M.D. with a Dose of AMDG

In the diverse world of medicine and health care, professionals have countless career paths to explore, from clinical practice and surgery to research, administration, and policy. As the demand for health care services continues to grow, so too does the need for dedicated and compassionate practitioners.

Loyola is embracing education in the health sciences in a significant way with the launch of its Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program in fall 2025. This step builds upon the University’s long history of preparing professionals to serve in and practice health care. Generations of Loyola graduates have become physicians, nurses, dentists, psychiatrists, and speech therapists, among many other careers.

Acceptance rates for Loyola graduates to medical and dental schools are well above the national average each year: in 2023, 70% of Loyola students who applied to medical school were accepted (the national annual average is 43%); 75% of Greyhound applicants were accepted to dental schools (the national average is 55%); and biology has remained among the most popular undergraduate majors at the University.

With its emphasis on ethics, service, and lifelong learning, Loyola University Maryland’s Jesuit education can profoundly shape the careers of those in this field, providing a strong moral and intellectual foundation.

As the University—in partnership with Mercy Medical Center—steps forward to educate nurses and help address the nursing shortage, Loyola magazine invited a few of the many alumni in health care to reflect on how their Loyola education has shaped their careers.

Opting In

Brendan Carr, M.D., received both his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (1994) and a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology (1996) from Loyola. Carr is CEO of New York’s massive Mount Sinai Health System. He reflects on the Mount Sinai Hospital System’s founding in 1852, when it opened its doors to serve people who were prohibited from being treated in other hospitals because they were Jewish.

“Now when we look at marginalized populations, it’s more Black and brown people—but the mission hasn’t changed,” he explained. “The concepts of Jesuit education and the commitment to service are deeply embedded in the ethos of Mount Sinai. Personally, I’m wired that way, too, because of the social justice lens I developed at Loyola.”

Carr often finds himself reflecting on moments from his undergraduate career, like the Project Mexico service and justice immersion experience he participated in, and his time tutoring in the Maryland prison system through a service-learning course. “I live a privileged life as a doctor and a health system executive. It’s easy to opt out—except that I’m reminded by those experiences that I can choose to opt in, and that I’m in an amazing position to influence people’s lives.”

These sentiments are echoed by Rich Mackey, M.D., ’97, MBA ’17, who majored in biology and minored in philosophy at Loyola. Mackey, who is a liver and pancreatic surgeon at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, strongly credits Loyola for his decision to choose a career in medicine. In addition to the invaluable mentorship he gained as a prospective medical student, which allowed him to shadow a gastroenterologist physician who was also a Loyola graduate, Mackey cites Loyola’s Jesuit values.

When he first started at Loyola, he recalls, he was torn between pursuing wildlife biology or medicine. He credits several Loyola programs—including Spring Break Outreach and Project Mexico—that offered him ways to engage with different communities. “I was really interested in the sciences. I realized the best way I could use that skillset—while also living the Jesuit motto of being men and women for [and with] others—would be through a career in medicine,” he remembers.

It’s all about having that good moral education, said Rick Desi, M.D., ’98, who earned a B.S. in Biology after meeting his lab partner and future wife, Jennifer (Carley) Desi, ’98. Today he is a gastroenterologist at the Institute for Digestive Health and Liver Disease at Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center.

"There is logic and reason that the Jesuit education gives you through theology courses, and you really learn the ‘why’—with 2,000 years of Church history behind it,” Desi explained. “You get this really good foundation of how to practice medicine and still be a Catholic in the world—and you learn that these things are not necessarily at odds."

Care for the Whole Patient

Carr admits that he slightly resisted the extensive core curriculum that included classes on religion and ethics as a first-year student. Now looking back, he acknowledges how much those courses helped his career in medicine.

“I also have to recognize the department of psychology at Loyola. My professors taught me the research and analytics side of psychology, which meant I entered medical school thinking about using data to answer questions,” he said. “Every day I combine those two ideas: how we use and analyze data to make informed decisions, along with the ethics of why and how we do it.”

“We use the term well-rounded almost as a figure of speech—but really, a lot of the philosophy and theology affects us in our day-to-day decisions,” agrees Desi.

Mackey, meanwhile, spoke of being a lifelong learner: “The Jesuit tradition and the Socratic method reinforce that inquisitive nature of questioning, constantly seeking new ways of doing things, reading and exploring, and searching for new solutions.”

Marie (Ridenour) Luksch, D.O., who graduated in 2006 with degrees in biology and chemistry, credits her study abroad program in Newcastle, England, for helping her in her current career as an OBGYN in private practice in Paoli, Pennsylvania.

“I received a great education and grew a lot personally, developing several skills that have helped me in my career choice,” she said, adding: “I feel my Jesuit background has helped me develop relationships and understanding with patients.”

Loyola’s Jesuit education also lends itself to being in a leadership role, noted Mark Condoluci, D.O., a 2006 graduate and medical director of infectious diseases at Jefferson Health New Jersey. Condoluci focuses on servant leadership—the idea of focusing on the needs of others before considering your own—which he sees as parallel to Ignatian leadership.

“I’m serving not only my patients, but the staff for whom I look after and all the stakeholders,” he said. “Finding that balance really started with my Jesuit education.”

Condoluci reflects on his opportunities to serve with Loyola’s Beans & Bread partnership with St. Vincent de Paul Baltimore. “I was able to hear the stories of folks who have had particular hardships and understand that we are produced by the circumstances we engage with,” he said. “I can still remember the discussions I had at Beans & Bread, and that tracks pretty broadly to the humanistic side of medicine.”

A Career and a Calling

A career in medicine—particularly in patient care—isn’t for everyone, as Desi points out. “It is non-stop from the get-go, and that pace can easily stress people out. But it is so rewarding.”

Carr agrees. “No matter the role, people working in the health care field must authentically surrender their own interests and take care of what the person in front of them needs now... It’s not about me in that moment. It has to be about them.”

For Carr, it’s all about caring for his community—which, as a practicing physician and a hospital system administrator, includes both patients and Mount Sinai’s 48,000 employees.

“There are a lot of lives connected to the decisions I make about how to run the place,” he said. “The last few years in health care were unbelievably difficult, and now it’s about making sure the people who work for us know that we value them—which causes them to pay it forward and take care of our patients the way they deserve to be taken care of.”

For Luksch, career fulfillment also comes from the relationships she forms with patients, particularly as she follows them through their fertility journeys. “It’s an honor to take care of these women at these big moments in their life,” she said. “Pretty much anywhere we go, we see a patient or child I delivered. We have three boys, and my husband jokes that I’ve delivered most of their friends!”

To Loyola students or alumni interested in the field of medicine, Carr points out that “the pathways in this field are amazingly varied. Getting broad exposure to all things that exist in the health care ecosystem is absolutely essential,” he said. “We all tell our stories as though we planned them. When you get it right, you say, ‘I did this, then I did this, and it naturally led to this.’ When you’re actually living it, it’s one decision at a time, and it can be uncertain and scary. So, the more informed you are when making those career decisions, the luckier you are.”

Luksch recommends shadowing different medical professionals as much as possible. “Don’t just shadow in the Emergency Room; shadow a doctor or a physician’s assistant or nurse if that’s your interest.”

Mackey points out the huge demand for health care workers—in every specialty—right now. His advice is to “find the specialty you enjoy and pursue it! It’s an incredibly rewarding profession.”

Embracing Innovation and the Future

What can we expect from the future of this ever-changing, multi-faceted industry? Most of the physicians Loyola magazine spoke with are excited about the capabilities of artificial intelligence.

“AI is not going to take over medicine; it’s going to be an assistant, and I do think it can make health care practitioners’ lives easier and help with medical errors,” said Desi.

“The tools being evolved in the AI world are powerful and amazing, and they’re going to offload many of the parts of health care that drive burnout—leaving more time to focus on patients and high-level problem-solving,” Carr said. “The next generation of health care workers will need tech-savvy problem-solving skills— combined with a whole lot of empathy.”

“Home-based health care is going to change everything,” predicts Carr, while Desi is seeing increased demand for mid-level practitioners like nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

To Mackey, the future of medicine is proactive rather than reactive. “Right now, we get diagnosed with something, and we react to that with treatments or therapies. But the future of medicine is reducing risk before the disease sets in,” he explained.

“There’s going to be a big transition, and the Jesuit approach of constantly inquiring, reading, and being up to date will help us provide the latest, greatest care available.”

An Unexpected Journey

When Janice (Baiada) Lovequist graduated from Loyola with a BBA in Management Information Systems in 2002, she didn’t anticipate a career in health care. But she saw first-hand the impact home care services can have on patients and their families through her father’s work. Mark Baiada is founder and now chairman of BAYADA Home Health Care, an international nonprofit that offers home health care services for people of all ages and abilities. His daughter realized she could combine her love of business and graphic design with her desire to help people, which was sparked by various aspects of her Loyola education.

Today, Lovequist works in BAYADA’s Office of Culture and Values, where she develops and implements the 50-yearold nonprofit’s mission, vision, values, and beliefs. She shares why home health care is an important new frontier in the world of medicine. “Many people would rather be at home with comfort, independence, and dignity than in a hospital or a rehabilitation center long-term. And often, home health care has better outcomes at a lower cost.”

Lovequist grew up in a family where “everything centered around the values ‘think big, work hard, show love,’” she remembers. She saw the impact of a Jesuit education in person during her years on campus and when she studied abroad in Bangkok, Thailand. “Being a part of the Loyola community really influenced my decision to work in a service-based industry and to focus on helping others.”

Lovequist often sees those experiences reflected in BAYADA’s core values of compassion, excellence, and reliability. “When you have awareness of someone else’s pain or needs, that’s empathy. Compassion is really empathy in action—and [this concept] was constantly reinforced at Loyola.”

Above all, Lovequist believes the most important training that those working in health care—regardless of sector or specialty—have in common is the drive to care: “It’s all about having a big heart and doing the right thing.”