(18) TARRANT COUNTY PHYSICIAN
January/February 2021
pharmacist, or even getting an advanced
nursing degree.
Then, a new opportunity arose. “A friend
that went to St. George’s in Grenada
suggested that I apply there,” says Dr.
Self. She knew it would be a big change—
Dr. Self hadn’t planned to leave New York
for medical school, much less the U.S.
Still, she was intrigued. “I had a couple
of friends that I really admired that were
going to St. George’s,” she shares. They
were very positive about the school, so
she decided to apply. She was accepted
into the program and began classes in
1994.
Looking back, Dr. Self realizes that she
could have applied to other U.S. medical
schools, but she has no regrets. Living in
Grenada gave her the opportunity to learn
hands-on about diseases that are rarely
seen in the States, due to Grenada being
a developing country. She also gained
some wonderful mentors at the school,
including Dean of Students Dr. C.V.
Rao. “He taught us, he mentored us, he
watched out for us, and remains a friend,
I think, to everyone who ever
went there.”
While in medical school,
she was on call for student
emergencies. She also
continued picking up shifts
as a paramedic whenever
she was on breaks. It was
difficult to work so much
while completing her
education, but the benefit
of financial security coupled
with the valuable patient
care experience made it
worthwhile.
Dr. Self moved back to the
U.S. in 1996 to complete
her clinical rotations, working
between New York and
Baltimore. She graduated
from medical school in 1998
and began an internship
in anesthesiology at the
Medical College of Virginia
in Richmond. Though
anesthesia was appealing,
she had a passion to care
for geriatric and terminal patients, so she
believed her future was in oncology.
At this time, Dr. Self had a big life
change—she gave birth to her daughter,
Whitney. She took ten months off to care
for her young child, until they moved to
Texas. At that point, Dr. Self completed
her internal medicine residency at St.
Paul Hospital in Dallas. It was a difficult
time to be going through the intensity
of residency. “It was really hard to go
every day because I felt I was robbing my
daughter of having a mom,” says Dr. Self.
She is grateful to her mother for taking
care of Whitney, filling the gap when Dr.
Self couldn’t be there.
As she completed her residency, Dr.
Self fell in love with primary care. She
was also ready to focus on her future. “I
needed to commit to motherhood and
Medicine, and I felt I could do that by
doing internal medicine,” says Dr. Self.
When she finished the program, she
joined a private practice. Dr. Self worked
as an internal medicine physician for
15 years. She was employed at three
continued from page 17
different clinics throughout that time; at
one point, she worked for David Pillow,
MD, a well-known pillar of the Tarrant
County medical community. “Dr. Pillow
taught me that patients will tell you what’s
wrong if you just listen,” says Dr. Self. He
helped her to avoid developing tunnel
vision when treating her patients. “His
physical exams were amazing. He taught
me so many things that you never learn in
medical school.”
Dr. Pillow’s guidance along with an
extensive background in emergency care
made Dr. Self a strong diagnostician.
She was quickly able to discover the root
of a problem, especially when critical
treatment was required. Twice, she was
able to get patients immediate care when
they came to appointments mid-heart
attack, even though their symptoms were
irregular. Because she wanted to serve
older patients, whenever she joined a new
clinic, the Medicare patients were sent
her way. “I got the ones with heart failure,
liver disease, lung disease, and cancer,
and then I got involved with hospice. That
fulfilled that longing in
me to work with endstage
patients. I did get
to do what I wanted
after all.”
Still, there was a
downside to private
practice; it was difficult
to manage financially.
“Medicare didn’t pay
that much, and geriatric
patients take a lot
more resources, need
a lot more time, so
you see fewer in a day
and reimbursement is
lower, but it was what I
was passionate about
so I did it as long as I
could.”
Eventually, Dr.
Self made the
move to working in
administrative medicine.
She has been on the
other side of care
for about five years