Meet Norah McDonnell
If you’ve followed this newsletter the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly come across the name and writing of Norah McDonnell. Norah has been essential to TUSPM’s alumni outreach and development program since 2018. For about the past year, she alone composed the monthly newsletter alongside the rest of her intern responsibilities and the loaded class schedule of a Bioengineering major and Chemistry minor.
As fate would have it, Norah was plagued by foot injuries in the years prior to joining the TUSPM team. She’s a competitive runner, but this passion was complicated by a nasty fall in highschool that resulted in multiple surgeries to her left ankle. Once at Temple, Norah was drawn to bioengineering as a means of helping others struggling with similar medical plights as she did.
In May, Norah moved on from TUSPM to her new position as a patient liaison at MedEast, a premier prosthetic and custom orthotic service provider in the Philadelphia area. She’s also enrolled in an orthotic fitter course that will culminate in her ability to treat patients down the line. Norah will be back on the grind of an 18 credit class schedule next month and is mainly focused on graduating in the spring as far as future plans go, but she does hope to continue working at MedEast full time and perhaps treat some orthotic patients of her own in the future.
To any future TUSPM interns, Norah advised not to stress about learning the new systems and managing intern responsibilities with hectic class schedules. Competence comes with practice, and she also emphasized the importance of getting to know the doctors, students and alumni. Norah’s inquisitive disposition allowed her to uncover some incredible life stories throughout her time interning at TUSPM, and this love of hearing and sharing others’ journeys will be a large part of what she misses most about this community. Certainly, this is why she has been such a mainstay at TUSPM for the past few years and why MedEast is lucky to have her. Norah will be missed by everyone here at TUSPM, but her own story is one I’m sure this newsletter will have more to follow up on in the future. We wish her the best of luck.