versity of Louisville School of Medicine , another choice that seemed like the perfect fit because of the strength of the clinical experiences and proximity to family .
“ When I visited UofL , they did a really good job of showing what kind of experiences you ’ d get with the program . It was really impressive ,” she said . “ I felt like I was home , both literally and figuratively . I moved into the house that my parents lived in while my mom was in residency , so it was perfect . It ’ s funny , I remember studying for one of my first tests and feeling like everything was so important . I needed to learn everything and not forget anything , and now I could probably not tell you much of anything that was on that test . It really felt like stepping up to the next level in terms of intensity .”
While in high school and undergrad , she shadowed a variety of specialties and considered pediatrics or family medicine , but a formative experience at an OB-GYN office really helped solidify things for her .
“ I have really vivid memories of the first C-section I got to see , and I really enjoyed seeing patients in the office . When I got to med school , I was trying out the different specialties and I realized OB-GYN was the perfect mix of all the things I liked from other specialties . I liked doing surgery , but I didn ’ t want to be in eightor nine-hour surgeries – I didn ’ t have the attention span for that . I liked continuity of care with patients , but I also liked the hospital and operating . I also thought about emergency medicine because I liked the chaos and not knowing what ’ s going to roll in . But I found
( l to r ) Dr . O ’ Brien and husband Trevor on the Notre Dame campus ; Dr . O ’ Brien and her husband Trevor with their children , Mac , Rowan and Keaton .
all of that with OB-GYN . You still never know what ’ s going to come in with deliveries , and I like to be the calm in the chaos . I like being calm and steady and steering the ship .”
As she began making her lists for residency programs , they were looking all over the country , with focuses near Louisville and Boston , where Trevor is from . One place she almost refused to add to her list was the University of Alabama at Birmingham , knowing that they didn ’ t want to live in Alabama . But to her surprise , people left and right kept suggesting the program . Her preliminary research looked promising , and when she went to interview there , she loved it , and it felt like another perfect fit . After interview season , she and Trevor went to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings ( a place they now use as a running joke for many important life discussions ) to discuss the different programs .
“ I interviewed at more than 20 places and as I did interviews , I was keeping a running list of my favorites . What I didn ’ t realize was that my husband was also keeping his own running list based on how I ’ d talk about them . At the end , we shared our rank lists and made our final choices and UAB was at the top and I was lucky to Match there .”
( continued on page 40 ) January 2025 39