Take 5 with Dr. Susan McCammon
By: Morgan Samples
Published Date: Jul 12
- What made you want to become a physician?
A passion for helping. All people have an equal shot at health and a sense of safety and well-being.
- What is the best part of your job?
Listening to patients talk with me and their loved ones about what is really important to them and learning how they make choices so that I can help them with high-risk health care decisions. Similarly, working with students of all levels to help them find their purpose and flourish in it.
- Who is a mentor who has had a profound influence on your life?
Dr. Glenn Peters and Dr. Bill Carroll taught me how to care for people with head and neck cancer from the very beginning. I still hear their voices in my ear when operate. Dr. Lee Grumbles helped me understand the incredible power of supportive care and palliative medicine in surgical patients.
- What does the future of medicine look like in your area of interest?
The future of medicine in both head and neck surgery and in palliative medicine and supportive care will be shaped by the voices and identities of individual patients. Goals for treatment and survivorship will be discussed from the very beginning of a serious illness diagnosis. Supportive and advance care planning will be integrated into all patient-centered care, not just end-of-life care.
- How do you like spending your time off?
Cooking, reading, driving the back roads of Alabama and getting to know the different counties. I also love visiting and sharing books and recipes with my husband Tom and my family in Tuscaloosa, Prattville and Mobile.