A Howard University graduate achieved her dream of becoming a doctor after becoming a mom at just 15.
"Growing up, I didn’t see Black doctors," Dr. Kathryn Kelly said. "I really got into this to take care of my community and to take care of patients, and I feel like I’m able to do that."
Kelly traveled a long way to get to this point in her medical career. Along the way, her dream of becoming a doctor never wavered, even after she discovered motherhood would begin for her much earlier than most.
"Even as being a teen parent — like, people in school knew, everybody knew," Kelly said, "but I also was still the person who was doing what I needed to do, and also being encouraging to others."
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The motivation of providing for her daughter kept her laser-focused on her dreams.
"I was still trying to go to school and still trying to get good grades and that kind of thing," she said.
Kelly credits her own mom for encouraging her to work toward her goals and go to Howard University. Kelly did just that, double-majoring in anthropology and biology, all while juggling motherhood.
Her determination paid off in 2001, when she graduated from Howard University with not one but two degrees. She later also graduated from Howard’s College of Medicine.
"Having gone through what I’ve gone through, it allows me to be humble when I’m talking with to my patients, and allows me to be a better doctor, a better wife, a better human being," Kelly said.
One of her patients, Bernice Bass-Abner, said she appreciates Kelly's life story and her attention to patients' needs.
"She feels like a friend taking care of a friend," Bass-Abner said. "I always feel like she’s got my very best interest at heart."
Common courtesy and kindness are two major components of Kelly’s private practice, Kelly Collaborative Medicine, in Silver Spring, Maryland.
"Most of my patients, I think they come in to just to hear my stories and to have some fun and talk in addition to healing," Kelly said, "because healing is more than the medicine you give. Healing is about how you make people feel in your space and the energy that you give out."
