ST. PAUL – Dr. Brianne Solomon recently completed her residency at the end of June and chose to kickstart her career as a family physician at the St. Paul Medical Clinic on Aug. 1. Being able to don the white cloak took Solomon years of hard work.
Solomon, who is from Edmonton and was born and raised in the province, says she “really wanted to stay in Alberta to be close to family and friends.”
She added, “My husband’s work has brought us here... and I’m just excited to start here and start my practice."
Solomon’s journey to becoming a doctor began eight years ago. After she graduated from high school, she admits she was not entirely sure what path she wanted to pursue as a future career. But, she had a passion for biology, the human body, and neuroscience, leading her to study for an undergraduate degree in neuroscience.
“I just really loved it, and loved the psychology and the science behind it, and I thought that becoming a physician would be a really great way to be able to apply a lot of that,” she said.
Solomon explained that while a lot of people pursue academia and research, “which is super important and very interesting,” her passion stems from helping people, building meaningful relationships with patients, and the idea of being able provide care to people throughout their lives, which is what ultimately led to her decision of becoming a physician.
Overcoming challenges
According to Solomon, getting into medical school itself is very competitive, and even more competitive once a student gets in - making it very challenging to balance personal life and enjoy activities and hobbies. Studying and getting good grades were among the biggest challenges in medical school due to great expectations in multiple fields of healthcare and post-graduate studies, which included volunteering and doing research.
Solomon said a solid support system helped her overcome the challenges.
“My family and boyfriend, [who became my] fiancé, and now husband, was super supportive and helped me with studying sessions and just helped keep me grounded through all of it.”
She added, “Just having the people around me was definitely the biggest thing.”
After completing her post-secondary studies, which also included the final steps of doing residency for family medicine for two years, she said she was happy to finally become a doctor.
While the journey was challenging, Solomon said it has been exciting and fun. According to Solomon, family doctors interact with people a lot and, “That’s what I love about it.”
Building relationships
While completing her residency, among her patients was a woman in her 90s. Solomon said she regularly took care of her, and the two developed a close relationship.
“I hadn’t seen her in a while,” she said, but on Solomon’s very last day of residency, the woman took her by surprise.
“She came in on my very last day to see me and send me off, and just thanked me for everything over the last two years,” she said, with a smile, recalling the moment that touched her heart, explaining that it captured what she loved most about family medicine - the relationships built with people.
“That was really special, to be able to come full circle with her over the course of my training,” said Solomon, “and sad that I can’t continue to follow her now . . . but I left her in good hands.”
Solomon believes providing the best medical care requires not only medicine and scientific knowledge, but also learning more about the people receiving care, “like who they are as people.”
“To me, building those relationships and getting to know people outside of just what their medical issues are, is important, because [those relationships] makes a difference.”
As someone who grew up in an urban setting, Solomon says one of the things she will miss in the city is the food scene and the restaurants. But, she also loves spending time outdoors when she can, hiking or camping, spending time with family and friends, and of course taking care of her house plants.
Solomon says she is interested in exploring the many lakes and outdoor areas in the region.
“I’ve been meaning to get on top of that and check out the area, because it’s always nice to get outdoors.”
