Montana WWAMI‘s Aubrey Kessel will continue her journey in women’s health after matching into OB-GYN at the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow.
Originally from Sidney, Montana, the fourth-year student was drawn to OB-GYN because it offered everything she hoped to find in medicine: the opportunity to build long-term, meaningful relationships with patients across the lifespan while balancing both clinical and surgical care. For Aubrey, the most rewarding part of the specialty is the impact she can have on patients’ health and on communities as a whole.
“Women’s health is so important, and caring for women and pregnant patients does more than improve each patient’s individual health — it strengthens the very foundation of communities,” she said.
Aubrey’s path to medicine was shaped early by her family’s experience with rural healthcare. When she was in high school, her father was diagnosed with leukemia, showing her just how much access to quality care in rural communities can affect patient outcomes.
As a TRUST student, Aubrey says the opportunity to complete part of her clinical training longitudinally in a rural community close to home was invaluable. Through that experience, she developed close relationships with her attendings, patients, and community — connections that helped her grow as a student doctor and deepen her clinical confidence.
Looking ahead, Aubrey hopes to return to Montana to practice medicine. She and her husband, her middle school sweetheart, are both from Sidney and plan to make their way back home after training. Congratulations, Aubrey!