Dr. Susan Dixon McCammon '85

Q: What challenges have you faced working during the COVID-19 pandemic?
A: As a head and neck surgeon, I take care of patients with cancers of the nose, mouth, and throat; I perform emergency airway surgery, and I repair face trauma. These are all aerosolizing procedures that may have to be done emergently. As a member of the UAB Division of Palliative and Supportive Care, I lead the community-based palliative care program, which provides supportive care for people with serious illnesses and their families. Our home visit and telehealth outreach programs have been invaluable in getting patients and caregivers the help they need.

Q: How has your work changed during the COVID-19 pandemic?
A: Work in the operating room is very similar, with increased PPE as indicated by COVID status. The clinic has become much more telehealth-based, with careful thought about who needs to be seen in person. This is having a lasting impact on how we are rethinking patient-centered health care. Counseling patients about advance care planning has taken on new relevance as we face the immediate threat of COVID-19 for patients with immunosuppression or life-limiting illnesses.

Q: What successes have you celebrated during the coronavirus pandemic?
A: Every time we have been able to connect family and their loved ones at a time of fear and stress has been a tremendous success.  I am so grateful to all the bedside nurses and administrators and surgical staff who have gone above and beyond to provide comfort and connection.

Q: What has been your most challenging moment working in healthcare?
A: Advocating for medically indigent cancer patients following Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Q: How did your experience at Springs shape your career choice?
A: The breadth and depth of education made it possible for me to change careers radically in my 20s. I had the fortitude and foolhardiness to tackle an entirely new discipline. That background has also enabled me to forge a unique vocation integrating medical humanities, bioethics, surgical oncology, and palliative care.

Q: What advice would you give Springs students who want to pursue a career in healthcare?
A: Study liberal arts and humanities and social sciences in addition to the natural sciences. Be educated and aware of the social determinants of health. Be engaged and politically informed about the issues affecting healthcare disparities and unconscious bias in health care. Consciously practice looking at things from the perspectives of others.

Q: What can the Springs community do to help during this pandemic?
A: Uphold the Springs values of critical thinking, prudence, discernment, the scientific method, the relative merits of rationalism, empiricism and skepticism, excellent expository prose. Read. Think. Write. Act.