the clinic , these were the moments that engaged her most and she thought she had it figured out – general surgery .
“ I think that interest started before medical school . Always being active , exercising and playing basketball , you ’ re using your hands to learn skills and become proficient in new techniques . Honestly , a lot of the things I learned in basketball have been useful in my training - especially the dedication and persistence needed in both .”
With her mind on surgery , she still had one final rotation in her third year waiting for her , OB-GYN .
“ It ended up ticking all the boxes I was looking for . There ’ s a lot of procedural based aspects , but you ’ re also interacting with patients on a routine basis . In fourth year , I was applying – and I did expand the circumference of where I was applying this time – but come Match Day , I was so happy to find out that not only did I get to match at UofL , but I got to do so alongside people that had become such close friends .”
Starting residency in 2011 , she initially thought she ’ d be an OB-GYN generalist . However , she soon found herself on a rotation she admittedly didn ’ t know much about , gynecologic oncology .
“ At first , I honestly wondered if I was going to survive that rotation . And then I realized that I actually really liked it , and it was even more fine tuning what I really liked about general OB-GYN . It had the continuity of care as well as those procedural aspects . Gyn-onc is a unique subspecialty because you get to manage the oncologic patient from diagnosis to sometimes death , or we hope , to a cure . You ’ re following them through those extreme milestones .”
Mulling her options near the end of her chief year in January , she knew that if she wanted to pursue that fellowship , she needed
to act quickly , with applications due in March for an October match . Should she wait and do two gap years or take a chance and apply right away ? Afte talking with her mentors , Dr . Daniel Metzinger and Dr . Lynn Parker , their resounding support left her feeling confident . After applying , she worked that year on faculty at UofL in the gyn-onc office and did what they termed an “ informal robotics fellowship ” under Dr . Metzinger ’ s mentorship .
“ I love that robotic surgery has really taken off in my lifetime of being in medicine . I see robotic surgery as the next step in building upon our minimally invasive surgery tools . You ’ re seeing not only the benefits of minimally invasive surgery , but also , you ’ re likely decreasing the number of cases that otherwise would ’ ve been done open . From an oncologic standpoint , it ’ s been very impactful serving the countless individuals undergoing cancer staging and treatment .”
With an extra year of robotics training under her belt , she set off for Tampa to do her fellowship at the University of South Florida , Moffitt Cancer Center . Once in Florida , she got a familiar feeling reminiscent of those first couple of years in medical school . The first year of fellowship was research , and being back in a lab away from the hands-on work she was used to was challenging . Once she hit years two and three with clinical work , all felt right again . Knowing that ultimately , she wanted to come back home , she stayed in touch with Dr . Metzinger and in 2019 , returned to UofL full-time after completing her training .
Today , they have a goal to get patients seen the next office day , so it ’ s not unusual for Dr . Todd and her team to be working seven days a week to squeeze everything in . This dedication is all about connecting with the patients and helping them through difficult times .
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