Applied Anthropology Profile: Dr. Jay Maxwell, Medical Resident

Today’s blog post is dedicated to the chronicle of Dr. Jay Maxwell, an anthropology student turned medical doctor.  Jay is currently a third year anatomical pathology medical resident in Ontario where he is charged with diagnosing pathological processes of various tissues in order to diagnose and treat patients.  On occasion, Jay is also tasked with performing autopsies under the guidance of a full staff pathologist.  Oddly enough, this is not an uncommon story I hear amongst physical anthropology undergraduate and graduate students.  As physical anthropology is a broad discipline that focuses on various aspects of human biology-both in the past and present-many physical anthropology students find themselves pursuing careers in medicine or dentistry. 

Jay’s current medical work parallels his previous interests in and studies in physical anthropology where he focused on paleopathology, the study of ancient disease.  His interest in physical anthropology was born out of his interest in human evolution, which was encouraged by his reading of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.  Jay pursued his interests in evolution while pursuing his bachelor’s degree, which resulted in his being enrolled in several physical anthropology courses.   And as the adage goes, the rest is history: “I ended up taking several classes in physical anthropology…, including a human osteology class. From day one I pretty much fell in love with all things bone, especially bone pathology and how diseases have changed through time, and I switched my major to physical anthropology.” 

From there Jay pursued not only a bachelor’s degree in Physical Anthropology but a Masters of Arts and PhD, as well, but it was during his doctoral studies that Jay felt that his interests and expectations in his studies required more than just a physical anthropological approach:

“…but the deeper I got into my research the more questions I had about bone physiology and bone chemistry that could not be answered in the anthropology literature alone, so I started heavily reading medical journals. At the same time I was taking courses outside the department in anatomy, pathology, and geology (stable isotopes)  and I was beginning to learn how important understanding soft tissue and the body as a system was in terms of interpreting bone lesions in archaeological contexts. Through these courses I was put in contact with several individuals in the medical field. Talking with them, hearing their experiences and learning how they applied the same kinds of information I was studying in past populations to modern living patients was fascinating. The idea that I could do similar research in both modern and past populations and that information could directly impact someone’s health and/or quality of life was intriguing.”

Jay did not complete his Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology  in part because of his research interests but also due to his personal circumstances.  His decision to enter into medicine was because of the freedom and flexibility it provided him both at the professional and personal level, allowing him to pursue his research while also not neglecting his personal commitments.  He acknowledges that his past work in physical anthropology and his current work in pathology have real applications in effecting public policy.  His past research aids in understanding how diseases have evolved and changed over time, focusing on questions of how and why-be it strictly biological or anthropogenic-those changes occurred, whereas his present work assists living populations today throughout diagnosis and treatment.  As Jay notes,  “The only real difference is the source and context around where or how the information potentially originates and I enjoy the basic work of both fields equally.” 

As for students considering entering into anthropology for a course or as a major, Jay has this advice for you:

"Do not hesitate to take a course or make it your major. Anthropology will provide you with critical thinking skills and an understanding of biological or social processes that will be universally applicable regardless of where you finally end up in your career. The knowledge base in anthropology is enormously broad and is encompassing. Your experience in anthropology won’t just be beneficial in a career, but it’s also one of those rare fields that will help you understand the world better as a whole. Because of this, anthropology will make you even more enraged when you read the letters section in a newspaper or an online comments sections, but you’ll also be awfully hard to beat in a debate!"

Author’s Note: I would personally like to take a moment again to thank Jay for taking the time to be interviewed for this blog post.  Also, while I harp on students about the hazards of over quoting a source, I felt it was necessary to put much of this post in Jay’s own words because his prowess in explaining his story is far superior to mine, and I felt that I could not do his story justice by putting it in my own words.  Again, thank you, Jay, and all the best to you and Allison.