Alumni Profiles

B.S., exercise & sports studies and health science with a concentration in dance, 2006

M.S., exercise science

Arkansas State University, 2008

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine candidate

Oklahoma State University

Tulsa, OK

To watch a video with Catherine, click here.

One day, your physician might be Catherine Milner. And if it is, you’ll be one of a select few people in the world whose medical physician also graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. That’s right — a dancing doctor!

“When I first enrolled at Guilford College,” says Milner, “I was there to study music and theatre. And after a year there, I transferred to a musical theatre conservatory in Manhattan, because, after all, that’s where Broadway is! But I soon realized that it was not the life for me.”

So she returned to Guilford College. This time she took a minor in dance, but she double-majored in health science and in exercise and sport studies. In fact, it was a natural outgrowth of her Manhattan experiences: “While living in New York, I worked in a gym as a personal trainer to pay the bills, and I cherished the homework the fitness manager assigned. As I studied muscular anatomy and aerobic verses anaerobic fitness, I found myself developing new dreams — instead of picturing myself winning a Tony Award, I imagined myself understanding the multiple facets of the human body.”

It wasn’t easy, learning all of the complexities that are required to succeed in graduate school and in medical school. In fact, she says that she owes her success to the Guilford College Academic Skills Center. “I have what is classified as a Learning Difference,” she says, “whereby I have trouble seeing letters form words, words form sentences and sentences form paragraphs. Believe me, the words in biology are killers!”

She credits the ASC with providing her with the testing needed to identify and cope with her learning difference, with her professors for helping her deal with it and mainly, she says, with Guilford College for helping her learn to work with her style of learning. “My life changed when I learned to stop fighting this thing I have, and to simply deal with it as a part of me that is manageable.”

It’s obvious that she is coping successfully. She has just graduated from Arkansas State University with a 4.0 GPA while earning the Master of Science degree in exercise science, and she is packing her bags to begin medical school at Oklahoma State University.

After she earns the degree, Milner wants to work with paraplegics as a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist: “I’m eager to work with the disabled because I would like to help them find new passions in their lives. Losing the ability to walk is not the end of the world. There are many fascinating activities, hobbies and sports available for the paraplegic.”

Milner grew up as a Quaker in Utah. “Going from Logan, Utah, with a total of 30 Quakers, to Guilford College was a real change. First of all, Utah means Mormons, and that means no drinking, no smoking, no cursing. It was like living in the 1950s — ‘Oh, after the football game, let’s go to the malt shop!’ The world of Guilford College was QUITE different from that.” She adds that attending a college where even decision-making was Quaker in approach, and where students are expected to participate in all areas of the college, was quite a change for her. “It was wonderful. Let me put it this way: Guilford College is my home.”

When speaking to prospective Guilford College students, she adds this: “I’m still in contact with three or four of my professors, and when I visit Greensboro, I have lunch with several Guilford College people. In fact, I talk [on the phone or by text] to at least one Guilford College friend every day. That’s my point — Guilford can become another family for you. It can help you become your best.”