Program in Liberal Medical Education and Alpert Medical School students strutted and stripped on the stage of List 120 to a full house Friday night for the second annual "Date-a-Doctor," a charity auction designed to raise money for asthmatic children.
The event raised $2,091 for the Community Asthma Programs at Providence's Hasbro Children's Hospital from donations and bids for the 18 students auctioned off, said Lauren De Leon MD'10, the event's organizer. The winning bids ranged from $60 to $145. Last year's Date-a-Doctor brought in $3,641, with a top bid of $469, The Herald reported last year.
The auction was again hosted by Breeze Against Wheeze, a group run by Brown medical and undergraduate students that sponsors an annual five-kilometer run in Providence. Conceived in 2001 by a Brown medical student, the race raises about a quarter of the total costs for the Hasbro Children's Hospital's Asthma Camp, according to the Breeze Web site.
Date-a-Doctor primarily seeks to raise money for the weeklong summer camp, which is for asthmatic nine- to 13-year-olds from any income level, according to the Asthma Camp Web site. At the camp, the children participate in outdoor activities while learning to manage asthma.
"Let's remember why we're here," said Adam Vasconcellos '07 MD'11, one of the auction's two emcees, after bids for the first participant stalled at $25. The quip drew loud laughter from the audience, and the bids for Michael Gart MD'10, a Breeze co-president, eventually soared up to $100 as Gart flexed his chest muscles through a tight shirt for the audience.
After reading each participant's brief autobiography - while often making a few raunchy changes of their own - emcees Vasconcellos and Andrea Dean MD'10 opened up bidding to the audience. The bids typically started at $20 but were sometimes higher when a particular line from the biography struck a chord with the audience.
"You want walk beach with me?" Aleksey Novikov '07 MD'11 asked the audience in an exaggerated accent, after the emcees told the crowd that Novikov enjoyed walks on the beach. Novikov's line elicited much laughter from the audience.
Not all high bidders received dates from their doctors, with some contestants offering special "services." Jill Wei '07 MD'11 and Diana Moke '07 MD'11, who were auctioned as a pair, awarded their high bidder a shopping trip to Trader Joe's.
"These girls aren't just good-looking, they're good-cooking," Dean said as the pair walked onstage.
The winning bid for Vivek Shenoy MD'10 included a violin serenade, of which Shenoy gave a small sample onstage by playing a single quavering note - "the G-string," Vasconcellos said.
This year's audience consisted primarily of the participants' friends, many of whom engaged in raucous bidding wars with one another. Last year's auction, which took place in Sayles Hall, drew mainly graduate students.
"This year, we had five, six PLMEs. It's nice because we had a mixed crowd," Vasconcellos said afterward.
Other students auctioned off include Geolani Dy '08 MD'12, who told the audience that she wanted to be an American Gladiator named "Thor," and De Leon, the event's organizer.
De Leon was "pleasantly surprised" by the turnout this year, she said after the auction.
"Some people were bid on by random people," she said, "but most people had friends bid on them."
Though the to-be-dated doctors saw plenty of friendly faces in the crowd, many of them said they were nervous before the show.
"It was scary, but unexpectedly fun," Dy said after the auction. "It's scary being up in front of an audience, being a subject to other people's scrutiny."
"I was a little frightened," Novikov said afterward, though he had volunteered.
When asked whether he would offer himself up for auction again, Novikov answered "absolutely."
"As long as it brings in the money," he said with a grin.
