Laura Brown

Career Story: 

I attended University of New Mexico medical school from 1982-1986, then did a family practice residency at the U of A from 1986-1989. I'm married to Marc Traeger, a very nice guy I (re)-met in medical school. We attended 4th grade together in Albuquerque, but our paths didn't cross again for another 15 years, despite the fact that we both attended New Mexico State University. But I digress"_After our FP residencies in Tucson, we moved to the White Mountain Apache Reservation in northern Arizona and began working as commissioned officers for the Indian Health Service. A resident from the year ahead of us, Phil Johnson, was already here. Our classmate, Greg Raglow, accompanied us, and David Yost from the year behind us came the following year.As our family grew, my interest in working full-time and especially working nights in the emergency room diminished considerably. I was fortunate to be offered a position at Johns Hopkins University through the Center for American Indian Health. The center does research projects in the hopes of improving the health of Native Americans. From 2000-2002, Marc was in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) at the Florida State Health Department in Tallahassee, FL. I didn't work during that time and found it refreshing, and sometimes frustrating, not to have my identity wrapped up in being a physician. I spent my days volunteering at the school our children attended and adopting a child from Ukraine.When Marc's time with the EIS ended, we were lucky to return to our home in Pinetop. Lucky because there was an opening in Whiteriver for Marc to do both clinical and epidemiological medicine, and lucky because our house was still standing after the Rodeo-Chediski forest fire that ravaged the area. After a couple of years as a "non-working mother of 4", I again obtained a job at Johns Hopkins, and have worked for them since 2005. We are doing a series of infectious disease and behavioral health projects, among them projects to prevent respiratory syncitial virus infection, suicide, and binge drinking. I consider it the best job a physician could have.

Personal Story: 

Our oldest son, Jeremiah, is a freshman at the U of A majoring in chemical engineering. Our son Luke is a junior in high school and our daughter, Adela, is a sophomore. Our youngest, George, is in 7th grade. We love living in a small town in the mountains of Arizona and look back fondly to our time at the U of A.We still keep in touch with some of the nurses from the clinic and have run into folks from the residency in Albuquerque, on the ski slopes, and hiking at the Grand Canyon.See also entries by Marc Traeger (my husband) on his page.