DR . WHO Lisal Folsom , MD by KATHRYN VANCE
“
It
’ s a very winding and circuitous pathway for how I got to medicine and where I am today .”
After being raised by two physician parents , a mom in family medicine and a dad in anesthesia , Dr . Lisal Folsom thought medicine was low on her list of future careers . She grew up in Kettering , Ohio , with a short stint in Germany , alongside three younger siblings .
In preparing for life after high school , she thought she wanted to be a chef and own a vegetarian restaurant . She focused on colleges with business courses and culinary tracks and ended up moving to the Pacific Northwest for undergrad at Walla Walla University in Washington state . After more thought , she decided against cooking as a career , so as not to lose the joy . Plans shifted to a more practical career , she said : law . She soon decided against this as well , noting that it didn ’ t spark happiness and sought another plan . This time , it was musical education .
“ I always loved music and thought that being able to teach music to the next generation would be a really fulfilling career . I loved all the music classes but hated all the education classes . So I changed my major and became a vocal music major , planning to be an opera singer . Then I realized maybe that with all the travel , I probably wouldn ’ t be able to put down roots and establish a community . Then I had no idea what I wanted to do because everything I thought I wanted to do either wasn ’ t practical or sustainable , or I just didn ’ t have the passion I thought I had .”
In between her sophomore and junior years , she did a lot of self-exploration about what she really enjoyed and could realistically see herself doing for the rest of her life .
“ I realized that while I don ’ t like science in general , I do really enjoy learning about how it applies to the human body , anatomy and physiology and that ’ s when I started thinking about medicine again . You don ’ t have to be a scientist and learn about plants in order to like medicine . I decided I would do pre-med and when I got back to college after summer , I didn ’ t change my major , but I added the pre-med classes as electives . So instead of fun stuff for electives , I did things like biology , chemistry , physics or organic chemistry .”
By the summer of 2005 , she was starting medical school at Loma Linda University in Southern California . Luckily , she had a built-in travel partner at that point , Nathan . The two met through mutual friends during her freshman year of undergrad but it was far from love at first sight .
“ When we met , I thought he was a little bit weird . It was a person who was my friend ’ s friend , and I would tolerate him because of that . But we kept bumping into each other and spending more time together and as that happened , I realized he was an incredibly kind , thoughtful , funny , artistic , intelligent person . So our friendship developed and out of that , our romantic relationship . We dated for quite a while and then we ended up getting married while I was in medical school in 2007 .”
As she admitted , Dr . Folsom is a deliberate person , preferring
30 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE