DR . WHO Cara Keller , MD by KATHRYN VANCE
I lucked out with this interview – instead of just one subject , I got to hear from two . Dr . Cara Keller , OB-GYN with Baptist Health , recently shifted from physician to patient when she welcomed baby girl Heidi into the world this February . While chatting with Dr . Keller , Heidi wanted to make her presence known , making sure we were aware she was not interested in the nap that mom wanted her so badly to take . But let ’ s step back a bit first …
Just a few hours outside Louisville in Somerset , Kentucky , Dr . Keller grew up with one younger brother and two teacher parents . The value of education was in their blood , and with her dad a science teacher , at-home experiments were frequent . This led Dr . Keller and her now-pharmacist brother to a love of science from a young age . But medicine wasn ’ t always the clear path for her , she also had great interest in the humanities and even considered a career in research . What she did know was that above all , she wanted to do something centered around women ’ s health , due to the strong influences in her life growing up .
“ In talking with the females in my family like my mom , my grandmother and my great grandmother , women ’ s health was something that really interested me for a long time , before I even knew I wanted to enter medicine .”
While she didn ’ t have many women ’ s health courses as an undergrad student at the University of Kentucky and it was hard to get experience in OB-GYN offices , she knew about halfway through
college that she wanted to enter medical school and was determined to get that firsthand experience . She volunteered at the Outreach Center in Lexington with Dr . Don Frazier and shadowed in primary care offices . While she enjoyed those experiences and gained so much knowledge from her mentor , she knew that a more focused path was going to be the best fit for her . Once in medical school at the University of Kentucky , she was able to volunteer at a health fair and provide those women ’ s health services she was so interested in .
“ The health fair was one of the bigger clinical experiences that I had during my first and second years , so that really inspired me . Then in my third year , I did an OB-GYN rotation in London , Kentucky with Dr . Brent Barton at his office . I was the only medical student in the whole practice , and I found it to be the perfect mix of inpatient and outpatient and you can have flexibility as far as office time and procedures ,” she said . “ They were all so nice to me and took me in and gave me a huge breadth of exposure and opportunities that I wouldn ’ t normally get , like being a first assist . They all really encouraged me and kept in touch while I was applying for residency .”
During the end of that third year , she began dating Dr . Tyler Keller , an orthopaedic surgeon and Louisville native . They ’ d met as undergrad students at UK but had just been friends for several years . After dating just a few months , they were preparing for residency applications and the ever-daunting Match process . With such a short history to their relationship , they had a major decision ahead and ultimately decided to apply via Couples Match .
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