Humans of the College of Medicine was founded by Ayush Peddireddi, a Class of 2025 medical student, to explore and share the journeys of individuals within OSUCOM. Through in-depth interviews with key faculty members, we seek to uncover the personal stories behind the professional titles. Doctors, faculty, instructors, and mentors often seem larger than life, but this project aims to reveal their humanity—allowing us to connect with them on a deeper level and learn not just from their expertise, but from their experiences and lives.
Dr. Sheryl Pfeil
Growing up in Columbus and living in UA, moving through high school and whatnot – can you talk about how early experiences shaped you into what later became medicine, or even as a person?
Yeah, I think I had an interesting background in that there was nobody in medicine in my family.
But my father was a research chemist, so science and inquiry were always part of my environment. Being the oldest child, I had extra adult time, engaging in more adult conversations.
By that, I mean conversations that were more philosophical or focused on language, and I think that was pivotal. I think back on it.
When I reflect back, I remember someone pointing out that I essentially never left Ohio, moving from college to medical school and then training in Cleveland. And thought, oh well, now that you put it that way, I guess that’s true. And it was a point of embarrassment at the time because I felt I was quite diverse.
But I will say that I did have something that probably doesn’t happen that much anymore, which is that I was in the same school system from kindergarten through 12th grade. I think that is not as common anymore. But you develop connections and friendships and so forth. So I think that shapes you as well.
Absolutely. So do you feel that love of learning and curiosity was instilled in you early?
Yes, I definitely feel that way, and I think both sides of my family contributed to it. I remember going to my father’s research lab, hearing conversations even on nights and weekends – not as part of any formal ‘take your child to work’ program, but just being there. I recall one instance when they were doing burn research, and the conversations among the investigators were fascinating.
You start to think about the fact that there can be questions and then you can seek the answers and you know there’s some order in this universe. And I don’t know if it’s genetic, but I always did gravitate a bit to teaching. When you think about, what did you really first teach? My first thought is swimming.
Those are some early experiences, obviously completely different than teaching very sophisticated medical students, but in terms of just how do you take somebody who’s a novice and instill in them the motivation, and the steps to you moving from being a novice to getting it? And then wanting to do more, eventually becoming an expert.
So, then backtracking a little bit. You have this exposure to science, you have this exposure to teaching, but that can take so many different forms. So how did you gravitate to medicine?
So when you think about the human connection and how you can, with your interest in science, really make the most impact? It’s taking care of people, and so I think that’s what really drew me to medicine. And even though I didn’t have any medicine in my family per se, I certainly saw other wonderful things.
The first physician I shadowed, truly shadowed, was when I was an undergrad. You got the sense that they were all about the betterment of the human, and that was really very compelling to me.
Were there any specific experiences or instances where you had a flashbulb and thought, “this is it,” or was it more of a gradual, gestalt feeling?
Yeah, I think I knew from a very young age that that’s what I wanted to do.
I think what became more clear was, you know, whether I really could do it. It takes a lot to follow that path, absolutely. It took a long time for me to convince myself that I could do it.
I have friends that I made during medical school that I literally and I’m going to get teary when I talk about this, but I’m literally friends with to this day. Those were just some really tight bonds because we’re all going through this journey together. One of my friends from medical school, we are friends to this day, even though we’ve never been in the same city. Actually, his daughter graduated from OSUCOM and he recently just reached out to me because he referred a patient down here.
We have a friendship as well as a professional relationship, but I actually just had an email from him last night. Yeah. And then another woman that I became friends with very early on. We probably couldn’t be more different than you could even imagine, but she just was at my house on Sunday. So again these are tight bonds that you form and similarly in residency, you’re going through this really arduous time and you know you’re walking that path with others and even though we all have many friends that are not within our medical circle. But there’s something very unique about that path and also those friendships, because you share something that people who are not in that circle can’t really comprehend. So I think those are very precious friendships.
Then throughout medical school, what was the draw to internal medicine?
Yeah. So I think I was one of those students who went through the third year and, every rotation, I would think, this is the one for me.
