I Do...

In September 2009 I moved to Selma, the Butterfly Capitol of Alabama.  Love brought me here.  My then fiancee' and I had been dating long distance (I was living in the D.C./Maryland area) and when we decided to get married, I said "I do" to him and to Selma.  My friends could not believe that I was trading in "open 24 hours" for "gone fishin'," but truth be told, I would have moved to Guam for my husband.  So we packed my bags and I left my life near the Washington Monument for our new life together just over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  

In DC/Maryland my work was in Adolescent Medicine.  I completed a fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland and took my first faculty job at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC shortly thereafter.  In D.C. I was the Director of Medical Education for the Division of Adolescent Medicine at CNMC.  I worked with residents and medical students in our Adolescent Medicine Clinic as well as on the inpatient units. My career interests were in medical education, HIV care and adolescents, and contraception and adolescents.  From the time I discovered what Adolescent Medicine was (shout out to Drs. Melissa Hamp and Yolanda Wimberly for introducing me to the field), I never thought I would ever do anything else, but as the saying goes, if you want to make God laugh, just tell Him what YOUR plans are...

Selma does not have a Children's Hospital, but there are six awesome pediatricians and a pediatric nurse practitioner that work in two pediatric clinics in Selma serving the children of Selma/Dallas County and surrounding counties.  Many of us in major cities really take health care accessibility for granted.  Some families come from as far as 70 miles away to seek care in the Selma area because we are the pediatricians that are closest to them.   Wow. 

I have been a citizen of Selma for almost three years now.  For my friends and family, I want to shed light on the beauty of the people, their triumphs, struggles, and the progress that is being made in this historic community.  Please know that where patient stories are concerned names, dates, and details will be changed and/or omitted.  I hope to share the lessons I am learning and the experiences I am having as I live, love, grow, and serve in Selma.  

Thanks for reading.