Do what you love and love what you do. If mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy. If you don’t think about it, you won’t diagnose it. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
These are just a few of the mantras Patricia McFall Calhoun, MD ’89, keeps in a list on her phone to call upon in any situation, whether she’s getting through a difficult day, sharing advice with her five sons, educating students or treating patients as a family medicine physician.
“They just come out when I talk,” she says. “I think it comes from my dad. He used to say these things we called ‘Pat McFall-isms.’”
Thanks to a passion for medicine and a bit of inspiration from her mantras, Calhoun has dedicated the last 26 years to caring for her community at Baptist Primary Care in Jacksonville. From teaching future health care providers to hosting dinners for medical students, the UF College of Medicine graduate has spent countless hours giving back to the next generation at her alma mater.
Dr. McFall Calhoun was named a 2015 Jacksonville Business Journal Woman of Influence.
Photo: Photo courtesy of Dr. Patricia McFall Calhoun
“I was blessed to receive scholarships in medical school and I wanted to give back, but I’m in family medicine and I have five boys,” she says. “We’re all in different seasons of our lives, but whatever season you’re in, you can always give back in some way.”
With a planned gift of a $100,000 life insurance commitment, Calhoun joined the Legacy Challenge and established the Patricia McFall Calhoun, MD, Endowed Scholarship Fund, which will support UF medical students with financial need, particularly those interested in family medicine.
“Most importantly, I hope the scholarship will go to someone who will learn to give back and keep that circle going,” Calhoun says. “I chose this type of gift because it was something I was able to do, it’s sustainable and it creates a heritage where my kids and grandkids could potentially run into somebody down the road who was touched by this scholarship.”
"I hope the scholarship will go to someone who will learn to give back and keep that circle going.”
— Patricia McFall Calhoun, MD ’89
Through mentorship and philanthropy, she hopes to inspire future physicians to pursue primary care, a field she fell in love with during her medical school rotations.
More than a quarter of a century since completing her residency in the same community where she raised her children, she still finds joy in the continuity of care she can provide for her patients.
“At the end of the day or decade, it’s not about paying back your student loans or making a lot of money,” she says. “It’s going to work every day and wondering if it’s really work. It’s about following your passion.”