As part of our “Meet Yale Internal Medicine” series, today’s feature is on Sabrina Browning, MD, Instructor (Hematology) and member of the Disease Center for Multiple Myeloma and Gammopathies.
“I’m always thinking of each patient as a whole person--that’s something that I try to strive towards. It’s important to understand our patients beyond the clinic, like what their life is like when they're not getting treatment, their family, that sort of thing,” said Browning. “It’s important to ensure that patients are well supported from various different perspectives. I have a particular interest in evaluating quality of life in patients who have received multiple different treatments for their multiple myeloma. Fortunately, our patients are living longer but in turn are now dealing with additional side effects from their many treatments.”
Browning isn’t new to Yale. She completed her residency in the Yale Primary Care Program in 2016, then spent a year at the Amyloidosis Center at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center. She returned to Yale School of Medicine (YSM) for fellowship in Medical Oncology/Hematology which she completed last June, and officially joined as a faculty member in July 2020.
“To have the opportunity to be a support for patients who are going through something life-changing, as well as do research on their behalf with the goal to advance the field hematology, is what makes Yale a great place. And that’s one of the major reasons I can’t imagine myself leaving,” said Browning.
When Browning was an undergraduate at Quinnipiac University, she volunteered with a geriatric delirium prevention program, known as Elder Horizons, at Yale New Haven Hospital, and had her first face-to-face patient experience. She played board games with the patients, looked at pictures together, as well as participated in other patient-centered interventions. This role then transitioned to an internship where she would assess patients' risk for delirium and formulate a plan with a multidisciplinary team focused on how to decrease that risk over time.
While that solidified her decision, she remembers being interested in medicine as early as grade school.
“I was always drawn to science and helping and doing for others. My mom will joke that she bought me a microscope when I was little, and that that was my favorite toy in the house, but it became clear that science and human anatomy was something I was very interested in as I continued with my education.”
Growing up Browning’s parents instilled philanthropy and volunteer work into both her and her sister’s lives. Browning has fond memories of stories told by recipients of a scholarship at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport, Conn., named in memory of her uncle, who passed at the untimely age of 21. Although she never met him, Browning’s uncle had a profound impact on her in pursuing a career in medicine, as did both of her parents.
As junior faculty, Browning is looking forward to teaching and mentoring trainees, as well continuing to advance her own knowledge.
“What’s exciting for me about the field of hematology is the continued growth in terms of therapeutic advancements and new discoveries being identified every day. And I feel like I'm sort of a life-long learner, as many of us are in medicine.”
The Section of Hematology is committed to advancing the science and practice of hematology by understanding the molecular basis of disease, and translating basic discoveries to the clinic. To learn more about their work, visit Hematology.