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Quality of life
Jane Balbo, D.O. (’07)

By Anita Martin
Photo by John Sattler

In medical school, Jane Balbo, D.O. (’07), oscillated among family practice, ob/gyn, pediatrics and emergency medicine.

“In ob/gyn, I thought, this is great, but I want to address their cholesterol and hypertension, too. Then I loved pediatrics, but I would really miss my adults. In the ER, I always wanted to know what happened to my patients, and to help prevent them from coming back to the ER,” Balbo says. “The only field where I could do all of these things is family practice.”

Balbo, who completed a Family Practice Fellowship at OU-COM in 2006-07, is now a resident with Doctors Hospital Family Practice.

“I love establishing relationships with patients,” she says. “It helps me when I know the patient’s family, how the family interacts, what kinds of issues they might have and how that factors into their care.”

Balbo believes that lifestyle steers some medical students into specialty fields like dermatology or anesthesiology, where hours can be more flexible and compensation generally higher. The advantage of that, she says, is that those who choose primary care tend to be really excited about the field and passionate about patient care.

“Besides, I’m making a great living,” she says. “I define success by my quality of life. I don’t want millions. I just want to live in Athens, pay my bills, ride my bike and give back to my community, doing something I love to do.”

Laura Stachowicz, OMS III

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