Dr. Oliver Taylor: Minnie Lancaster, M.D., Scholarship Award in Family Medicine
Growing up in a big family, Dr. Oliver Taylor saw firsthand how illness affects not just an individual but a whole family. In family medicine, he found a specialty in which he can positively impact patients as well as their whole circle of loved ones. Dr. Taylor, winner of the Minnie Lancaster, M.D., Scholarship Award in Family Medicine, will begin his medical career with a residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
What this award means: “This award is meaningful because it recognizes the importance of family medicine in a culture that downplays the importance of primary care.”
Mentor comment: “Oliver Taylor is an outstanding graduate and future family physician who has been active in the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) and the UTSW Medical Student Procedures elective. He and Anita Vasudevan started and completed multiple interviews with family physicians for the FMIG podcast, which brought a lot of student interest and energy to the FMIG. He has been a tireless champion and advocate for expanding the UTSW family medicine rotation to six weeks and presented his research results about this to the UTSW Clerkship Curriculum Committee and the Academic Deans. He is married and is the proud dad of two young kids.” – Dr. Tamara McGregor, Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Internal Medicine
Background and family: “I grew up in Utah in a large family. I’m the first person in my family to go to medical school, but my mom and four of my sisters are nurses. My wife and two daughters are the best thing about my life.”
What led to your career path: “I learned from experiences with disease in people close to me that an illness affects not just the individual but their whole family. I wanted to join a specialty that was not limited by imposed boundaries – where I could help not just the person, but a person’s whole social group in innovative ways. Family medicine gives you the training and the freedom to do that in a unique way.”
College: “I majored in physiology and developmental biology at Brigham Young University.”
UTSW activities: “I served as Vice President of the Family Medicine Interest Group, an AVID Officer, and Women’s Health Elective Officer.”
UTSW activities: “I enjoy baking homemade bread.”
Future plans: “I want a rural family practice that includes pediatrics, obstetrics, and time spent in emergency medicine.”
About the award: The award honors Dr. Lancaster and her husband, Dr. Edgar Lancaster, who in 1953 opened the Grapevine Clinic and Hospital, the first clinic in Grapevine and the forerunner of Baylor Scott & White Medical Center at Grapevine.