UNC School of Medicine 4th-year student Supriya Caton had the desire to include mental health, wellness and medicine into her primary care focus as a physician. From Fuquay Varina, she shares how she saw her potential while working in great community-based primary care and why building relationships matters most when becoming a doctor.
From Fuquay Varina, UNC School of Medicine 4th-year student Supriya Caton knew she wanted to be a doctor at a young age. She explains more about how it is a privilege to make an impact on someone else’s life and how forming relationships is fulfilling as a physician.
Q. What interested you the most in high school and college? Did you always want to be a doctor?
In high school and college, I was very interested in the social sciences, anatomy, and athletics. I have always wanted to be a doctor since I was little and that has never wavered throughout my journey to medical school. While in high school and college, I became specifically interested in mental health advocacy; I gave talks about mental health awareness at my high school and was a part of a mental health awareness group on campus at North Carolina State University. After college, I participated in an Americorps Program called MedServe, where I worked at a federally qualified health center in Wilmington, NC for two years. At MedServe is where my passions for mental health, wellness, and medicine combined. I realized how much good I can do as a primary care provider.
Q. Why did you choose to become a doctor?
I chose to become a doctor because of the relationships we have the privilege to take part in. Often we see patients at their most vulnerable and are tasked with helping those patients navigate the medical system. You have the unique ability to cultivate a long-lasting relationship with patients that is unlike other relationships in their lives.
Q. What is the most interesting part of medical school at Carolina?
The people! I met some of my best friends while at UNC.
Q. What do you plan to focus on after med school?
Family Medicine!
Q. What is your career goal?
My career goal is to work at a federally qualified health center in North Carolina, hopefully to gain enough experience where I can serve in a leadership role.