By: Sophia Pappas, FOX '24
I had the pleasure to interview an Temple alumni, Ron Raducanu. I was able to ask him a few questions about his time at Temple and his career now. Our conversation started with a few questions about Dr. Raducanu’s career and how Temple has helped with his practice today. “My time at Temple was pretty challenging. I learned the basics of podiatry. The mentors I had were very good at making sure I knew that finishing school wasn’t the end of my education. They taught me that I had to strive to really continue to improve myself throughout my career. They encouraged me to continue to read and learn more as I continued to practice out of school, which was really important.”.
We talked about the path that helped put Dr Radacanu study podiatry and choosing Temple as the school for his studies in podiatry wasn’t a hard decision. “I grew up in Montreal, Canada and the 2 schools that were closest were in New York and Philadelphia. My mentor had gone to Philadelphia and the school in New York didn’t really impress me when I visited and interviewed there. When I got to Philadelphia, it just felt right.”. While at Temple, Dr. Raducanu studied and learned the ins and outs of podiatry. I asked the age old question, what was the most important thing you had learned in your studies, “Stay positive and do good work. Even when it doesn’t seem like it’ll get there, it’ll get there.”
Dr. Raducanu then explained what was most important to him while working with students. “I’ve seen and done a lot of things. I find it extremely interesting to see how students evolve. One of my very good students who became one of our very good residents is now taking over a very good residency as the director. For me to see his evolution for a 3rd year student through his 3 years of residency. Now he’s five years out and taking over a residency. I find that most interesting. Of course we also have the things we see in our own personal practice, but seeing someone you almost grew up with move onto bigger things is the best.” Seeing students succeed gives teachers and mentors a feeling of fulfillment that helps them share their love for the practice.
We moved the conversation to the topic of future podiatrists studying at Temple. Dr. Raducanu had a few pointers for incoming freshman and recently graduated students. “A big tip is to get off the internet and just study and try your best to do well. Learn as much as they can during their residency. Don’t worry too much about the job market.” A difficult feat for students these days but a good message. For future students who could be interested in podiatry, He said “Spend some time with a podiatrist or try to find a mentor in podiatry who can show you all aspects of the field rather than just doing office work. Interest yourself with the business side of medicine.”
As a Fox student, I was quite interested in what the business side of medicine was. “They don’t teach you how to make a living in school or in residency and one of the things that I did (and I’ve been teaching residents for 20 years) was instill an interest in maximizing what you can get for what you do. Not illegally obviously, but at least having an idea of what billing and coding is, how to avoid pitfalls or what overhead means. I talk about this a lot with the residents and new students.”. An enlightening answer since I had never really thought about medicine and business together and something students should look into.
The end of our interview contained a bit more personal answers. The most important part of podiatry to Dr. Raducanu is “Helping people continue their activities of daily living and allowing them to be as active as they would like is very important in podiatry.” Keeping patients active and able to keep up with their everyday activities is such an important part of podiatry. The final question was, of course, what is your proudest accomplishment. “Personally, my family! 3 kids, a great wife, so it’s a great life. As a podiatrist, when I first entered the practice, no one knew me at all and then I took over the American College of Foot and Ankle Pediatrics and within 10 years, that position grew quite a bit and I handed it off. I did lectures and a lot of fulfilling work. Now I am planning to go on a medical mission in Nigeria.”