Dr. Melissa Brown, OB/GYN

My name is Dr. Melissa Brown. I practice obstetrics and gynecology at the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to help people or animals. At first I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then I decided I like people better. So it was something that I started off from the beginning.

Then when I got into college, at first I was gonna be pre-med and decided that that was the way to go until I met all those people that were pre-med and argued with the professors for a half of a percentage point, and I decided I didn't want to do that. So I actually just went and majored in molecular biology. And I actually started working over at the local community college teaching, and did that for a few years, and asked myself, "Well, do I care if I go to medical school or not?" and I had a huge panic attack, and I'm like, "Okay, I've got to do it," and finally applied and went, and I'm so happy. It's totally what I was meant to do, but it was a journey.

I was very interested in obstetrics and gynecology right from the get-go because I was kind of a non-traditional medical student. I actually had 3 children as i started medical school. I actually had my 3rd baby a couple of days before I started medical school. So I had a little experience in the field personally. It was really in my 3rd year of medical school when we started doing our clinical rotations. I think pretty early on you find out whether you want to be doing surgery or not. That's your first little juncture that you get to, and I found out really early on that that is something that I definitely wanted to do.

When I was on my OB/GYN rotation, even though I was up every other night working ridiculous hours, I was stupidly happy. Even though my mother said, "Couldn't you please like dermatology or anesthesia better?" I was just very happy. And I figure if I'm going to be up at 2:00 in the morning, instead of delivering an appendix, I'd rather deliver a baby.

Over time I realized that the real reason I really enjoy it is the really unique relationship that I have with my patients because we get to take care of them through all different stages of life, and you have a very intimate, very special relationship with them that is very unique to obstetrics and gynecology. And that's what I find most rewarding now. Plus I enjoy performing surgery, and delivering babies is a really special experience as well.