DR . WHO Timothy Beacham , MD by KATHRYN VANCE
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Growing up , I didn ’ t have a clue what it really meant to be a physician . Family members would tell me that I should become a doctor , but they had no more of an idea than I did as to what that meant .”
Raised mostly by his grandparents in Hazelhurst , Mississippi , Dr . Timothy Beacham excelled academically , but didn ’ t have any mentors in the health care field and was left in a “ you don ’ t know what you don ’ t know ” kind of situation . After his grandparents passed , he moved to Canton , Mississippi where he finished high school . Always reading different texts and books , he developed an interest in the brain and central nervous system . After high school , he enrolled at Tougaloo College , a private HBCU ( historically black colleges and universities ) in Mississippi , where he majored in chemistry and got interested in research .
“ At Tougaloo , I was exposed to some pretty prominent physicians and scientists , and I also was exposed to a lot of top-notch summer programs at Yale and NASA with an emphasis on neuroscience .”
After finishing college , he worked for a bit before being accepted to the National Institute of Health ’ s Pre-doctoral Intramural Research Training Award Program in Bethesda , Maryland . The program ’ s goal is to introduce doctoral students to biomedical research and provide practical research training and experience to students . With his interest in neurobiology and neurochemistry , it was a perfect fit .
“ The program provides you with excellent experiences and allows you to meet with top scientists as you ’ re trying to figure out what you want to do . I quickly realized that you didn ’ t have to have a PhD in order to do research and so that kind of solidified my interest in being a physician .”
He was accepted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson for medical school , and while learning about different specialties , his original interest in neurosurgery began to wane due to the many years of training and long work hours . He knew he wanted to have a family someday and wanted something with a more consistent schedule . While in medical school , he was introduced to the chairman of the anesthesia department , who had started their pain fellowship program .
“ I learned that interventional pain was mostly dealing with the central nervous system and the spine . As a chemistry major in undergrad , anesthesia was a natural complement in that it had the chemistry I loved , and I had a knack for putting patients at ease . That initial interaction with patients before they ’ re put to sleep is normally pretty traumatic for them , it ’ s usually when they are at their worst in terms of anxiety and worry . It was a very natural fit .”
He stayed in Jackson to complete his anesthesiology residency and interventional pain fellowship , and in 2010 , he completed his training and accepted a position on faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology at UMMC . Coming from his fellowship into an attending position in the same program was a smooth transition .
24 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE