{"id":6542317,"date":"2019-11-07T12:48:12","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T12:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.net\/wordpress\/?p=6542317"},"modified":"2019-11-07T12:48:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T12:48:12","slug":"why-this-aua-graduate-chose-pediatrics-and-neonatology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/?p=6542317","title":{"rendered":"Why This AUA Graduate Chose Pediatrics and Neonatology"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Long before he became the first MD in his family, before he was a pediatrician or a neonatologist, before he had any idea where his career path would lead, Dr. Jason Pryor knew without a doubt that he would advocate for children and his community in some way. He grew up in Seymour, Tennessee, a small town near Knoxville, and spent much of his teenage years volunteering with kids in his community. He counts his volunteer work with the Knoxville Special Olympics among his most rewarding experiences.<\/p>\n

Still unsure of \u2018what he wanted to be when he grew up,\u2019 Dr. Pryor went to Union College in Kentucky for his freshman through junior years and played on the school\u2019s baseball and football teams, the Bulldogs. It was during this time Dr. Pryor realized that becoming a pediatrician would allow him to make the greatest impact on the lives of children and their families. He decided to focus solely on medicine and for his senior year, transferred to East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in Johnson City as a biology major.<\/p>\n

Because ETSU quickly became a second home to Dr. Pryor, he ranked its medical school as his first choice, but unfortunately, was not accepted. On top of that, US med schools require students to wait a full year before they can reapply. Restless and eager to begin his medical education right away, he began looking at Caribbean schools that admit students on a rolling basis. This would give him the opportunity to start working towards his MD immediately after college. His research and the discussions he had with AUA administrators, especially Bob Gelles, who Dr. Pryor mentions by name, left no doubt in his mind that AUA was the right school for him.<\/p>\n

Why He Chose AUA<\/h4>\n

\u201cOf all the Caribbean schools I evaluated, AUA\u00a0was the one that impressed me most. I found that same personalized approach that made ETSU feel\u00a0like my home away from home. The accessibility of professors, the genuine interest that the administrators and faculty take in you as a person\u2014it was just so welcoming,\u201d Dr. Pryor recalls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Today, Dr. Pryor is a fellow in neonatology-perinatology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he treats pediatrics patients like premature babies and infants with special surgical needs.<\/p>\n

Although he was disappointed to leave Johnson\u00a0City, Dr. Pryor soon immersed himself in the AUA community. He focused on his studies, developed strong relationships with his professors, and learned about other cultures by being part of an incredibly diverse student body. During his clerkships, he took every opportunity to broaden his clinical experiences and in doing so, pursued emerging interests as elective rotations. \u201cI worked extremely hard at AUA and took advantage of all the resources available to me,\u201d Dr. Pryor says.<\/p>\n

From Residency to Fellowship<\/h4>\n

When he started applying for residency, of course his thoughts returned to ETSU and the hope to complete some component of his medical training at his \u201chome away from home.\u201d Five years had passed since he\u00a0first applied to ETSU\u2019s Quillen College of Medicine when Dr. Pryor received a letter from the Pediatrics department, offering him a position in their residency program. Everything seemed to come full circle when he returned to ETSU as a pediatrics resident and eventually became chief resident.<\/p>\n

Today, Dr. Pryor is a fellow in neonatology-perinatology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where he treats premature babies and infants with special surgical needs. \u201cWhat I love about neonatology is that it\u2019s the ideal combination of intensive care\u00a0and pediatrics. It forces me to think on my feet, in\u00a0the sense that every patient outcome is critically important. Every case is urgent.\u201d Neonatology also allows for a longer continuity of care than many other specialties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For one month each year, Dr. Pryor and his colleagues provide neurodevelopmental follow-up. During this process, recent pediatrics patients return to the hospital for\u00a0a series of tests that measure cognitive and motor skills. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly rewarding to measure their improvement and witness how resilient these babies are as they grow healthier. Parents that were worried when we last met are now filled with joy and relief. You can\u2019t help but share in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Why I\u2019m a Doctor\u201d<\/h4>\n

The focus of Dr. Pryor\u2019s ambition was always twofold\u2014help children and improve his community. As a neonatologist, he certainly achieved the former, but felt there was more he could contribute to the latter. He recently completed a Master\u2019s in Public Health (MPH) at Vanderbilt. By evaluating health programs, utilizing qualitative data analysis, and studying the social determinants of health and epidemiology, Dr. Pryor\u2019s master\u2019s work taught him to see \u201cthe bigger picture\u201d when considering issues like perinatal substance abuse.<\/p>\n

The opioid epidemic was of particular interest to him because of its prevalence in the southeast region of the country. The Chattanoogan, a daily news website based in Tennessee, has reported that an \u201cestimated 69,100 [people in the state] are addicted to prescription opioids and require treatment for prescription opioid abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While earning his MPH, Dr. Pryor conducted research on this crisis and its relationship to neonatal abstinence syndrome in the United States. The resulting article will appear in an upcoming issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood, Fetal and Neonatal. His research on maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy also appeared recently in Obstetrics and Gynecology.<\/p>\n

Now, Dr. Pryor is\u00a0working as a neonatologist at the same hospital where his\u00a0wife Meghan, a Doctor of Pharmacy, is based. \u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to this next chapter,\u201d Dr. Pryor says. \u201cI love what I do. Treating children and helping families in their time of need is what gets me out of bed every morning. It\u2019s why I\u2019m a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Alumni Blogs You Might Like<\/h4>\n