I initially thought I was going into pediatrics. I think that that’s because that was my exposure and what I knew. You know, I had a pediatrician. I could see firsthand that modeling, and I still think he was a pretty awesome individual and initially I thought I could sort of transport myself and see myself in that role.
And then I did my pediatrics rotation and I thought, oh boy, this isn’t what I thought it was going to be. I still remember it was right around December or so, because I remember they had the Christmas trees at Nationwide Children’s. It was a fundraiser, and in the lower level they had decorated some tree. I remember thinking that was about the only enjoyable time for me.
It was really hard and I still remember I had a child with epidermolysis bullosa, which is a blistering skin disease and it’s very tragic. And I still remember very poignant things from that time. I think in some ways I had this very idealistic idea of what pediatrics was.
I realized that there are sick children and then there are parents who have children and there was a lot more. I think it was a lot bigger field than what I had in my narrow vision, and I will say that just because there were sick patients, that’s not the only thing that I think maybe steers you away from something. My very first clinical experience we didn’t have LP.
So you were just in the experience and before I did my M3 rotations, there was an opportunity to do an outpatient rotation somewhere, and there were a limited number of people that were willing to take these very green students.
And that was when I met Dr [Linda] Stone. I think she was in the first year of practice after residency and she was at a holistic health center and I thought, okay, this is great, so I signed up and what a wonderful first attending to have. You cannot meet a warmer person, she’s just such a lovely human.
But of course I knew nothing, nothing. Yeah, I used to joke and say that I would show up and say, how can I set you back today? But we had some very impressionable experiences I remember we actually had.
We diagnosed, (“we”, I’m taking a lot of credit here, she diagnosed while I was part of the conversation) acute leukemia. It was the first time that I was able to really see things in action. I still remember this adolescent, who was in the family medicine clinic diagnosed with leukemia.
And then I mean, I loved surgery, I loved a lot of different specialties, but at the end, though, you have to say, okay, let’s just take stock and say, well, what am I going to preference? Because I have to do residency in one.
And so I think I made the decision based on my experiences and I was very happy to have chosen internal medicine. I think it was a good fit. I really like the cognitive aspects of it, being able to really bring my knowledge to the table, and merge that with what the patient is telling me, and try to really think about what’s the diagnostic solution, and then what can we do for the patient. So I thought that was a good mix for me.
But of course, I also would say that I have a huge respect for the general internist because they have to know so much. I’ll say I’m a detailed person and I want to keep my knowledge. I want to be at the top of my game and I want to be an expert at something, and so that’s why I think I felt a subspecialty would really fit with my personality.
But, even when I was going into GI, I remember telling people, well, I’m going to practice half GI and half internal medicine. Because I still felt like the overall feel of internal medicine is fascinating. And when I did my residency, we did not have specialty services, so almost everything was internal medicine within consults to a special field.
Did you make a conscious decision to leave for Case [for Residency and Fellowship]?
I did, it was really hard. Yeah.
I interviewed all over the place. I remember flying everywhere and I remember thinking that I really enjoyed a lot of the aspects of different programs. I also thought about community programs too.
And so I felt like I had all of this information in front of me and it was really hard to distill that down and decide what’s best for me. At that point in time I really wasn’t even thinking academic medicine. I wasn’t even really thinking about which subspecialty, but Case was very rigorous and I questioned whether I could rise to the challenge.
And I almost thought I couldn’t. And then at the 11th hour, I decided I’m going to preference it, and it really made all the difference.
You know, I think you’re worn out by the time you get through four years of medical school. And now I’ve got to decide where I’m gonna go and what I’m gonna do, and it kind of feels a little bit winded, you know and it’s hard.
And I’m exhausted, mentally exhausted, and now I’m gonna jump into a super rigorous program for which, at that time, call was every third day when you’re on the wards, and every other day in the ICUs. And it wasn’t like you went home the next day, this was way before duty hours. It was a different time.
I’m not gonna say it was harder, it was just different. Yeah, I mean there was not the volume of information that we have now and there was not the volume of information that we have now, and there was not the pace of patient care. Patients came in, they stayed longer. So there were things that weren’t as hard and there were certainly things that were harder too. It was both. But I pulled myself up and said I think I can do this.
