personalities
By Chloe McGowan
What Care Looks Like
Doctor works to make health care more culturally competent, affordable
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Photo by Olivia Kristin Photography
W
hen Dr. Chelsea Mooreland attended The Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2016, she was one of 10 Black students in a class of 280 – a stark contrast from her time at Florida A&M University, a historically Black college. She says her experience at OSU, however isolating, was a unique challenge that helped drive her forward. Now, as founder and CEO of Life Cycle Direct Primary Care, Mooreland looks to provide more culturally inclusive care while continuing to open opportunities for others in the medical field coming from underrepresented groups. “Finding mentors and people that you feel comfortable being vulnerable with to ask for help was extremely difficult going through medical school, and even in residency,” Mooreland says. “It just helps drive me forward to make sure that I am available to other young women coming behind me who are interested in medicine.” Originally from a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, Mooreland, who is also a first-generation college graduate, says that growing up she had an interest in science and wanted to be an AP biology teacher. However, an introduction to medicine class in her undergraduate coursework changed that trajectory. After completing her residency at OhioHealth Grant Family Medicine, Mooreland worked in community health and says she was disheartened to see the way care was provided to underserved patients. “Most of my patients looked like me,” she says. “I found it very difficult to kind of make peace with that moral conflict on a regular basis.”
Mooreland is the CEO and founder of Life Cycle Direct Primary Care in New Albany. www.healthynewalbanymagazine.com
