How/when did you become interested in science and medicine?
In college I was a science major and a lot of my friends were in pre med.

Is there a teacher or mentor who helped shape your career?
I had a biology professor in college (Dr. Wimmer) who believed in me and really made me fee special.

How or why did you choose the KU School of Medicine?
I was a Kansas native with no money. I really wanted to go to KU, and when I was accepted, no other choice made financial sense.

What kinds of professional opportunities or advantages does being a faculty member at KUSoM provide? What about challenges?
It gives me the opportunity to interact every day with colleagues that I admire and respect and who make practicing medicine fun and exciting.

Please describe your professional interests?
In the spirit of family medicine, I really like variety, to see something new every day. I do have a special interest, however, in diabetes. It is such an important disease in every discipline of medicine. My interest began out of a frustration with my ability to care appropriately for my diabetic patients.

What are some of your outside interests?
I have 5 children and like to spend as much time as possible with my family. We spend time together at the lake in the summer, at KU football games in the fall, and skiing in the winter.

In what ways are you engaged with the greater Kansas public?
I try to volunteer as often as possible at my children’s schools. I do educational and health promotion sessions at a number of area schools and for several community groups. Schools are my favorite (I was a teacher before I went back to medical school).

Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your professional work?
I always try to do the best job I can for my patients.

If you ever had to overcome any obstacles in your life, please tell us about them and how you overcame them or face obstacles on a daily basis.
I think we all have obstacles that we overcome on a regular basis. I grew up very poor and with a pretty poor self-image. But I was blessed with being a good student and I knew that I had the mental ability to accomplish my goals.

If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of medicine/science), what would it be?
World peace of course

What is the biggest change you've experienced in your field since you were a student?
The explosion of technology

What is the biggest challenge you’ve experienced or witnessed in your field or the field of medicine as a whole since you were a student?
As our health care system strains under its financial weight, we continue to develop incredible advances and technologies that we cannot afford to pay for.

What do you see as the future of medicine?
I’m not sure if I should answer what I think will happen or what I think needs to happen. I worry that as our system continues on its current course, we will eventually have to make severe cuts in what we offer to one group of people while we continue to offer “everything” to those who can afford it. What do I think should happen? We really need to return to a more rational approach: improving diagnostic skills, ordering fewer tests for defensive reasons, increasing our acceptance of the dying process and utilizing hospice more appropriately to curb the rising cost of care in the last week of life.

What particular skills acquired during your graduate career do you find most valuable in your professional career today?
Ability to obtain a good history and physical and to think through a differential diagnosis logically -- I would have like to have gone back and revisited some of the basic sciences after I understood the medicine to which it applied.

What one piece of advice you would give to:

Medical Students:
“Don’t take yourselves so seriously and don’t be so competitive.” The more you work with your colleagues, the more fun you have and the better care the patient receives.

Residents:
“Take every opportunity to learn and to discover how you will continue to learn throughout your career. What you are learning now will be different in ten years. You have to be able to assimilate new knowledge every day for the rest of your careers.”

Junior Faculty:
“Spend a year or two developing your knowledge, your teaching and research skills, then decide where you want to be a develop a road map to get there. If you wait for someone to show you the way, you may be wandering in the desert with Moses for 40 years”

I would tell all of them:
“Enjoy every day. It’s really all about the journey not the destination, so you’d better enjoy the journey”

What do you believe is the key reason that led to your selection over all others in for being presented one of the awards listed above?

BOHAN PROFESSORSHIP
I’m not sure. It was such and incredible honor. I hope my dedication and commitment, my love of teaching, and maybe just outlasting everyone else.

STUDENT VOICE AWARDS & RAINBOW AWARD
Any one of the categories for the Student Voice Awards I received the Student Voice Awards early in my career when I spent a lot of time with the students. I think they really recognize the faculty that they can get to know. The Rainbow Award was complete and utter surprise. I have no earthly idea why they chose me, but I am forever grateful and humbled.

As a VIRTUAL MENTOR, please offer your advice to new and/or junior faculty on a topic of your choice. (Mentors have a list of over 100 topics from which to choose for this interview, and target their advice to junior faculty.)

TOPIC: Asking for help
ADVICE: “Never be afraid to ask for help—just be ready to do the work”

TOPIC: Dealing with the death of a patient
ADVICE: A Student’s First Loss & How it affects Them “If you are affected by your patient’s death, then they have become a part of you and will live on in you. You are privileged indeed!”

TOPIC: Planning now for promotion
ADVICE: “Come up with a filing system where you can stash thank you notes, evaluations, awards, etc and go through them regularly to update your CV”

TOPIC: Why I’d choose to Teach/Research All over Again
ADVICE: “The students keep you young; they challenge you, and make you a better learner”

top of page

Mentoring

Virtual Mentor

An Interview With...

Belinda Vail, MD, MS Professor, Vice Chair and Residency Director Department of Family Medicine

Belinda Vail, MD, MS
Professor, Vice Chair and Residency Director
Department of Family Medicine