STUDENT DOCTOR EXEMPLIFIES D.O. PHILOSOPHY

“My mom is a pharmacist, my grandma was a nurse, my other grandmother was a nursing home manager. I think being around all of that sparked my interest,” she said.

And that interest in medicine only grew when she attended OSU Center for Health Sciences’ Operation Orange medical summer camp when she was in high school.

Austin, now a fourth-year medical student at OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation, was named the OSU-COM Student Doctor of the Year in early 2023.

In addition to classes, labs and studying, Austin has also served as an OSU-COM Ambassador, president of the Oklahoma Osteopathic Obstetrics and Gynecology Student Association and secretary for the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She’s also been active in research co-authoring several peer-reviewed, published articles and posters examining female health conditions and disparities.

She and 53 of her classmates are also part of the inaugural class at OSU-COM at the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

“It was exciting to be a part of it, to say I was in the inaugural class and be part of all the new things, but it was also challenging,” she said. “The first semester we didn’t have a building, we didn’t have second year students to look up to.”

Now Austin is out of the classroom and completing core and elective rotations at clinics and hospitals across the state gaining hands-on, real-world experience before she graduates in May 2024.

“I like having that human connection. I feel fortunate when patients open up and are forthcoming with what is going on in their lives. They trust you with that,” she said, and it’s part of the osteopathic philosophy. “You’re seeing the entire patient, getting to know them. It ties well with women’s health. There’s a lot of issues related to other things like stress or hormones. As a D.O. and an OBGYN, you have a more preventative approach.”