Transcription:
Dr. Giel: Physician BioPod

Dr. Dana Giel: Hey, my name is Dana Giel and I am a professor in the Department of Urology at University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. And I'm also a pediatric urologist at Lebonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis and at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital also in Memphis.

I had no one in my family that did medicine. And so, it's a bit of an enigma how I ended up here. I can just tell you from my earliest memories, I always said I was going to be a doctor. I even remember early on having Barbie and Ken and somehow turned the Barbie Dream bus into an ambulance, and Ken was always the one that got hurt and Barbie always came to his rescue and fixed him up. So, those were some of my earliest memories and I think I stuck with it and always said I was going to be a doctor and here I am.

I'm originally from Memphis and grew up all the way through school here in Memphis and then went to Vanderbilt. I was actually the first person in my immediate family to graduate from a four-year university. So, that was a really precious experience for me and my family. And then, in keeping with the theme from early childhood, I knew the entire time I was at Vanderbilt that I was pursuing a pre-med curriculum and applied for medical school and was accepted and decided actually to come back home to Memphis, completed my four years in medical school here at University of Tennessee in Memphis.

And my path to doing urology was very interesting for me. I didn't know any urologists. I probably in high school couldn't even tell you what a urologist did. I originally said I wanted to be a pediatrician, but I think that was because the only doctor I ever knew growing up was my actual pediatrician. And so, I just assumed that that was what all doctors were.

But when you go through medical school, you have rotations and various specialties and I just felt myself gravitating more towards the surgical side of medicine. It was very gratifying. Being able to do things physically with your hands to make a patient better felt really good to me and I really liked that combination of mental and physical medicine. You don't just think about a problem, but you physically do something about the problem, and that was just a really great combination for me. I grew up playing piano and doing a lot of things with my hands, and so it felt very natural for me to be in the operating room as well.

And you know, this was back in the '90s and there weren't a lot of female surgeons, especially in the south. And so, it was a bit of a rocky road for me to try to figure out how I was going to put all of this together because I also knew that I wanted a family outside of work. And so, trying to figure out the best way to balance all of those desires about professional life and home life and personal life, and figure out what the best way for me to accomplish all those goals were was not an easy path back then.

Every specialty has a specific kind of personality, if you will, much like any other component of professional life. And so, I had some colleagues at the time, residents that helped guide me towards urology, thinking that I really liked the type of surgeries, but I could also connect with patients in a clinical setting. That part's very important to me. Like becoming a part of the patient's story is also very energizing to me. And so, urology just kind of put all of those pieces together for me. But it still didn't just click the way or provide that passion like I thought it was going to until I did a brief rotation in pediatric urology. And then, it was like literally every piece of the puzzle just fell together. And it was a really remarkable experience. I still remember that first week. And so, the rest has kind of been history from there.

I mentioned before, you know, about my family background. I grew up here in Memphis, but both my mom and my dad were from two small towns in west Tennessee. You know, we didn't come from a medical-heavy background, but we had a huge family. And when you have a huge family, there's always somebody that has a problem. And it always stuck out to me when I was young that people never seemed to really understand what was happening or someone would be in the hospital, but you couldn't really figure out why or didn't know how to get better. It always seemed very overwhelming to my extended family, trying to understand the system of healthcare.

And so, I have those background memories. But then also in present tense, I'm a mom. And I know what that feels like. You know, it's different to be worried for your child than it is to even be worried about yourself. It's just a whole different level of concern and love that a parent has for their child.

So when you combine the understanding of family members not being able to navigate the health system well and understanding how a parent loves their child, I think that really encompasses how I approach every time I walk into a patient's room. I treat that child like they're mine, and I try to make sure that the families understand that I am empathetic to their position. I know what it's like to be a mom. My son's had a life-threatening medical condition. And I remember keenly what that felt like in that moment. I was not a doctor in that moment, I was a scared mom.

And even though most of what we do in pediatric urology isn't particularly life-threatening in the moment, it's still very scary when you think about your child potentially needing surgery or lifelong medical care for a chronic medical problem. And I think it positions us very uniquely to be able to provide care, but also to pull alongside a family and support them in that way.

We love Memphis. We're super passionate about our city. One of the things that we love the most about Memphis is that it's a big city, but it's got a small town feel. And you feel at home when you're here. But even more than that, one of the things that I love is that Memphis is the kind of place that if you want to have an impact, if you see something that you think could be better, then Memphis is the type of place that really provides the opportunity to get down in the business of it and make things better and get involved and make connections. It's really special to find that. That's not how it is in every town. And that's one of the things that have kept us here, because it's very easy to become connected with others and to build relationships in this city. And then, you feel like you have this very positive purpose and that things are better because people work together to make them better. And that's a very gratifying part of life outside of work here.

Caitlin Whyte: Learn more about Lebonheur Children's at lebonheur.org.