Dr. Fields at medical school graduation. Dr. Fields at Match Day.
Dr. Fields and classmates on a medical mission trip to Ecuador during medical school. Dr. Fields on a medical mission trip in Ecuador during medical school.
“ I was this indecisive person who just knew I loved medicine but wasn’ t sure where to land,” she said.“ Then I had my internal medicine rotation, and it finally clicked. You get to dip your feet in everything, and you’ re constantly learning.”
She credits mentors like Dr. Barbara Casper, then head of the residency program at the time, for shaping her understanding of what leadership in medicine could look like.“ I came from a small town where I didn’ t see many women in professional leadership roles,” she said.“ Coming into medicine and seeing women excel, and holding positions of authority and respect, really put things into perspective for me. It showed me what was possible.”
After medical school, she ranked UofL as her top choice for residency and matched there. Her very first rotation as an intern was in the medical ICU, an intense start that she still remembers vividly.“ I was clueless,” she admitted.“ You go straight from not being a doctor to being a doctor in the ICU. I remember thinking,‘ Can I even give this person Tylenol?’”
That first 30-hour call was a blur.“ It was probably the most stressful day of my life,” she said.“ But you jump in and figure out what it takes to succeed – or you don’ t. You grow quickly.” The experience, she said, taught her resilience and adaptability in a way no classroom ever could.
That experience also brought her husband, anesthesiologist Dr. Kelly Hines.“ There were four interns that worked together and that’ s where I met Kelly. We both started in the ICU that very first night, and he was the anesthesia intern. Part of what made us close is that it was such a stressful time, but it brought us together.”
Upon completing residency in 2013, she joined Norton Healthcare as a hospitalist, drawn to the pace and complexity of inpatient medicine.“ I loved my group,” she said.“ We were close, and I saw it grow tremendously during my five years there.” But balancing the demanding schedule with family life became increasingly difficult, especially after she and her husband welcomed twin boys.
Her journey to motherhood was anything but easy. Her twins, Jack and Eli, were born at just 26 weeks.“ My water broke at 18 weeks, and it was an incredibly trying time.” After months of bed rest and a stay in the NICU, both boys survived, healthy, resilient and full of life.“ They’ re our miracle babies. We’ re so grateful.”
When her sons reached kindergarten, she began to reevaluate her schedule and made the decision to transition to primary care at Norton CMA – Audubon.“ I wanted a little more structure,” she explains.“ I had a friend in that group who had always mentioned me joining,
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