Ingram's October 2023

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DEETRA FORD The University of Kansas Health System

MADHURI REDDY The University of Kansas Health System

Some kids just know what’s waiting for them out there. Deetra Ford was one of those, growing up in the tiny burg of Agency, Mo., home to about 600 other souls. “I do not remember a time that I did not want to be a doctor,” says Ford, a neurologist at the region’s biggest hospital. “After my medical school graduation, my first-grade teacher mailed me a copy of my future career choice in elementary school. I wrote my first paper on my future goal of becoming a physician.” And so it was, thanks to the six-year accelerated program at UMKC’s School of Medicine, and residency at the hospital where she works today. Oddly enough, one of the first steps on her path to health care was not in her

Self-proclaimed science nerd Madhury Reddy doesn’t know precisely where she took that first step toward becoming a doc tor, but she always had a clue right up to her time at Ohio State University. “When I was doing my bachelor’s studies, I loved science so much,” she says. “I was going for biochemistry, so I knew it would be something science-y.” Then, she was intro duced to laboratory work. “I realized I needed people contact.

It made sense to go into medi cine,” she says. After her fami ly’s immigration from India, she did her final year of high school in Flint, Mich., before setting her sights on Columbus. The foun dation, though, was set in her own youth. “I always had good experiences with physicians, and my uncle was a doctor,” she says. Following medical school, “I was a bit naive about what specialty to apply for,” she says. “I thought I could deliver

Buchanan County stomping grounds but halfway around the world. “My aunt was a physician in Ukraine,” Ford says. “My brother had an asthma attack during one of our visits there, and I was able to see their medical system in action at the age of 5. I knew then that I want ed to be like her one day!” Following medical school, she found her way to neu rology. “I loved the puzzle

babies, then take care of them, but in medical school, that’s not a thing”—the way it usually works here you choose between de livery and pediatrics. Ob-Gyn work was her third choice, initial ly behind general medicine and surgery. But, the latter didn’t involve much long-term patient contact. Turns out, Door No. 3 was the right one all along. “Ob-Gyn was the perfect mix,” she says. “I loved the colleagues, the patients, the variety of things you do in surgeries, the deliveries. Everything kind of mixed and matched.” Just as with surgeries, she notes, no two deliveries are exactly alike. “Every case is a problem-solving challenge,” she says, and not just with the patients. Bringing new life into the world means “you also have to make a big decision not to see half the population, ever,” she says. And on top of that, “you learn the limitations of how research is not geared to women as much. But the more I got into it, the more I knew it was the right fit.” After working in private practice outside Omaha while her husband was in his medical fellowship at Creighton University, she realized something was missing: the academic piece. She wanted to be able to teach, as well. Kan sas City proved to be the perfect market when they were ready to move in 2006. Her run at the health system, she says, “has been amazing. When I joined, I was the second woman in the department, and we had only 12 people. Now, we’re about 37.” Most physicians can point back to pinnacle outcomes in com plex cases, treatments that proved life-saving or life-altering for patients. Reddy has her own catalogue of successes, but what really confirms her career choice, she says, is what she hopes to instill and inspire in others. “Training the next generation is what validates my choice,” she says. “Being able to teach our next set of residents, that’s the true art for me in terms of why I do what I do. Every patient is so different and unique, and I’m part of the journey. What we do helps the patients, and that’s our duty.”

of neurology,” Ford says. “It was so interesting to see how a small area in the brain could control so much of the body and its functions. Dr. Daryl Thompson was my mentor, and he truly showed me what the field of neurology could be.” And, like most aspects of provid er care, it’s a field awash with change as innovation unfolds with both the tools of her trade and the way they are applied. “When I started medical school, med ication to treat stroke was just being utilized more readily. Now we are able to do multiple interventions for patients to reduce disability,” she says. “This has been true across many subspecialties in neurology. I think with the advent of AI tools, our abilities to care for patients will only grow.” An aspect of her work she cherishes most is the continuum of care with neuro logical patients. “I have had many cases over my ca reer that have lived in my head and my heart,” Ford says. “I think we tend to gravitate toward the ‘saves’ or the ‘great outcomes,’ but some of my most reward ing patient encounters have been those where I have been able to be a part of a patient and family’s life for a decade providing acute care, then chronic care, and then end of life care for a progressive neurological condition. To have a patient and their family welcome me into their life in this way, to be a true part of their journey, that is where I feel validated.”

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October 2023

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