Called to
Medicine.....
Called to Community
An Intimate Conversation with
Dr. Jelisa Timmons
I had the blessed privilege of sitting with one of medicine ' s finest doctors ever licensed. She leads with love, views her practice as her calling, and serves her community with excellent care. I attest to her brilliance first hand, as I am blessed to know her as my amazing Physician and Friend.
Born and raised in Florida, Dr. Jelisa Timmons ventured to Virginia for residency in Family Medicine after medical school at the University of Florida. She completed her Family Medicine residency at VCU- St. Francis Family Medicine Residency Program, where she stayed on as faculty upon completion. Her practice is primarily general family medicine with a focus on obesity / weight loss medicine, preventative care, and women’ s health. A large part of her responsibility outside of caring for her own patients is training the next generation of family medicine physicians in their residency and teaching medical students rotating in family medicine. Outside of the office, she really enjoys the work she does with international medical missions, which have taken her to places like Ghana, Ecuador, and Bolivia. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling with her husband, reading fiction novels, and eating good, flavorful food. She has recently joined the gardening craze, which has been a lot of fun too!
DZ – Good Morning, Dr. Timmons. I have been looking forward to this interview with you for such a long time. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to sit and share with our audience today. Let’ s jump right into it. At what age did you know you wanted to be a physician? Were you encouraged by family to pursue medicine? Are there any other physicians in your family?
JT – I would say as a teenager in high school I decided medicine was likely the direction I wanted to go. I spent one summer volunteering in my cousin’ s law office, and I quickly realized that law was NOT it for me. After that, I spent a few summers through college shadowing an OBGYN in my small town, Dr. Edmund McGrath. I really admired how he cared for the women in our town. It didn’ t matter their background or situation – wealthy, uninsured, black, white, young, old- he cared for everyone all the same. He really encouraged me to become the doctor I wanted to see in my own community. That push from him was important because I did not have any other physicians in my family. I was the first in my family to attend college then medical school.
DZ- Would you mind sharing what influenced your choice to pursue a family practice?
Najiyyah Brooks
Editor-in-Chief
JT – Well, when I went to medical school, I just knew I was going to be an OBGYN like Dr. McGrath. I spent a summer in medical school working in a women’ s health clinic at a health department in Port St. Joe, Florida. The clinic was so small that me and the other students would alternate between the women’ s health clinic and the family medicine clinic. I found that, even though I liked women’ s health, I also really enjoyed the family medicine experience. So fast forward to my medical school rotations. I loved everything – pediatrics, internal medicine, geriatrics – but funny enough I did NOT enjoy OB or anything that had to do with an operating room. So, I had to go back to the drawing board. It became pretty clear that the only way I could take care of everyone, from kids to older adults, would be to do Family Medicine. I figured it would also be a good field because I enjoyed medical missions. 14
FEATURED ARTICLE