Mother, Son Attend Conference Together as Residents

Many a mom has packed a son or daughter off to medical school, but few have trod the same career path at virtually the same time. Yet such is the case with two physicians who attended AAFP's National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students here Aug. 2-5.

Gillian Stephens, M.D., is a third-year resident at the University of Kansas Family Medicine Residency in Kansas City; her son, Timothy Stephens, M.D., is a second-year resident at the Tufts University Family Medicine Residency in Malden, Mass.

"My friends are surprised to hear I'm in a family medicine residency program," said Timothy Stephens."They're even more surprised when I tell them my mom's in residency too." Had she not been waylaid by illness and then a residency program closure after her graduation from medical school, Gillian Stephens probably wouldn't be a family medicine resident just one year ahead of her son.

Timothy Stephens entered the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, just two years after his mother graduated in 1999. There were perks to following right behind mom. "She gave me a lot of her old text books and tips on classes," he said.

When Timothy admitted to his mom that medical school was hard, "it validated what I was feeling," about my struggles with the residency curriculum, said Gillian Stephens.

Although both mother and son felt a call to enter medical school, Gillian said she was careful not to push family medicine on her son. "I was very good; I didn't try to influence him," she said. Instead, when her son was in medical school, she'd just ask him, oh-so-subtly, "So, how was that rotation?" hoping that he would discover, as she had, that family medicine provides a wide range of opportunities not available in other specialties.

Since completing medical school, the pair has had one opportunity to work together when they volunteered to conduct high-school sports physicals. "That was fun," said the younger Stephens. "We were a good team."

The mother-son team probably won't resurface any time soon. After residency, Gillian Stephens will direct her energy toward serving uninsured patients in rural areas. Timothy Stephens has his sights set on doctoring in underdeveloped countries.

Still, their shared experiences "strengthen our personal relationship," said Timothy.

"Our spouses really like it that we can talk medicine to each other" and not to them, said Gillian.

"At family gatherings, people quietly sneak away when we start talking shop," added Timothy.