Jacob Gross, DPM

I come from a family of blue-collar workers where education was often overlooked. Although my parents never went to college, they were very hard-working people. My father literally broke his back working to provide for his family. My parents did not want the same for their son and therefore pushed the importance of education. My father used to tell me when I was younger, “work with your brain not you back”. My parents were the catalyst that led to my interest in education and I learned to enjoy being a student. Going to college was my goal in life. I had no idea what I wanted to do; all I knew was that I was going to get an education. As I progressed through life I became interested in sports. I played football all 4 years in high school and rugby for 3 years in college.  The first time I met a podiatrist was when I sprained my ankle in football practice sophomore year. Also, at that time I was becoming increasingly interested in medicine and health sciences. My interaction with that podiatrist sparked an interest in sports medicine. From that point on I was going to go to college and get a job in the medical field. College comes around and now I struggle trying to pick a major. I went with exercise science and I chose to go to school to be a physical therapist. As I went through school, I started to realize that being a physical therapist was not as fulfilling as it first seemed. I visited my academic advisor and spoke with her about my options when it came to choosing a different career path. She introduced me to the Kent State podiatry school and informed me that ambassadors from the school were going to be talking about the school and field of podiatry later that week. As I left her office, I couldn’t help but think back to when I met Dr. Crilley in high school for my ankle. I attended the lecture, and it was like I found my calling. I realized I wanted to be a physician of the foot and ankle. The versatility of podiatry was very attractive to me. We are a true physician to the foot and ankle, and we offer so many avenues of treatment to our patients.

My goal in residency training is to become a highly proficient clinician and foot and ankle surgeon. To further this goal, I hope to pursue a fellowship after I complete residency. I have really enjoyed my educational experiences, and the possibility of becoming an attending physician at a residency program is an appealing prospect.  

My talents or strengths that I will bring to a program include working well in a team setting, my work ethic, and my passion to learn. I always played team sports growing up. I learned at an early age how important it is to work well with others. I wrote previously how I come from a hard-working family. My parents instilled a work ethic in me. I believe that a good work ethic is an attitude, and with my attitude I will make sure to perform my duties as a resident to the best of my ability. I value responsibility, efficiency, and discipline, and center my work efforts around these attributes. My work ethic feeds into my passion for learning. Not only will I be a dedicated employee to the program, I will also be a dedicated student.