DR. WHO Damon Coyle, MD by KATHRYN VANCE
It’ s funny in life when things just come full circle, without any planning. And that’ s exactly what happened with Dr. Damon Coyle’ s journey to becoming an allergist. As a child growing up in Campbellsville, Kentucky, he had pretty severe allergies and began seeing Dr. Jim Sublett at one of Family Allergy & Asthma’ s first satellite offices. The treatments quickly made a world of difference, and would leave a lasting impact.
He grew up with two younger brothers to a schoolteacher / guidance counselor mom and a pharmacist dad. His father owned and operated Coyle Drug Store for more than 20 years and is still practicing pharmacy as he nears his 80 th birthday later this year. Fittingly, Dr. Coyle attributes much of his work ethic to his parents.
Dr. Coyle always had a natural lean toward medicine, but had no idea what specialty he’ d end up in. After attending Centre College( following in his dad’ s and grandpa’ s footsteps) he applied and got accepted into the University of Louisville School of Medicine. During rotations, he thought about dermatology or family medicine, but also decided to reach out about doing an allergy rotation. Turns out, that rotation was with Dr. Sublett at Family Allergy & Asthma, and they soon realized he’ d been Dr. Coyle’ s physician years ago. This rotation, and a personality realization, solidified his path.
“ I realized that allergy was something I not only had empathy for – understanding how people feel about it, but also sympathy for – having personal experience with it. And I even recalled as a child how much better I felt and how much better my quality of life was after seeing an allergist. It really does come full circle.”
After four years in Louisville, he knew he’ d have to leave as UofL didn’ t have allergy training here. He also knew that he’ d have to decide between pediatrics or internal medicine for residency first – for him, pediatrics was an easy choice. He packed up for Chattanooga and headed to the University of Tennessee College of Medicine for pediatrics residency. While in training, he met another resident, Tobey, who was a year behind him, and they started dating. At the time, the program only took eight residents per year, just a fraction of what other programs were taking. Going from small classes at Centre to large lectures at UofL, he actually found some comfort in going back to a more intimate group. While the 120 + hour weeks were grueling, he knew there was more ahead.
For his allergy and immunology fellowship, he went about six hours east to Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He knew he wanted a program that was more clinical than academic, and more allergy than immunology, and Wake Forest was the perfect fit. He remembers that as soon as he got the call from them, he made three calls: the first to his fiancé Tobey, the second to his parents, and the third to his mentor, Dr. Sublett. The location worked so well that he actually moonlighted in the pediatric emergency room back in Chattanooga.
“ It was nice because I got to see my fiancé and make a little money on the side. I also got to keep my pediatric skills up, and the emergency room is fun. It’ s not an older man’ s game, but it’ s fun when you’ re younger,” he laughed.
Over the next two years of fellowship, he stayed in touch with Dr. Sublett and upon completing his training, he joined Family
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