Helping Things Click: Courtney Kromer

After completing a bachelor’s degree, then a master’s degree in medical physiology, Courtney Kromer decided a career in medicine was next. Tutoring was the thread that connected all of these studies for Kromer, a rising fourth-year student who recently received Northeast Ohio Medical University’s College of Medicine Peer Tutor of the Year Award.

An award-winning tutor

While she was working towards a master’s degree, the Sandusky, Ohio native discovered tutoring and found a new passion for helping her peers. At NEOMED, she shares that enthusiasm with first- and second-year College of Medicine students.

“For me, one of the best things about tutoring is that if you present the content just a little bit differently from the lectures, it just clicks for students. I think that’s very rewarding. I really do enjoy teaching and it actually helps me learn the material over again,” says Kromer.

While she’s partial to tutoring physiology, Kromer says she also enjoys covering pathology with second-year College of Medicine students.

A positive (future) physician

Whether it’s in the classroom or the clinic, Kromer likes to think of herself as a glass-half-full person.

“I’m that person that kind of forces myself to find at least one thing to enjoy out of every experience,” she says.

As she prepares to begin her fourth and final year of medical school, Kromer, has some advice:

“Time goes extremely fast. Soak up everything you can — especially in your third year. People are willing to teach you in the hospital and go through things with you. Take all of that in, because you need to learn so much so quickly.”