As Dr. Brittany Ladson was changing a man’s abdominal wound gauze during her 5 a.m. surgery rotation, she experienced one of her worst patient encounters. Noticing that Ladson didn’t have a wedding ring on her finger, the patient had asked, “Why do you want to be doing this? Do you know what hour of the day it is? Are you just gonna be a stay at home mom one day?”
Ladson was stunned and failed to say anything in response: it shocked her that someone would view her years of education and dedication to medicine as worthless.
However, Ladson decided to turn that memory into a positive, creating an Instagram account with over 18,000 followers dedicated to inspiring women to pursue medicine. She has also given a TEDx Talk focusing on female representation in medicine and how her experiences with discrimination have inspired her to advocate for feminism in all sectors of healthcare.
“There’s going to be people who think that women are just a suck on medicine,” Ladson said. “But I can use my experiences to show people wrong and to show other women that we can do it.”
Undergrad
Ladson majored in human biology and bioethics during her undergraduate education. She worked on a breast cancer research project that studied the effects of a specific chemical found in sunscreen. Using a mouse model, her team investigated whether or not there was a correlation between the chemical and mammary or uterine cancer growth.
Their studies suggested that a connection does exist, and there are side effects to exposing the chemical to human skin.
“It was really great to work with postdocs and a variety of principal investigators, and it was a great way to apply what I was learning in my science courses into living in the real world,” Ladson said.
Ladson also greatly enjoyed her role as a teaching assistant for both a biology and a biology lab course, because she was able to meet new people who were also interested in pursuing medicine. Additionally, hearing concepts reiterated and re-listening to lectures was helpful to keep things alive in her mind.
The highlight of Ladson’s undergraduate years, however, was her study abroad experience. She traveled to Ecuador and Mexico under observation-based study abroad programs, where she observed obstetrics, gynecology, dental, and surgery.
“It was super cool seeing how healthcare is implemented in a different country and how people utilize healthcare in a different country,” Ladson said.
Ladson noted that people in third-world countries don’t normally go to the doctor as regularly as they should, so she commonly saw patients with extremely advanced pathologies. Such development is rarely seen in the United States, she added.
Emergency medicine and DO
Ladson’s entire family worked in finance and accounting, and naturally, she felt like she was born to follow in their footsteps. However, after completing an internship at her father’s company in high school, she realized that she strongly disliked the lifestyle of answering phone calls in a cubicle.
Ladson began volunteering at a nursing home, helping out with their bingo games and ice cream socials. Gradually, she became interested in what the physical therapists and nurses were doing. She liked the healthcare atmosphere and knew that it was the direction she wanted to take.
“I like it when people say I can’t do the hardest thing, and I go and do it,” Ladson said. “So I knew I wanted to pursue the higher level of whatever I was doing.”
After undergrad, that “higher level” turned out to be medical school. Ladson knew she wanted to pursue a doctorate and matriculated to Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
As a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.), Ladson’s medical curriculum was slightly different from that of a traditional Doctor of Medicine (M.D.). In addition to regular medical school requirements, she completed an additional 200-300 hours dedicated to osteopathic manipulative medicine, a hands-on technique used to solve certain musculoskeletal or joint problems.
According to Ladson, osteopathy has utility in a variety of specialties. For example, if a patient came to the ER with chronic back pain, and physical therapy and Lidocaine patches weren’t working, a D.O. could provide an alternative technique to potentially solve their issue. The absence of narcotics in their methods also helps with the opioid epidemic.
“Sometimes, being able to talk to someone about their issue and getting it off their chest takes the weight off of them, and they’re able to experience pain relief,” Ladson added. “It’s great in so many ways.”
Ladson initially thought she might like obstetrics and gynecology (OB-GYN). During her obstetrics rotation, Ladson loved delivering babies, the obstetrics procedures, and the acuity of the specialty. However, she found the gynecology part of OB-GYN to be uninteresting and too surgery-heavy for her liking.
“I couldn’t go to residency for four or five years and hate half of what I’m doing,” Ladson said. “I knew that I liked procedures, and I liked higher acuity. So, I was thinking about emergency [medicine] at that point, where you still have that type of atmosphere.”
Ladson enjoyed emergency medicine, because she liked how a patient would come in, get treated, and leave in a methodical manner. Additionally, she saw a huge diversity of patients, ranging from pediatrics to geriatrics, to people who didn’t need to be in the emergency room (ER) to people that were on life support. She treated males, females, and any type of problem out there, and she never knew what to expect.
“Knowing that there’s no way I can prepare for what happens tomorrow in the ER is something that’s meant for me,” Ladson added. “I knew once I figured those things out about myself that emergency was where I was going to be, for sure.”
Ladson also reflected fondly on her Match Day, the day she learned that she’d be training at Central Michigan University (CMU) as an emergency medicine resident. She was in Africa for a study abroad program, so her significant other had gone to a restaurant, invited all of his family and friends, and arranged a remote match party on Zoom.
“It was really sweet,” Ladson said. “You can’t replicate the banquet hall, having all your classmates there, that type of experience. But that was as close as you could possibly get, and it just meant so much.”
Women’s empowerment and education
Ladson’s journey proved to be a challenge, since no one in her family had any experience in healthcare. Thus, since completing her medical school education and beginning her first year of residency at CMU, she has aspired to educate other women who are interested in medicine.
“If they have questions, I can be an advisor and a mentor to them,” Ladson said. “If they don’t have those people in their families to look to, I would be super happy and thankful to do that for them.”
Ladson said that, through her Instagram account, she’s seen other females who have experienced the same sort of discouraging commentary she faced during medical school. They have been told that they are “designed for some other field,” that they are “supposed to be on the nursing staff,” or even that they should be a housewife or stay-at-home mother instead.
Though Ladson took such comments as a challenge to prove her doubters wrong, she said that many women don’t realize that they can ignore skeptics and do whatever they want in their lives. So, by sharing her steps in medicine, she’s able to promote female empowerment and be the person she didn’t have growing up.
“I have a very active message board, and people are always sending me all kinds of stuff,” Ladson added. “I’m always super happy to provide advice about specific schools, programs, study abroad, or specialties.”
Future prospects
Ladson has considered completing a Master’s in Public Health program, either during the final year of her residency or shortly after. Having additional education about public health epidemiology or completing an administrative fellowship might prepare her to become a hospital medical director.
Ladson also hopes to get engaged this year and eventually become a mother. As a mother in medicine, she wants to show on social media how she navigates things like breast pumping at work.
The fast-paced environment of the ER, which Ladson finds burdensome on her body and mind, can easily lead to burnout. She wants to work in emergency medicine as much as possible, but she’s also considered pursuing addiction medicine and learning about the business side of medicine.
Thinking about more education also means more student debt, Ladson added, but she hopes it will be worth it to get to where she wants to be.
“I’m not the retirement type of person,” Ladson said. “I like to be involved with everything as much as possible, until I literally can’t take it anymore.”
