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Med鈥揚eds: Choosing Your Path

Stefanie Brown, MD, FACP, FAAP


Stefanie Brown, MD, FACP, FAAP, Med鈥揚eds for Life (#MP4L)
Internal Medicine Residency Program Director
University of Miami/Jackson Health System

Someone once told me, 鈥淭he problem with life is that it has no table of contents. You can try to write your story, but it always turns out differently than you plan it.鈥 That was true for me, especially as it relates to my career. I entered medical school with the idea that I was certain about my future career in medicine. I wanted to be a private practice family medicine physician in New Jersey. What I am now is the Internal Medicine Residency Program Director at the University of Miami/Jackson Health System program, clinically practicing ambulatory and inpatient medicine and pediatrics; in my other administrative roles, I am the Section Chief for Med鈥揚eds and Pediatric Hospital Medicine.

My initial draw to family medicine was the ability to provide health care for families and a desire to provide continuity of care. My first clerkship of my third year in medical school was in internal medicine. I was paired with a new intern named . Howard was the complete package. He was incredibly smart and clinically savvy and seemed to know everything. He was also compassionate, caring, and fun. I found myself thinking, 鈥淚 want to be that guy.鈥 Howard asked me what I wanted to do with my life, and I told him I wanted to do family medicine. He replied, 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 you do ?鈥 As my first resident partner, he was a perfect role model and unwitting mentor, and I am forever grateful for his introduction into 尘别诲鈥损别诲蝉.

As I moved through third year and into fourth year, I was certain I wanted to do 尘别诲鈥损别诲蝉. I loved caring for adults and children in the same space, but I also really enjoyed inpatient medicine and potentially subspecialty training. I realized that entering a family medicine residency would significantly limit the options for those aspects of clinical care. I matched as a 尘别诲鈥损别诲蝉 resident at Rutgers鈥揘ew Jersey Medical School. It was there that I fell in love with academic medicine鈥攖eaching and mentoring as Howard did for me. And I knew then that private practice was no longer my path. 

The benefits of being a physician trained in 尘别诲鈥损别诲蝉 are innumerable and ever evolving. Most notably, during the COVID-19 crisis, we became some of the 鈥溾 for our fellow pediatricians thrust into adult care.

I moved to the University of Miami in 2008 as the 尘别诲鈥损别诲蝉 residency program director, where I had the opportunity to innovate and evolve a residency program. I became an agent of change. In 2015, this opportunity came again in the form of the internal medicine residency. I said, 鈥淥f course,鈥 because that is the 尘别诲鈥损别诲蝉 way. We are change agents and leaders. We bridge gaps in not only patient care but also academia and administration. We are both chameleons and unicorns. We are 100% medicine, 100% pediatrics, and 300% 尘别诲鈥损别诲蝉. The whole is more than the sum of its parts.