With those kinds of hours and that kind of responsibility, how do you feel that shaped you as a clinician and even a person?
I’m not going to say it’s all good, because I think there are elements that aren’t good, and that’s why it’s not so anymore. And I’m absolutely not gonna say it’s harder, because I think there are many elements of medicine today that are harder than when I trained. But I will say in some ways there’s a couple things.
One is you realize that you have your comrades and you’re all in it together, and that’s not just your co-interns, the people that taught me the most. I’m going to get teary about this too, my very first month it was actually the nurses. Super strong nursing program at Case. Very strong nursing school and they evaluated the health staff and they also taught me an awful lot. I knew I might have had a lot of facts rolling around in my brain but I knew nothing about practical patient care.
I still remember things, such and so, hypotension, and they would say, “Could we put them in Trendelenburg?” “Do you want us to open up some fluids and give them a liter, please?” And I respond with “Oh, yeah, yeah, good idea. Yes, that’s a great idea, I’ll get them ordered.”
So they really taught me a lot and you did feel like you were all together and I think that that instills something really important in you as a person. It reminds you that you draw a lot of strength and energy from your comrades, and I think that that was something. And then another thing I’ll say is when you’re literally on call every other night at ICU, or every third (on the wards), you realize I can do this.
You recognize your own capacity. And I have good friends to this day from my residency. Yeah, one of the women that I talked about, she’s at Penn now, but at that point in time she had a young son. Even now we always say that we can date how long our friendship is by how old her son is.
So I mean definitely you develop tight bonds. It instills in you the importance of camaraderie, collegiality, and I think that it builds something within you; you recognize what you really can do.
And that was also the time when GI was really coming of age too. It was going from holding up an x-ray and looking at them, and you really couldn’t do a lot for a patient, in terms of something like taking out a polyp or treating a bleeding ulcer. It was kind of right at that time when GI was really becoming very dynamic.
There was this hot shot attending, just finished his fellowship, landed in Cleveland from Hopkins. And he was like, “We can scope this patient in the ICU, we can go to the patient and we can find that ulcer.” So we had something, those red Sears tool carts, there was no actual endoscopy cart.
So we configured these red Sears tool carts, in a way that they would be endoscopy carts and we took them up to the patient in the ICU and put the scope down. You can see the ulcer bleeding and take care of it. So it was a very dynamic field at the time. Very exciting. Putting PEGs in. I mean PEGs feel like they’ve been around forever now but they weren’t. There was a time when surgery had to be done to put a feeding tube, a G-tube in.
So then after you finished at Case, did you always know you were going to come back home?
I did feel drawn. I mean, I really loved Case, and I didn’t always know – the first jobs I applied for were actually in Cleveland, because it’s where you are and of course I love Cleveland.
I interviewed for jobs and I remember there were lots of jobs and they were all a little bit different, but all very much the same. And I remember thinking, well, I have choices, but I don’t know what the choice should be.
And my chief at the time, John Vandell, who I got really to know, he said “Well, I’ve observed that you really love to teach and why don’t you think about staying here? Have you thought about that?” And I was, well, no, I said what would I do? Because of all these young attendings and all these very esteemed individuals? There really wasn’t a lot of youth. He goes, “Well, what do you want to do?”
It’s like, nobody really asks you that or maybe you ask yourself that, yeah, it’s kind of, it’s time to apply to residency.
But I really had to think, “what do you want to do?” And I thought, you know, I think I’m going to give it a try and see if I have the mettle to do this. And I really enjoyed that first year out of fellowship. And then I did feel really drawn to come back to Ohio State, but they weren’t exactly advertising for somebody to come.
So I sent a letter and I said would you like an attending? And fortunately they interviewed me and the rest is history.
In some ways that’s a little bit like the invincibility of youth right, you’re just I can do it. Sometimes it works out.
And you know I have plenty of things that haven’t worked out. But a little bit of that bravado. But it was a much different division at the time.
