Internal Medicine
Corewell Health's Beaumont Hospital Trenton
What inspired you to practice medicine?
I wanted to practice medicine since I was a young woman. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She had a gyn oncologist that became an important part of our lives. We looked forward to visits and wrote down questions. He probably never knew a day didn't go by when his name didn't come up. He always took his time. The time spent explaining things helped my family get through her disease and her eventual death.
Share something a patient said or did.
I remember a lot of things patients have said over the years. The one that has struck me the most is "thank you for listening to me." It is a great privilege to be a doctor. We get to hear people's stories and be an important part of their lives. They learn about us as much as we learn about them. Every patient has a story to tell. Most of the time, by listening to their story, the patient guides us to their diagnosis. As doctors, we get to be part of their stories.
What does resilience look like to you?
Resilience looks to me like the patient that keeps going no matter what. It is the mother caring for her family despite getting round three of chemotherapy. It is the stroke patient celebrating standing for the first time. It is the new mother holding her infant after multiple rounds of infertility treatments. It is also the doctor and nurse that come in to work every day despite what is going on in their personal lives. They struggle through bad weather , sleepless nights, and busy family schedules to make a difference in their patients' lives