Healthcare
Dr. Eileen Barrett MD, MPH, FACP
Assistant Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine. She received her MD from Georgetown University, School of Medicine in Washington, DC, and completed her internship and residency at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital in Portland, OR. Dr. Barrett completed her Rural Faculty Development fellowship at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. Her research interests include alcohol use disorders, care of Native Americans and Clinician Wellness. Dr. Barrett is the recipient of numerous awards including Shining Sun Award (Nursing Recruitment and Retention Committee recognition), LEAD Leadership Program Certificate at the American College of Physicians. She is also a current Regent of the American College of Physicians, former Governor of the NM ACP, Gold Humanism Society member, DAISY Team awardee, Secretary for NM Society of Hospital Medicine.
Educational Background
Attended/Earned a BA from Union College in NY because she wanted a personalized education and wanted to study abroad
Studied health care systems in the UK, Netherlands, Hungary
2-year Masters' degree in Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill
Attended medical school at Georgetown because it was a private Jesuit school, best med school she got into, liked the social justice component
Chose internal medicine as her specialty
Latin is an elective that Dr. Barrett enjoyed
Humanities courses help doctors to become more well-rounded and more empathic
Taking extra English courses is helpful
Played lacrosse and soccer
Involved in volunteer work-good framework for life and medicine
4 years of college (Bachelor's degree in Biology)
2 years of grad school
4 years of med school
4 years of specialty training to become an internist
A lot of complexity/thinking. Diagnostic and complex issues are fun
Dr. Barrett reads medical journals constantly
Dr. Barrett is trained in pandemic response (eBola, COVID)
She did more procedures earlier on in her career
For pediatrics, relationship is between the doctor & parent, not with child.
For internal medicine, relationship is with the patient.
About Pre-Med
Pre-Med Qualifications:
How you apply yourself in high school impacts where you get in and go to college/university
Where you go to college impacted where you go to medical school
A lot of my classmates had parents who were physicians, but mine weren't
Important to always try to do your very best and study hard
Interacting with other people with kindness
Curiosity about the world and about other people
Helpful to get higher grades in science courses, but also beneficial to take course in humanities, literature, arts, LOTE (Languages Other Than English)
Pre-med track typically consists of courses in Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Calculus
Recommended Majors for Pre-Med Students:
You can major in anything you want to go to med school (could even be computer science)
More important to do your best in a major you love
Dr. Barrett was a Biology major in college, but would have preferred being an English major and Physics minor
No matter what major you choose, there will be some science course requirements
Challenges
Describes herself as Internal medicine physician for non-pregnant adults
Most challenging things about Dr. Barrett's job: She is a COVID doctor and it has been difficult when patients are afraid, suffering or seriously ill and family members can't be around
Meds for treatment of COVID aren't that great
Racial/ethnic disparity that exists
Impact of COVID on people of color, especially Navajo Nation, has been substantial. For example, 5 people from 1 family passed away.
Kindness is the only thing you can do in a situation like this one
Navajo Nation (size of West VA) has their own President and laws
Separate health care system referred to as Indian Health System
Dr. Barrett concerned about health equity/health disparity and wanted to improve health care for the underprivileged
Immersive experience, better understands her patients' lives now, Dr. Barrett has become a better person as a result
Rewards
Enjoys personal connection with her patients and helping them with navigating their medical journeys
Likes working with nurses, staff, other doctors, students, medical residents, social workers, pharmacists, lab folks, etc.
There's no specialty in medicine where physicians can't work part-time (if you can afford to do so)
More female physicians in internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, ENT, etc. and many leaders in these specialties are women
Med school is an expensive endeavor and you could end up with a lot of educational debt
You're still an MD if you attend a lower-ranked med school
Consider med schools where you would receive a scholarship or financial aid