Mentor in Medicine, Mentor in Life
by Kendall Purcell, MD
I don’ t know exactly when I met Kris Bryant, but it had to be 30 years ago when I was only in middle school. Kris and my mother became best friends during their pediatric residency. Both mothers were working 100 hours a week at the then Kosair Children’ s Hospital, trying to balance the rigorous training to become pediatricians with the rigorous work of being parents too. Thankfully, their bond allowed me to have a relationship with Kris that has developed and grown over these past 30 years. She is one of my dearest friends, but she is also the most significant influencer on my medical career.
My first memory of Kris formally mentoring me was when she let me shadow her when I was in high school. She was an infectious disease fellow, and I spent time seeing patients with her at the hospital and clinic. I specifically remember how she involved me, and I felt part of the team even though I had limited medical knowledge. This positive experience helped fuel my budding interest in medicine. During college, she continued to cultivate my interest in medicine, providing me with research opportunities with the pediatric infectious disease team.
When I applied for a masters in public health and later to medical school and residency, Kris wrote glowing letters of recommendation on my behalf. She helped me decide what MPH program I should attend. When I returned home to Louisville and took a job in academic medicine, Kris helped me navigate the transition to academia from residency with wine and cheese nights at her house, where she gave me sage advice and allowed me space to vent.
Beyond my professional life, Kris has supported me emotionally in ways I will never be able to repay. When I graduated from college, my mother, Kris and I took a girls’ trip to NYC where she of course supplied the hand sanitizer for subway rides, and went shopping with me at sample sales in four story walk-ups. She has been at all the important moments in my life – graduations, my wedding, even the death of my father. When my father suddenly died and my mom was unfortunately out of town and unable to come home in time, it was Kris who sat next to me in the hospital as I came apart. When COVID happened, I again went to her house to talk about life – this time with my toddler son who played with old Star Wars toys she fished out of the attic, while we drank coffee and ate donuts on her porch.
Throughout my career and life, I have again and again reached out to her for what to do – not just about patients( I honestly text her too much about vaccine questions and the like) but also about my life trying to balance being a physician and mother.
Kris serves as a pillar of excellence for me. Daily, I strive to be more like her. I fall back on evidence-based medicine, in large part because of the effect her teachings have had on me. When confronted with a challenging case or an unknown medical question, I constantly find myself thinking,“ What would Kris do? How would she think about this?” She is honestly one of the smartest people I know but she is also one of the hardest working. She never takes the easy way out in medicine. She has a tackle anything attitude while wearing fun dresses and ballet flats in which she can somehow walk miles.
Kris is quiet but thoughtful. She is detail oriented and has taught me to ask more questions and dig deeper to figure out how to treat a patient or answer a clinical question. She gives 100 % to her work but also to her family and friends and somehow truly makes that work. Her work ethic is inspiring. This was most evident during the COVID pandemic when she led the city in our pediatric response( still somehow responding to my myriad of freaked out COVID texts and everyone else’ s at the same time).
I know how lucky I am to have her in my life for more than 30 years. It is rare to have someone who continues to show up for you over and over and that is what Kris does. She constantly shows up for me whether it is in medicine or in life, and there is no distinction for her or me. She is not just my medical influencer, she is my life influencer. I want to be the kind of doctor she is, but also the kind of friend and mother she is as well. Coming full circle, my children are now getting to spend time with her one on one and I am so happy her influence is extending beyond me. I know the joy, wisdom and fun she brings to their lives is only the beginning.
Dr. Purcell is a pediatrician with Norton Children’ s Medical Group- Hikes Point.
This essay was a submission to the 2025 Richard Spear, MD, Memorial Essay Contest.
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