Medical student is one of South Florida’s ‘Dream Men’

It was a request Patrick Quade, a second-year medical student, says he couldn’t refuse. One of the coordinators at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine Office of Student Affairs asked him to help raise money for a good cause, the Switchboard of Miami.

“It’s a crisis hotline that offers telephone counseling and referral services 24/7,” says Quade. “You call in, and if they can’t help you, they’ll route you to someone who can.”

All the 29-year-old aspiring doctor had to do was to agree to go on a date as part of a bachelor auction, but first, he had to be chosen as one of 40 men to be auctioned off. Quade modestly claims he was surprised to be picked “because everybody else was either a doctor or a lawyer or well into their professional career, and I’m just a student.” But at 6’8”, 230 lbs., and with the looks of a fashion model, it’s not difficult to stand out.

The white coat is still too small for Patrick Quade’s 6’8″ frame.

He certainly stood out when he first arrived at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in 2013. During the White Coat Ceremony, in which incoming students get their first white coats, Quade provided a moment of comic relief when he put on his coat and it seemed someone had left it in the dryer too long.

Patrick Quade at White Coat Ceremony for Class of 2017.

The sleeves barely made it halfway down his forearm. Even after they bought him a larger sized coat, it still looks shrunken on his large frame, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He’s too busy doing what medical students do: studying.

“I feel like I’m pretty shut out from the outside world,” he says. “That’s one reason why I was excited for the opportunity to do something outside of school and also help people.”

To drum up attendance for the bachelor auction, the 40 Dream Men were featured in Brickell Magazine as South Florida’s most eligible bachelors. The auction was held Feb. 27 at the Conrad Hotel. Quade raised $400.

“Somebody ‘bought me’ for their daughter who lives in New York and is coming down in June, “ he says. He’ll take her on his ideal, no frills date: “a bistro bite to eat and drinks on the water.”

Quade says his fellow classmates have been very supportive and many have congratulated him for raising money for the Switchboard hotline service. He also says he’s gotten a lot of adds on Facebook. “A lot of people I don’t even know are adding me,” he says.