Graduating UF student Jakob Hamilton strikes a chord with music and medicine
If you ask University of Florida medical student and graduating senior Jakob Hamilton, training to become a doctor is a lot like playing the pipe organ.
Both require intellectual curiosity, dedication and patience — skills Hamilton has honed equally in his medical and musical pursuits. As he looks toward an internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville this summer after commencement in May, Hamilton is reflecting on how his two passions have intersected throughout his life and inspired his future career as a physician.
A musical beginning
Jakob Hamilton's earliest photo at his family's piano is from age 4, though he didn't learn to play until age 12.
Growing up in Bradenton, Florida, Hamilton often envisioned a career as a musician, though his interests also spanned into science.
At age 12, Hamilton’s parents agreed to sign him up for piano lessons for his birthday, and his teacher soon suggested he try the pipe organ. The instrument, with its origins dating back to ancient Greece, is seldom favored by modern preteens. However, Hamilton took a shine to it and even became the go-to organ player during church services and events at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School. In May, he will return to his Bradenton alma mater as a commencement speaker. The first in his family to go to college, Hamilton attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned undergraduate degrees in biology and music performance, followed by a master’s degree in nutritional biology. He then returned to his home state to begin studying in the College of Medicine at UF.
A medical mindset
While the studying, tests and brisk pace of medical school make it a challenging experience, Hamilton said his musical background has informed a lot of the processes he has used to stay on track.
“Many of the skill sets of both fields are synergistic,” Hamilton said. “The skills you learn as a musician, or in any other creative field, inherently make you a better doctor.”
Musicians, he said, have to be great listeners; physicians also need to listen intently to understand the perspectives of their patients. And just as memorizing a list of every human bone, muscle, nerve, artery and organ — not to mention how they interact with one another — cannot happen overnight, learning an instrument or a new piece of music takes time and practice.
“There are times when you need to fail first before you get better,” Hamilton said of both music and physician training.