Susan Greenman

"My journey to medicine started in the Florida Keys, where I was born, the granddaughter of a harbormaster. My parents went out of their way to expand my sisters’ and my worlds, keeping us in touch with my mother’s family roots in Hungary. In high school, they home-schooled us and took our family around the world for six months, staying and learning in Hungary, Israel, Kenya, India, Nepal, Thailand, and China. This was such a formative experience for me, showing me how privileged I was, simply due to where I was born. This trip led to my sister’s and I founding and running a non-profit for an orphanage in Kenya for 15 years. My newly acquired travel bug also kept me seeking out new experiences as I went to High School in Germany and moved to Alaska after graduation to work as an Adventure Guide. I studied Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, and soon after graduation left to join the Peace Corps in Cameroon, in Western Africa. I lived in a tiny village in the Extreme North of Cameroon, living as and with my peers in the village, without running water, electricity, and fighting off diseases like malaria, cholera, and giardiasis. There were so many times that I felt helpless, unable to offer my neighbors any assistance when they were sick, even though they had opened their homes to me and welcomed me like family. So, after my two years of service, I decided to go to medical school. I went to medical school in upstate NY, and focused on creating relationships with local, marginalized populations such as homeless communities, the Deaf community, and sex-trafficked women. I took a year out to study Breast Feeding and it’s impact in various communities of different socioeconomic classes. All of this led to me finding my way to Seattle, wanting to practice family medicine. I will continue to foster my love of international health, maternal/child medicine and fight for refugees and sex trafficking victims. When I’m not wearing my stethoscope, I am often outside, enjoying a nap underneath a tree that I’ve hiked to, or camping out to see some stars. I love to bake, and have a horrible habit of procrastibaking, which many of my colleagues benefit from. I love learning languages, taking pictures of my fur-babies and exploring my new home on the west coast. "