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As a family medicine physician, Ashley (Brown) Jackson 鈥�14, D.O., helps guide her patients through every stage of life. One morning she may be scrubbing in to deliver a baby; the next she may be counseling an adult experiencing anxiety or depression. The days are long and the work is absorbing, but Jackson considers it an honor to accompany her patients along their respective journeys, supporting them however she can. Yes, she is a clinician, but she is also a teacher, advocate and confidante. That multiplicity fuels and sustains her.

Jackson is in the second year of her residency at St. Joseph鈥檚 Hospital in Syracuse, the city where she was born and raised. The daughter of two nurses, Jackson realized early on that she was called to medicine. Science was 鈥� and remains 鈥� her professional passion. She earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biology from 妻友社区 and a master鈥檚 degree in biomedical sciences from Midwestern University, where she conducted cancer research, before completing a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine at Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine. She credits her undergraduate education, and the training she received in both the natural sciences and the liberal arts, with preparing her for graduate and medical school, and the work she is now doing.

Today Jackson鈥檚 days are centered around her patients. She is available to them, attuned to their needs, and cognizant of their individual circumstances. If she senses that someone needs more time to discuss a concern with her, she will ask that a longer appointment be scheduled for that person. She also believes in helping to educate her patients, whether it is about the course a disease may take or a medicine that has been prescribed to them, so that they feel empowered to take part in their care. What鈥檚 more, she enjoys having conversations with them, and learning about their work and their families.

鈥淚 treat my patients medically, but I also have the chance to teach, to be a counselor, to help with the social aspect of their lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 can enjoy that part of medicine, and I can鈥檛 think of any other job that allows you to take on so many roles.鈥�

While still early in her career, Jackson has uncovered a particular affinity for both women鈥檚 health and psychiatry. The former stems from her knowledge that Syracuse is what is known as a 鈥渨omen鈥檚 health desert鈥� and in urgent need of providers. The latter is buoyed by her understanding that medicine is much 鈥渕ore than what happens from the neck down,鈥� that 鈥測our brain and your quality of life matter too.鈥� Her ultimate goal is to combine her love of both disciplines by becoming a family medicine-obstetrician who is a certified maternal mental health specialist, trained to work with women across the reproductive spectrum from pregnancy to menopause.

For this alumna, the practice of medicine comes down to this: 鈥淵ou have to intrinsically want to help people.鈥