It began with a break.
At age 5, Renee Blanding fell from her
grandmother’s porch and fractured her left
arm. She remembers rushing to get dressed
in her Sunday best — mint green dress, lace
socks, white shoes — before visiting a doctor
in her hometown of Camden, South Carolina,
an encounter that would impact the course of
her life.
“The physician was very kind and spoke not
only to my aunt but also to me directly,” says
Blanding, MD ’88. “He told me exactly what
he was going to do and even apologized that
he might get plaster from the cast on my pretty
dress. I was 5 and he spoke to me in terms I
understood. After that, I decided I wanted to be
like him: kind and helping people who were not
feeling well.”
Fast-forward to today, and Blanding has
spent the last 30 years caring for patients in
Baltimore, thanks in part to the influence of
her first role model.
As vice president of medical affairs and medical
director of the operating room at Johns
Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Blanding
begins her day at 3:30 a.m. by answering emails
and spends the next several hours toggling
between attending safety and quality meetings,
seeing patients during rounds and developing
initiatives to address physician wellness — a
topic that’s become more top of mind in today’s
ever-changing health care landscape.
In fact, a 2018 Medscape survey of more than
15,000 physicians across the U.S. revealed
that 42 percent of physicians reported feeling
burned out.
“The well-being of the physician is in peril,”
says Blanding, who is also an assistant
professor of anesthesiology and critical care
medicine at The Johns Hopkins School of
Medicine. “I picture Atlas carrying the world
on his shoulders, and I believe physicians feel
this way. Sometimes we get bogged down
by administrative requirements, which are
important, but we need to emphasize we are
patient care professionals who work in a health
care environment. And for us to take the best
care of our patients, we have to be at our best.”
Blanding attributes some of the stresses her
colleagues face to the evolution of medical
technology, constant access to information
and feelings of isolation. She aims to ease some
of those stresses at her institution through
initiatives such as peer support groups,
where providers can come together to discuss
challenges and solutions. During Alumni
Weekend in November, she also delivered the
Notable Alumnus Lecture on “Maintaining
the Joys of Medicine” to share insight with her
fellow UF College of Medicine graduates.
“For me, the joy of medicine comes from being
able to contribute something in a challenging
environment and feeling like I’ve made a
difference,” she says. “My mission is to be the
best communicator, listener, team member,
clinician and leader I can be. If we recognize
our power and what we can do to improve
lives — for our patients and for our team, and
ourselves — that will only continue to increase
the joy we get.”
Alumni News
The joys of medicine
1988 alumna Dr. Renee Blanding dedicates her career
to caring for patients and helping fellow physicians on
their path to wellness.
BY STYLIANA RESVANIS
“For me, the joy
of medicine
comes from being
able to contribute
something in
a challenging
environment and
feeling like I’ve
made a difference.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHNS HOPKINS BAYVIEW MEDICAL CENTER
— RENEE BLANDING, MD ‘88
36 | F LO R I DA P HYS I C IAN