When Ben Shanker was an eighth-grader at Hillbrook, hanging out with his friends on the upper field, he hadn’t yet imagined that he might be an anesthesiologist working in local area hospitals and clinics. What he did know is that Hillbrook always encouraged him to try new things, engage with learning, and do his best.
When Ben graduated in 1997, having attended Hillbrook from 5th grade, he heard the oft repeated motto “Do Your Best” from then-Head of School Mr. Clements. “Honestly, that [saying] stuck with me a lot,” he says. “Corollary to that, I remember my anatomy professor at Mount Sinai, the first day of anatomy, one of the first days of med school, said, ‘Whatever the task at hand, do it exquisitely.’” Ben reflects these mottoes in his own life. He believes that “All you can do is do your best, so control what you can control, and anything that’s worth doing is worth doing right.”
Ben credits Hillbrook with teaching him how to learn. In both his life and career, Ben says, “the foundation of knowing how to learn is invaluable.” A year-round athlete, he played football, basketball, and softball for the school. He especially loved competing in the annual basketball tournament held on campus and the community brought together on campus.
After Hillbrook, Ben attended Los Gatos High School, where he played baseball and continued his Spanish studies, as well as excelled in the sciences. He attended Pomona College, where he majored in neurology and was captain of the baseball team and an all-conference player. Inspired by his learning at Hillbrook and his favorite teacher, Ms. Martin, Ben minored in Spanish, spending six months in Salmanca, Spain. His strong interest in science led him to pursue medical school.
Through each step toward his career, he gravitated toward areas that were exciting to him and sparked his interest, the same feeling he had when learning at Hillbrook. At Mount Sinai Medical School, he decided to pursue a residency in urology and was matched to UC Irvine. While there, he switched to anesthesiology because it was a better fit. He stayed at UC Irvine to complete a fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology and began his career in Southern California.
Ben’s career track was not an easy one. “I definitely had my doubts as to whether I was going to be able to get into medical school. At every level, there were times when I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this.’” But Ben committed to doing the hard work of med school, residency, and fellowships. According to Ben, “If you want to be a doctor, you’ve got to slug along, and there’s no easy way to do it.”
After all the hard work, he finds his job rewarding. “I love my job,” he says. “It’s such an honor and privilege to be able to take care of people and have them entrust me with their care.” A living example of reaching beyond himself to make a difference in the world, Ben touches the lives of his patients daily as he helps manage pain and prepare patients for surgeries.
In January 2020, Ben moved back to Los Gatos to take a job at G2 Anesthesia and to be near family and friends. Soon after the move, COVID hit, and Ben’s job changed–first, a suspended work schedule, and then work with COVID patients. The work has been intense, using his experience as an anesthesiologist to intubate COVID patients while wearing a Powered Air Purifying Respirator that limits his ability to communicate. Ben’s skill set has prepared him to serve his community in ways he didn’t anticipate.
As Ben thinks back to his time at Hillbrook, he remembers the friends and fun, and speaks fondly of his teachers. “Mrs. Mullin was my sixth grade teacher. I was not always the most motivated student. And I think she saw that and found a way to pique my interest to get me engaged when it wasn’t cool to be engaged.” He still sees his former history teacher Ms. Gies around town. “She was a good mentor and role model,” he says. His favorite tradition was the weekly Flag raising, where the students and faculty came together, as they still do, to start the week together as a community.
Ben has advice for current Hillbrook students: “Do well in school, follow what interests you, and pick an emphasis and a job that brings you joy. Not one that’s going to make you the most money or give you the most prestige, but pick a field where work isn’t going to seem like work.” Words he has lived by himself.