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1. Who or what inspired you to become a physician?

I decided to be a physician when I was in 3rd grade.  My grandfather had a heart attack and had a CABG (coronary artery bypass graft surgery) at Cleveland Clinic. All the grandkids went up to see him since we grew up a little over an hour south of Cleveland. In recovery, I saw him with an incision stem to stern, as well as his entire leg from this very invasive surgery. I was intrigued. For my school project that year, we had to write a book. Other kids wrote about their dog or “I flew a kite.” My book was titled “My grandfather’s open-heart surgery.” My grandma and I got an anatomic picture of the heart. We drew the new connections and the blockages, listing the names of the vessels. We also listed all of the medications he was on. It was really cute and I still have it. That was my first exposure to medicine. When I was in junior high my cousin was born with Down syndrome. She had endocardial cushion defects and had surgery to repair those. She was not the seventy-plus-year-old man sitting with all the incisions, she was four months old at the time of surgery and had a one-inch incision on her tiny chest. My mind was blown and from that, I decided I wanted to be a surgeon and fix people.  Fast forward to college and I was working at a hospital in Lexington, KY. I was doing my undergrad in dietetics because my parents encouraged me to do something applicable and not just pre-med. I was always interested in nutrition and sports, so I pursued dietetics. I worked in dietary, then in patient transport at the hospital.  One day a couple of neurosurgeons stopped me in the hall to quickly transport a gentleman who was having a stroke to the MRI machine.  While the guy was getting scanned, they turned to me and inquired why I was doing this job. I told them I wanted to be a surgeon and this opened the door to watched neurosurgery all summer long.   That experience solidified that surgery was what I wanted to do.  

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2. Briefly describe a "peak experience" from your career: interaction with a mentor, memorable patient, etc.

Breast surgery is a different ball game from many other surgical specialties in that we often have a personal relationship with the patient. We see them up to five years after their surgery, sometimes even starting five months before surgery. We get a good sense of who they are, their family, background and such. I started working at Lexington Clinic out of fellowship. Within one month of working there, one of our mammography techs who was only thirty-seven years old, came to me in tears stating she found a mass. We did the workup and it was metaplastic, which is one of the most aggressive types. She said “take it all out”, wanting to be done. Her surgery was in the midst of COVID. No one was allowed to be with her postoperatively due to the pandemic. Since I was her surgeon, I was allowed in and brought food and sat and talked with her for hours because her family couldn’t be there and it just broke my heart. She did well postoperatively.  She had eighteen rounds of chemotherapy and recovered well. Fast forward, we worked together the entire time I was in Kentucky. She helped counsel patients and would show the results of her aesthetic flat closure surgery. She is still cancer-free. At forty, she had a huge celebration. Shortly after she found out she was pregnant, which was a surprise as she assumed her ovaries were done from the chemo. She had a beautiful, perfect daughter. Through that experience, even in the worst-case scenario of young patients with awful diseases, there is still a sense of hope and life after cancer.  

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3. What led you to engage with the El Paso County Medical Society leadership?

In training, you are in an environment where you are always around others in medicine with M&M and academia. People range from fresh out of training to far from training, and all the different mix. At my previous job, I felt like I was on an island. I wasn’t in a university setting, nor was I really able to connect with other physicians in the community.  Part of this could be blamed on COVID, but also, the only medical society there was for retirees.  Now, I am starting over in a new location and I want to meet other physicians. We have a lot of the same concerns and stressors, so mostly I’m looking for the comradery and community this society brings.

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4. What advice would you give to physicians-in-training who are just starting their careers?

Being in surgery, there is a lot of misogyny and malignancy in surgical training. I do think that it is slowly shifting as more females get into surgery and are becoming department heads and program directors. I would tell them, if you are at a place where you are not being heard or taught well, find a new place where you will be. Do not just tolerate it, because things have changed and are continuing to change. Do not just think “this is the way it is,” because it is not. Be yourself. We all have different gifts. Some people are really good at physics and are radiation doctors. I am not that person. Honor the things you are good at, honor your gifts, and go with it. You will be surprised how your authentic self will be accepted, sometimes by your colleagues, but more so by your patients.

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5. What do you enjoy doing outside of medicine?

I love to travel. I love learning about other cultures. I love eating all the different foods. I am very adventurous. I will try all the things, sometimes they are good and sometimes they are not. I love hiking and being outdoors. I love anything that is adrenaline-filled; I did hang gliding in Switzerland, I hiked approximately three mountains in Switzerland and the tallest mountain in Ireland, which was just over 1000 meters. Not a huge mountain, but it was beautiful! The people in Colorado would laugh at this stating “that is not a mountain”, while the people in Ireland were impressed that I had climbed their mountain; perspective is funny! I did ziplining in Croatia. I’m one of those adventure travel types.   Around here, I have done some hiking but no 14-ers yet. I am still acclimating to the altitude. I love to run and do hot yoga. I run more for my brain than I do my body. I hope to take ski lessons because I feel like I would enjoy the challenge of learning a new sport.  I also like decorating, so there are lots of projects planned in my new house already.  I’ll often build things when I can’t find what I want. I’m working on the plans for a catio and a built-in breakfast nook right now.

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