Yeah, I’d love to hear about that – being the only woman faculty member in your division, how was that for you?
I think I didn’t realize how different it was at the time.. But even in GI in general, there were very few women in the field. I remember when I was a fellow they were looking at who could be a role model, and so they identified this woman at the University of Michigan I suddenly became friends with. Grace Eldridge, she’s one of the first advanced endoscopists. She’s really a legend.
But you know it wasn’t, there were multiples even within Case. I think my first female attending at Case arrived when I was a fellow and she was a hepatologist. They recruited from Mass General, so there just really were not a lot of women in the field. In some ways you don’t necessarily recognize the otherness on an everyday basis. But it is an interesting journey and I think the other thing that was actually very interesting in GI is that there were definitely female patients that preferred a woman.
And one thing that was hard is that you were the only choice, and that’s really hard. It means that patients, if they had a strong gender preference, didn’t have a lot of other choices.
And you as the only female, you had to say yes and you felt compelled to be there. And that was hard because you had a lot of patients who had that specific preference. I remember there was a time when I was in clinic and a new patient came in and I asked “Why did you select me?” And the first answer was because I wanted a woman.
I was angered because, I don’t want you to be here because you’re seeking a female physician. I want you to be here because I’m the best choice! And I think that combination of being a woman and also being young- that adds an added layer of making sure that you’re trying to sort of establish yourself. Establish your presence and establish your action pieces. So that was an interesting journey.
Do you feel like your faculty members were pretty supportive?
I can’t necessarily say that per se. I think it was. I wouldn’t necessarily say that that was one slant or the other, they were just kind of doing their thing, you know, and then I just arrived on the scene.
With mentorship, you’ve highlighted some really influential people for you over the years. Can you define what an ideal mentor means for you?
It’s somebody who’s more interested in your success than in their own right.
I mean you’ll see mentors who have lots of labs and so forth, but those folks are benefiting them. But what’s really cool about truly being a good mentor is really prioritizing the career, the development, the path, of that person in front of you. So you care about them, it’s not about what they can do for you and I think that’s really key. And then I worry about people who sort of have their own validation by the adoration of folks that they mentor. That can’t be the case.
And some things are going to work out and some things aren’t, and some of the people that, storm off because you had a tough conversation- they may be the people that years down the road, they’re sending you letters saying, I can’t believe you were so helpful to me.
So you have to kind of have a little bit of a tortoise shell, you can’t build your own value based on the adoration, absolutely it’s not about being professor of the year or whatever.
Do you have any stories or experiences in terms of people approaching you for mentorship, or just identifying compatibility with a trainee?
Yeah, I do think it works best when those relationships are more organic. People identify you as a mentor, and it’s funny—it comes in all different kinds of flavors and varieties. I love seeing ways I’ve been able to help other individuals succeed and often surpass me, and I just love that. I mean, can you leave a better legacy? It’s amazing.
And you know, I’m perfectly happy to be in the background. There are students that, literally, have to push the accelerator all the way down just to get through. But you know what? They’re going to have tenacity when it comes to a patient’s diagnosis, and they’re going to serve those patients well. They’re going to be amazing.
Then there are some students that are so amazing, I could never do what I’m watching. I just get to witness their success, and it’s inspiring.
So I would say I love the whole spectrum, and they’re all going to be amazing in different ways.
While you’ve been in academics here, do you feel like medical students have changed?
I would say there is always change in education. The amount of information students have to process now is immense, huge. And in some ways, students are a bit more empowered in a good way. They recognize that they don’t all have to walk in lockstep. They can differentiate and do things that inspire them. That’s one reason I love the Humanities in the Arts program. I love that students feel able to express themselves in different ways. That’s pretty cool.
So one thing that I think is so important is that you’re in medicine, and we’re all highly driven people, and we want to achieve excellence in everything we do.
As a medical student, as a resident, and later in your career, how do you manage to strive for those goals while also retaining yourself?
That’s a great question, because I think I still struggle with that. I will always struggle with that, because you want to bring your best to every single aspect of what you do.
