DR . WHO
DR . WHO
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT DR . BRANDON SUTTON
AUTHOR Kathryn Vance
Other than one aunt , Dr . Brandon Sutton was the first
in his family to go to college . While he knew he always wanted to go to school post-grad , he really had no idea what he wanted to do with his future . He was born in Louisville but moved to Southern Indiana when he was 5 , and grew up there . During high school , he found that science held his interest most and thought he might go into research . After graduation , he chose to attend the University of Kentucky ( UK ) and began studying biology , with an interest in lab and research settings . He received the Arnold & Mable Beckman scholarship , which paid for his undergraduate studies and allowed him to explore his options .
“ I got into a research lab looking at nerve damage and spinal cord injury at a very basic level , basic science ,” he said . “ It took several years for me to decide whether I wanted to do a PhD or an MD and I also kind of waffled back and forth about doing an MD / PhD combined degree . I did a lot of research before deciding to go to med school .”
Little did he know that his lab training in spinal cord injury would play such a huge role in his future . During his junior and senior years of undergrad , he got a part-time job as a post-anesthesia care unit recovery tech and began to see beyond just research .
“ That ’ s when I really started to feel like the clinical aspect of science and medicine were something that interested me ,” he said . “ That ’ s the time that I really knew that med school was the right option .”
Dr . Sutton chose to stay at UK for medical school because he greatly admired the institution and knew that he could still be relatively close to his family . Once in medical school , he was able to see more of the intricate details of different specialties and began forming an opinion on what he wanted to practice . “ I worked a lot with the anesthesiologists in the recovery room , and that was cool ,
but I was really leaning more toward surgery .”
By the third year of medical school , he realized that anesthesia was a fit for him , saying that he really enjoyed the hands on , fast pace of the specialty and the fact that it allowed him to see not only the anatomy of a patient , but also the physiology . After graduating in 2010 , he began his anesthesiology residency at the Medical University of South Carolina .
“ People go into anesthesia to be in the OR ,” he said , noting that he told himself he would never practice in the office . “ But you meet the patient in the morning , then you ’ re done after surgery . It ’ s a very hands-on specialty , but there ’ s not a lot of continuity of care . You don ’ t really have much follow-up with it .”
That desire for patient connection and follow-up were a strong driving factor for Dr . Sutton to look into pain management : fast forward to 2013 when as a third-year , he did his first pain management rotation . “ Almost immediately , I fell in love with pain management ,” he said . “ It ’ s not something a lot of people say . I ’ d say a large majority of my peers actually hated going to clinic . But seeing patients and providing that continuity of care was what I really enjoyed .”
Ten or 20 years ago , Dr . Sutton explained , “ Anyone could claim the label of a pain management specialist ,” and not have any specific training in the sub-specialty . At the time , pain management fellowships were not required or even encourages . However , when he finished his residency in 2014 , those fellowships were required , and he went on to complete a one-year fellowship at Vanderbilt University in Nashville , Tennessee .
“ It ’ s a very rewarding field that is changing a lot . We ’ re bringing a lot of new things to the table that I don ’ t think people realize are out there ,” he said . “ I get patients coming in almost daily saying that this was not what they expected in seeing a pain management specialist .”
( continued on page 28 ) OCTOBER 2020 27