Jennifer Wei (left) is following her mother's path through MSUCOM.

There was a time when Jennifer Wei (Class of 2004) was unsure about the career she would choose after college. A biopsychology major at the University of Michigan, Ms. Wei was always strong in the sciences and had seemingly unlimited career potential.

When asked recently about why she ultimately came to MSUCOM, Ms. Wei glanced over at her mother sitting next to her and smiled. "My mom introduced me to the world of osteopathic medicine," she says. "The holistic philosophy just makes sense, and it complements my background in the sciences."

"Mom" is Betty Wei, a member of MSUCOM's Class of 1982 and a board certified family practitioner with Lansing's Delta Medical Center. Dr. Wei has practiced in the Lansing area for 19 years, and she remembers Jennifer growing up and spending time at the clinic.

"Jennifer has been at my office many times, starting when she was very little. If she was sick and out of school, I would bring her to work with me. You could say she received very early clinical experience."

Ms. Wei says that later in life, when she was contemplating a career path, she volunteered at numerous hospital settings "as much as possible" throughout high school and college. After that, there was no doubt in her mind what she was going to do. Understandably, her mother was happy with her decision.

"I am very thrilled and very proud of her," Dr. Wei says.

These days, even as Ms. Wei works her way through the demanding curriculum here at MSUCOM, her medical "partnership" with her mother continues. Although Dr. Wei says that her daughter is very independent these days, the two still talk about medicine.

"We talk about interesting cases," Dr. Wei explains. "Because Delta Medical is a walk-in clinic, we get a lot of variety each day, so it seems like I have a lot to bring home and share. We will talk about unusual procedures, lacerations, fractures, you name it. I usually begin with, 'Hey, guess what we saw at the office today?'"

All of this has strengthened Ms. Wei's desire to seek out as much clinical experience as possible in her education. Not surprisingly, she is a coordinator for the Student OMM Clinic, a clinical setting where the textbooks come to life. "The clinic definitely helps me see how I can use OMM in practice," Ms. Wei says. "If you study it academically, you don't always know all the different dysfunctions you can treat."

Clearly the Weis are a tight-knit family, which includes Ms. Wei's father and younger brother. The family travels together frequently and enjoys visiting foreign destinations. However, there is one activity for which mother and daughter do not share a passion: scuba diving. While Ms. Wei has been diving since age 14 with her father on family vacations, Dr. Wei will have no part of it. "I don't touch the water," she says with a smile.