Alumni Spotlight: Winter 2018

Molly Evans, MDMolly Evans, MD Primary Care Track Class of 2010

Primary Care Track Class of 2010

 

 

 

 

Current position:

I am an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. EIS is a two year fellowship in applied epidemiology. I will move to a position on the HIV clinical trials team in Kisumu, Kenya when I finish fellowship in July.

Path to that position:

I did residency in the primary care track at BMC and then moved to the Navajo reservation to provide outpatient primary care and inpatient hospitalist services for the Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital in Chinle, Arizona. I loved my job and community and stayed for six years. Working in a rural area gave me the opportunity to follow my interests including starting an HIV clinic, leading the TB clinic, prescribing buprenorphine, and taking on administrative roles such as Chief of Internal Medicine and Chief of Primary Care. The collegial environment allowed me to learn from my colleagues to build upon the skills I learned as a resident. I also used the time to pursue an MPH through online classes at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public LBJ pictureHealth. I was inspired to put my new public health skills into action when I met a group of EIS officers who responded to a necrotizing fasciitis outbreak at our hospital. I was eager to match with the HIV group at the CDC because in 2015 they responded to a large HIV outbreak among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Indiana. The position combined my interests in HIV, addiction, and rural health.

Proudest Professional Accomplishment:

I have had the opportunity to work on exciting improvements for health systems such as introducing an Integrated Behavioral Health Service within the Chinle primary care clinics and expanding access to prenatal care during the Zika outbreak in American Samoa. While these professional contributions are important, I am most proud of the relationships I developed with my patients during the six years I was a primary care doctor. It was an honor and privilege to serve the Navajo patients who trusted me in their most vulnerable moments. The lessons I learned from them continue to inform my work as an epidemiologist.

Current Projects:

I was recently called to West Virginia to investigate an HIV cluster in a rural area where the opioid epidemic is a major public health problem. It was a great opportunity to help the state health department build capacity to expand HIV testing services and provide pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention. I am also collaborating with the Indian Health Service to identify regions at risk for an HIV or HCV outbreak using a claims database to analyze indicators of injection drug use.

WV hikeOutside of Medicine:

My other full-time job is being a mother to three boys who are 6 years, 3 years, and 19 months old. They keep my husband and me on our toes and fill us with joy. They were all born on the Navajo reservation and we enjoy going on outdoor adventures with them.

Favorite memory from residency:

Dr. Jeffrey Samet gave the primary care residents a memorable talk on addiction and motivational interviewing. It’s hard to believe these concepts were new to me at the time but this interactive session radically changed my practice as a clinician. I also had an ICU attending, Dr. Darrell Kotton, who taught me the art of end of life discussions. I frequently had to use this skill during very large and sometimes heated family meetings where I  had to delicately balance Navajo taboos about end of life and complex family dynamics to guide medical decision making. I also have very fond memories of working with and learning from my co-residents and I continue to keep in touch with many of them.

Advice for current seniors:

Your Internal Medicine training can take you on many different career paths. Look for innovative ways to bridge your interests and use a patient centered approach to guide you.