Dervin Cunningham

Dervin was born in Columbus, Georgia to a family with strong Jamaican roots. The eldest of four siblings, he was deeply impacted by his rural upbringing and the friends whose diverse backgrounds enabled them to show him love in myriad ways that influenced his trajectory and worldview. He attended the University of Georgia, where he earned his B.S.A in Biological Sciences. In 2014 he was the recipient of the University President’s “Fulfilling the Dream” award in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., awarded each year to the student who demonstrates excellence in leadership, academics, and social engagement. He then went on to earn his M.D. from Yale University where he was awarded the Leonard Tow Humanism Award. His research and clinical interests lie at the intersection of medicine, psychiatry, social cognition, and spirituality, for this is the pedagogy that he believes allows us to understand what it really means to be human.Much of Dervin’s experience is constituted by firsts: first generation American, first in his family to attend college, and first in his family to become a doctor. Much of his upbringing was marked by a commitment to serving others. It is this guiding principal that grounds his practice as a logo-clinician dedicated to delivering holistic patient care. He is committed to helping patients sort through varying degrees of uncertainty while interrogating the notion that many of the world’s ills originate with improper framing, which may lead to misdiagnosis, missed chances to help, and increased suffering. He challenges himself and others to frame their experience and delivery of patient care by asking not “Why is this happening to me?” but rather, “What is life asking of me?” By modulating the way we see the world, we change the world: one person, and one patient at a time. “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2