It’s not just unidimensional, right? We have families, we have selves, we have other interests, and we have very important issues in medicine and patients. So sometimes, I think every one of us is driven to excellence.
But sometimes we have to say, okay, what’s the minimum dose, what is the sufficient dose, and what’s the aspirational dose?
Like, can you incorporate exercise that is beneficial and not be an Olympic athlete? What does that look like? Because we’re not halfway people. So how do you fit all the puzzle pieces together? Even though I would love to have more than 24 hours in a day, there are still only that many hours.
So sometimes you have to recognize when something is good enough. You know, there’s a phrase: The enemy of good is better.
You see that in endoscopy. “Well, we treated this bleeding vessel, and now it’s stopped. Maybe I’ll just do one more little cautery here.”
Sometimes you need to say, what is sufficient? And I think that you have to accept that in a lot of ways. It’s very hard to do.
Have you had any experiences in your career where you feel you could have pursued an opportunity, but chose to prioritize something else?
One thing that’s very telling is, if you put something on the plate, even though you may not consciously realize it, it’s taking something away.
For example, say you commit to a leadership position in a national organization. That’s going to require time, and then maybe that time comes from your family, personal relaxation, or another activity like volunteerism or art and creativity.
You’re not consciously making the decision to give up something when you accept something. But I think we need to be discerning and think carefully about this, recognizing when we do have to be careful. I call it the golden ring phenomenon: when you see opportunities, you just want to grab at that ring.
It’s energizing and kind of seductive. For some people, that’s because they’re, well, it may never come around again. For others, it’s just this insatiable joy.
On one hand, I’d advocate for “just say yes,” because I see people who are overly discerning. They’re like, “I don’t need to see that patient with pancreatitis because I’ve seen one of those already.” Okay, sometimes you need to have that “just say yes” mentality. I don’t know if I like this job, but I think I’ll give it a try. Sometimes you have to engage, even if it’s not exactly what you had in mind.
On the other hand, it’s important to recognize your time, energy, and emotional capacity are finite, so you have to be a bit discerning. Sometimes it’s a matter of how much you take on simultaneously or when in life you take on something. Sometimes there’s no good time. I remember my mother going back to get her master’s degree, and I remember thinking, if she waited for the good time, it would never come.
Given advances in technology and societal changes, what advice do you have for incoming medical students and current medical students?
I think the medical journey can be isolating, and my advice is to guard yourself against that. Even with all our virtual connections, it’s not quite the same as human connection. So I would say, remember that there is humanness behind all this technology.
I love that I can share a picture with someone or send a quick text instead of arranging a full meeting. I can communicate without a phone call. In some ways, technology has promoted communication, but I see students who can hunker down with their computer and learn medicine independently without tapping into the humanness around them.
On balancing career and personal fulfillment
I want to be the best clinician I can be, but I also want to have a life that continues alongside that. People who go full throttle in one area might find themselves leading lonely lives or burning out. It’s helpful to get validation from multiple sources.
For example, someone told me, “On a bad day at work, I go home, and my kids think I’m the best parent ever.” Having that balance makes us better for our patients when we have wholeness and wellness ourselves.
So you have to preserve yourself. It doesn’t mean being an Olympic athlete. It just means saying, “I walked for 30 minutes today, and that’s a success.” When I’m on service, everything else stops, but that’s a week.
Talking about the importance of creativity in medicine
Creativity is so important in medicine. I love that we’re embracing the creativity of students, whether it’s research or the arts. Embracing creativity and doing things differently—that’s how some of the amazing work happens, whether it’s finding new drugs to treat cancer or new therapeutic approaches in endoscopy. It’s about thinking of things people might have scoffed at.
For example, when Helicobacter pylori and ulcers were first linked as an infectious disease, there were debates at national meetings about it. People didn’t understand why there was this association, but there was. Now, we know Helicobacter is a risk factor, we treat it, and we move on. But it wasn’t always that way.
I remember when Dr. Barry Marshall first lectured in the U.S. on this topic, barely a small classroom would listen because he was seen as a renegade.
You have to be brave, creative, and a little bit bold.