DR. WHO
everybody was on board. People very quickly gave ideas and
helped develop the program so that it worked for everybody.”
Dr. Adkins has now worked in that role as a critical care
anesthesiologist in the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery ICU
at UofL Health Jewish Hospital for the last seven years. She values
the opportunity to work in both general anesthesia and critical
care, in addition to teaching medical students and residents.
“I do mostly critical care, but I still do some general anesthesia.
I really need that balance. I might drive myself crazy if I was only
in one place or the other,” she laughed. “I feel like I have a good
time in the operating room taking care of patients, but I miss the
critical care part. At the same time, when I’ve spent too much time
in the ICU, I’m ready for some general anesthesia days.”
She spends about twice as much time in the ICU compared to
the OR and credits her colleagues for allowing her to move back
and forth between the two. “I have a great team. Everybody wants
everybody to be happy and to have a great work-life balance, so
we will do whatever it takes to make sure that people are doing the
work that makes them feel fulfilled, but keeps them sane,” she said.
That work-life balance allows her to spend time with her
favorite team members, her husband Donnie and her daughter
Dahlia. “I have a 2 ½-year-old daughter and I like to spend as much
time with her as possible, so she is my main hobby right now,” she
said. “But I do also love to travel and learn about different cultures
and ways of living and seeing history. When we pick out a location
to travel to, we look at what the African American influence is on
the area, or what is the history of blacks in that community.”
Her culture is something that is important to her in many ways,
such as her involvement as the Treasurer for the Falls City Medical
Society, the African American physician network in Louisville.
“I am really passionate about working with Falls City Medical
Society,” she said. “We focus on education for the membership and
the community, partnerships to the medical
school and other local societies, as well as
mentoring and outreach to the community.”
Dr. Adkins loves her career and her team
but also wants to make sure that she is helping
to educate and support the next generation
of physicians. With so many great mentors
throughout her medical career, she wants to be
able to give back in the same way. “I want to grow
as an intensivist, but also as an educator. This
year I’m excited to help start the anesthesiology
critical care fellowship program as the assistant
directly at UofL. I want to use my time more
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