It is 1991, and Dwelvin Simmons strolls through the ground floor of the Communicore Building, wheeling a black body bag on a stretcher. Summer classes are in session, and the rising second-year medical student and student teaching assistant has traveled from Tallahassee to pick up cadavers for the anatomy lab at FSU’s Program in Medical Sciences.

“You must be Alisia,” he says as he looks up and sees a rising third-year medical student walking down the hall. And so begins their love story.

Fast-forward 23 years — after 14 years of marriage and two children — and Dwelvin Simmons, MD ’94, and Alisia Martin, MD ’93, find it easy to practice medicine in Jacksonville, Florida, while balancing family life. In fact, it seems their relationship has been that way since their days of dating as medical students and UF residents.

“The balance was kind of inherent because both of us understood we were busy with studying,” said Dwelvin, who, aside from being an alumnus, also worked as an assistant professor of radiation oncology at the UF College of Medicine for three years. “Each of us knew what the other was going through and the level of commitment the curriculum required.”

These days the two credit family support and flexible specialties for allowing them to enjoy a pleasant lifestyle and involvement in their children’s various activities.

“My parents live in St. Augustine, so they help us tremendously,” said Dwelvin, now a radiation oncologist and director of the First Radiation & Oncology Group’s Orange Park Cancer Center. “We’ve also had a nanny for 11 years. She really is an extension of our family; she’s instrumental in the balancing.”

On a typical workday, Dwelvin heads to his office before 7-year-old Laila and 11-year-old Ilana have wiped the sleep from their eyes — but that’s when the chaos begins, said Alisia, with a laugh.

She makes breakfast for the girls, packs their lunches, makes sure their homework is complete and placed in the proper backpack and gets them to school “just in the nick of time.” She then heads to work as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Marsh Landing Behavioral Group in Jacksonville Beach.

The children participate in activities such as kickboxing, swimming, dance and soccer to fill in the gap between the end of school and when their nanny picks them up.

“It’s usually a frantic rush to get everything completed for the night before it all starts over again the next day,” Dwelvin said.

In fact, getting the children to go to bed can sometimes be like pulling teeth — literally — like the time Laila insisted that her father remove a loose tooth before she went to sleep.

Although most of their life revolves around the children, Dwelvin and Alisia share an appreciation of food and take time to indulge in Jacksonville’s food and wine scene. This isn’t very different from their relationship in medical school, when they frequented Gainesville eateries such as Amelia’s and Napolatano’s, where they had their first date.

Dwelvin and Alisia don’t know whether the girls will follow in their professional footsteps — they show interest in fashion design and teaching — but Dwelvin hopes they choose a profession that excites them, and that when the time comes, they’ll consider medicine.

At the very least, Laila and Ilana do display a curiosity for their parents’ jobs. When Alisia pours over charts at home, her 7-year-old occasionally walks by and inquires about a patient’s problems. And when a celebrity dies of cancer, the children sometimes ask Dwelvin about the type of cancer the person had or how it could be treated.

Dwelvin and Alisia take an interest in each other’s careers as well, and much like in medical school when he would turn to her for helpful information about rotations or class material, Dwelvin sometimes asks his wife about recommendations or consultations for patients and families facing depression or anxiety during cancer treatment.

Overall, the couple thinks a shared career field helps them strike a balance between work and life.

“My husband understands my schedule demands,” Alisia said. “We can speak the same language.”