From mechanics to medicine: KCU Joplin graduate makes career switch
May 4—David Kanarowski spent the early part of his career as a mechanic, trying to diagnose what was wrong with vehicles and then fixing them so they would run more smoothly.
He will soon do the same with people. He is one of approximately 140 future doctors who will graduate this weekend from the College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Joplin campus of Kansas City University.
"I knew this is what I was destined for," he said this week in an interview at the university's Farber-McIntire campus while dressed in his white physician's coat.
Kanarowski, 45, initially went to college for two years for an automotive degree and opened his own business in Mariposa, California. He enjoyed the work, he said, and it was an "easy pathway" because some in his family also were in the auto industry.
But there was always a little voice in the back of his mind, questioning him about another field he'd always found interesting: medicine.
"The whole way through (the first career), it never really felt like the right fit for me," he said. "I had a nagging feeling there was something bigger."
Kanarowski had always been intrigued by medicine. He liked the application of scientific principles to the field, and he thought there were many similarities between working on the systems that power a vehicle and the systems that power the human body.
"For me, the human body is this really amazing biomechanical machine," he said, adding that a transition from mechanics to medicine "makes sense" to him.
The switch was daunting at first. Kanarowski signed up for an EMT class and was "hooked" right away, reaffirming that a career in the medical field was a good choice for him — even as he questioned whether becoming a doctor was truly a realistic goal, whether he was "smart enough" to become a physician, whether he could make it through the schooling.
He continued to work on cars as a mechanic for a local Toyota dealership as he moved through an undergraduate degree in biology, earning A's in his classes. After graduation, he applied to and got accepted to three medical schools, including KCU Joplin, which he ultimately chose to attend.
"It's been something that I thought was impossible to achieve, but with diligence, hard work and one day at a time, I did it," he said.
The past four years at KCU Joplin have been a good experience, he said. He chose this campus because of its small-town feel, and he has appreciated the way the professors are invested in their students, he said.
Anatomy remains his favorite class, perhaps for obvious reasons. He loves to study how things work — cars and trucks at first, and then brains, lungs, hearts and more.
After commencement this weekend, Kanarowski will move this summer to West Virginia, where he will complete his five-year general surgery residency at Marshall Community Health. It's a rural area that is underserved by medical providers, and he hopes he can help improve the health of people in that area and others like it in the future.
Also a possible future goal is practicing medicine aboard Mercy Ships, an international charity that operates the largest nongovernmental hospital ships in the world. It provides humanitarian aid and free health care to those in desperate need. As he worked his way through the past four years of medical school, Kanarowski would turn to Mercy Ships for inspiration and encouragement to push him toward graduation.
When Kanarowski finally is finished with his residency in five years, he will be a fully fledged physician at age 50. Now that he has the benefit of hindsight, did he make the right decision?
Absolutely, he said.
"It was worth it to change careers," he said. "If you've got that nagging feeling that you should be doing something else, take the time to pursue it. My only regret is not making the change sooner."
