A Passion for Primary Care

A Passion for Primary Care The Class of 2019 graduates are officially resident physicians, and two-thirds of them are serving in primary care. M edical students achieve many milestones throughout their four years of medical school. Day by day, week-by-week, monthby-month and year-by-year, there are moments and events along the way that shape the trajectory of their academic career and future as a physician. Graduation and Match Day are two of the most highly anticipated events of the medical school journey. They signify the closing of one chapter and the exciting start of another. For many students, the third and fourth-year rotations solidify the area of medicine in which they’re most passionate and want to serve. And for many recent graduates of Campbell University’s Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine, that passion is primary care. “I chose primary care because I want to be able to treat all generations of people, and [serve as] the liaison for a person’s overall health and well-being,” said Dr. Cora Owen, family medicine resident at Bon Secours Health System in Midlothian, VA, and graduate of the Class of 2019. “Primary care allows me to make lifelong connections with people that I wouldn’t get as often in another specialty.” Sixty-five percent of the Class of 2019 graduates matched into a primary care residency, including: internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, or obstetrics & gynecology, and 57% of the Class of 2019 will be in residency programs throughout the Southeast United States. Although hundreds of newly graduated physicians are entering residencies each year, North Carolina still faces a physician shortage. North Carolina is projected to need an additional 1,885 primary care physicians by 2030. The physician shortage largely affects rural and underserved areas, and often has a domino effect on whole communities. “The biggest issue to serving rural and underserved [communities] is access— making sure patients have access to quality health care and services to provide them with the best care possible,” said Dr. David Tolentino, associate dean for clinical affairs at the medical school. “As a primary care physician, that individual is the initial gatekeeper

to a patient’s access to healthcare and plays an important role in providing and directing the care a patient needs to receive.” Campbell students have the unique opportunity to train in rural communities and work with underserved populations throughout their time in medical school. Not only are they there learning as medical students, they are also serving as care providers for the community. “Campbell’s focus on primary care

was extremely evident from day one, my interview date,” said Dr. Marlie Patel, graduate of the Class of 2019. “My interviewers and I discussed the importance of primary care and I was able to discuss how I could make an impact, even [as] medical student. Our rotation sites are diverse and [provide] a wide variety of primary care offices, making us well rounded young physicians.” Dr. Patel is a first-year pediatrics resident at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where her fiancé, Dr. Nicholas Campbell, also a 2019 Campbell Med graduate, is an internal medicine resident. From a very young age, Patel has wanted to be a pediatrician. She says her pediatrician, whom she saw from age 2 to 22, played a meaningful role in her development and within her family. As a physician, she’s excited to be able to provide that same care for the kids she will meet and serve in the future. “My desire to pursue peds only

strengthened at Campbell,” said Patel. “Dr. Mann and Dr. Halm are so kind

and helpful, and I had all the resources available to me to be successful. I’m [thankful that] I had really strong mentors at Campbell.” As they move throughout our state and country, the graduates of the Class of 2019 have closed one chapter and are beginning another. “We are proud, and yet humbled, with where our Campbell Med graduates going,” said Dr. Tolentino. “We know there is still a lot of work to be done and a big need to fill. We will continue to promote primary care medicine and its importance in serving Campbell’s mission to the rural and underserved.”

— SHELLEY HOBBS

Commencement speaker DR. KAREN NICHOLS encouraged the Class of 2019 to truly care for their patients.

DR. JOSHUA BURKA hooded by his fiance, DR. SABRINA TAVELLA (’18)