Tell us about yourself.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma and am a huge Sooners fan. I did my internal medicine training here at Emory and loved it so much that I stayed on as a hospitalist. Four years later I still love working at EUH, mainly due to the people. Emory has such a fantastic culture and I appreciate how respectful everyone is to each other, no matter the role.
Why did you decide to go into medicine?
I’ve always loved learning how things work and how to fix them when broken. And I love people so medicine just made sense for me. If I wasn’t going to be a physician, my backups included an archaeologist Indiana-Jones-style, or an intelligence officer who traveled internationally but didn’t have to lie. Since the latter two aren’t really based in reality, I am glad that I chose medicine.
What does “clinical excellence” mean to you?
Clinical excellence to me extends well beyond clinical acumen and making the right diagnosis and treatment plan. It requires the knowledge that human experience and perception are vital to the care, and it is not limited to just the patient experience, but includes the experience of the entire team. Illness has such an emotional component to it so I try to really get to know my patients and understand their lives so that I can better serve them. I also try to get to know the staff, which is also very important to create a collaborative and safe environment. This quote attributed to Dr. Martin Fischer, “In the sick room, ten cents’ worth of human understanding equals ten dollars’ worth of medical science” has always resonated with me and is a philosophy I try to practice.
Dogs or cats?
Dogs! I have two extremely high energy Springer Spaniels and when combined with my two young toddlers, my house is always in a state of happy chaos.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
My spare time is spent mainly with my husband who is also a hospitalist at EUH, and our 14-month-old and 3-year-old. We try to take several vacations a year but mainly within driving distance since the little ones are so young. I’ll also admit to regular retail therapy, home renovation projects, family musical jam sessions Partridge family style, Netflix and chilling, a monthly book club where I may or may not have actually had time to read the book, and mostly unsuccessful gardening attempts. It’s a full life!
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