Alumna celebrated a medical degree and Lipscomb master’s in 2017
Dr. Kimberly O’Dell, 31, is hard at work this year as an internal medicine resident at Erlanger Baroness Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But her route to become a medical doctor wasn’t the usual path.
Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078 |
Dr. Kimberly O’Dell, 31, is hard at work this year as an internal medicine resident at Erlanger Baroness Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But her route to become a medical doctor wasn’t the usual path.
She began earning a Master of Science in exercise and nutrition science at Lipscomb before going on to medical school at Ross University in Portsmouth, Dominica, and ended up completing both degrees in 2017.
The Ware Shoals, South Carolina-native came to Lipscomb after earning her bachelor’s in language and international health from Clemson University. She was drawn to Lipscomb’s EXNS degree because of the valuable combination of nutrition and exercise knowledge in one program.
“The sciences were always my favorite subjects in school,” O’Dell said. “In college, I taught myself how to cook and became interested in nutrition. I also started working as a nurse assistant and I noticed how people simply do not take care of themselves. A lot of medical issues can be prevented by incorporating proper nutrition and exercise into daily life.
“As part of the EXNS program, I took a class where I learned the basics of EKGs, which allowed me to get a job in the Heart and Vascular Institute at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Through that experience, I became fascinated by medicine,” O’Dell said.
Kimberly O'Dell, 2017 graduate
Caring for one particular heart transplant patient at Vanderbilt before and after his surgery and seeing the difference in his quality of life spurred her desire to study medicine, she said.
“I found myself wanting to know more and wanting to understand what was happening with my patients. In my free time I would read about their diagnoses and treatments, and I would try to be around the doctors as much as possible so I could learn from them.”
O’Dell decided to put her master’s on hold for three and a half years while she completed medical school. She completed that degree in 2017, then returned to Lipscomb the following week to complete a practicum and comprehensive exams to earn her master’s.
Her EXNS studies fuel her current desire to pursue a cardiology fellowship and become certified in obesity medicine.
“We learn very little about nutrition in medical school,” O’Dell said. “(Today) in the clinic, I use the motivational interviewing skills I learned in the EXNS program and take time to teach my patients about proper diet and to help them come up with an exercise plan.
“My EXNS knowledge provides me with an extra tool for managing patient care and motivating my patients. Many patients are discouraged by the lack of control they have after a medical diagnosis. They feel like doctors and medications run their lives,” she said. “I try to present nutrition and exercise to my patients as something they can do for themselves to alter their disease process. It is something they can be in control of and for some patients that can be very empowering.”