From Mac to the Mayo Clinic and back

This month, former Macalester College Student Government President Dr. Malik Mays ’19 returned to St. Paul to support the next generation of aspiring healthcare professionals. He advised students before leading a hands-on childbirth demonstration, drawing on his experience as an OB/GYN resident physician at the Mayo Clinic.

“Helping people from Macalester get to that next step is truly something I enjoy and is an important part of my life as a mentor,” Mays said.

A chemistry major on campus, Mays graduated in 2019 and then enrolled in medical school at the University of Toledo. 

He is now in his third year as an OB/GYN resident physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Throughout his journey in medicine, Mays has never forgotten the lessons he learned as a Scot.

“One of the reasons I picked Macalester was because it was good for medical school. I think that rings true after I left,” Mays said. “I really got to know my professors on a human level, so that was really helpful for writing recommendation letters, as well as the strong alumni network that you get from a small liberal arts school.”

During his campus visit, Mays hosted a Q&A session to walk students through his path in medicine.

“As a mentor, you always pay it forward,” Mays said. “I had a lot of mentors who helped me in my application process, who helped me with interviews, who actually paid for some of my applications with their own money.”

In the last two years, Mays has delivered hundreds of babies. However, back on campus on Nov. 6, his focus was on a childbirth training manikin.

After sharing advice with students hoping to follow in his footsteps, he led a simulated vaginal childbirth demonstration using a fetal model.

“I think one of the benefits of a liberal arts education at a smaller school, compared to the larger universities, is that you really get that hands-on, one-on-one teaching, mentorship, and learning. I was a part of the lab very early on, through a lot of research opportunities,” Mays said.