (left of sign) and OUWB medical students listen to a tour guide in
the Galicia Museum.
Dean and OU students are changed after study trip to Poland.
Future Physicians Visit Auschwitz
Christopher
Carpenter,
M.D.
Jason
Wasserman
ANDREW DIETDERICH OAKLAND UNIVERSITY
HEALTH