Community service has been woven into Dr. Courtney Newman’s educational journey since college, from service-learning trips in Peru to United to Serve volunteer duties at UT Southwestern. Up next for an Ob/Gyn residency, she is considering several different avenues following her training.

Courtney Newman, M.D., M.P.H.

What this award means: An individual’s health cannot be adequately examined without the context of their surroundings and socioeconomic circumstances, which was confirmed through my coursework and clinical experiences. This award recognizes my volunteer efforts and research projects as attempts to tackle pervasive social inequities in public health outcomes by improving the education of health professionals to better educate patients and engage in more informed shared decision-making.

Mentor comment: Courtney demonstrates the ideal of what we hope a combined medical and public health student can do to advance the health of our communities by understanding barriers to care. In our work together, she consistently brought flexibility, adaptability, and tenacity – not giving up when the work got messy and hard. She is devoted to bringing about meaningful change that uplifts communities. – Jaclyn Albin, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine 

Background and family: I was born and raised in Dallas. My family members are engineers or computer science majors, so I am the first physician in the family.

What led to your career path: A close friend became very sick in high school, and seeing how her mental health diagnosis, menstrual cycles, and inflammatory bowel disease affected each other ignited an interest in Ob/Gyn that persisted throughout medical school.  

College: I graduated summa cum laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences and minors in neuroscience and music. I completed the Maroon & White Leadership Fellows and University Honors programs and was awarded the Margaret Rudder Community Service Award in 2018. I volunteered on service-learning trips in Cuzco and Lima, Peru, and served in various leadership positions for the university’s Women’s Chorus.

UTSW activities: With United to Serve, I was a booth coordinator and later an education chair for the Health Fair. I helped distribute COVID-19 vaccinations and antibody results to Dallas residents, and incentives to participants of the DFW COVID-19 Prevalence Study. I also served on the PRE+OP Committee, MS0 Committee, admissions panels for interviewing students, and as a peer mentor for the Colleges program.

Surprising fact: Every year for 14 years, I participated in a choir or a cappella group. The most memorable venue I sang in was Notre Dame in Paris, France, with my high school choir.

Ultimate career goal: My ultimate goal as a physician is to provide comprehensive care in a way that empowers my patients to make informed decisions about their own health. I also want to work to constantly acknowledge and improve upon my own personal biases and, as I advance in my training, help educate health professionals to better serve a diverse patient population.

Future plans: I plan to continue my education as an Ob/Gyn resident at Methodist Hospital in Houston. I am potentially interested in pursuing fellowships in maternal-fetal medicine or pediatric and adolescent gynecology, but I could also be fulfilled as a generalist. Either way, I hope to remain in an academic setting after residency to continue investing time in medical education.

About the award: Administered by the U.S. Public Health Service Physician Professional Advisory Committee, the Excellence in Public Health Award recognizes medical students who have positively impacted public health in their communities.