Dr. Susan Beesley, M.D.

“Hola, Doctora.  Comí dos kilogramas de zanahorias la noche pasada.  Tengo un dolor de estómago, y mi cara esta anaranjada.  ¿Tengo ictericia?”
 

The aforementioned conversation may make no sense to most intelligent people, but Susan Beesley is superintelligent, and would continue this chit-chat without so much as a pause.  “I speak Spanish and enjoy working with Latino patients and their families,” she says.  Que bueno, Dr. Beesley.
 

Raised in Wisconsin and Kansas City, Dr. Beesley earned her Bachelor’s in Anthropology at Brown University in Providence (RI), and her M.D. at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.  Her pediatric residency was completed at Oakland (CA) Children’s Hospital.  So what brought Dr. Beesley to Alaska?  “Love of mountains, sense of adventure…we were thinking of moving to Africa, but started a family and changed our focus.”
 

Helping children focus on healthy habits and preventing problems are Dr. Beesley’s primary interests.  Dr. Beesley chose to pursue a career in healthcare because “I have always wanted a job that allowed me to be of service and spend all day interacting with people.  The other job that I was drawn to as a kid was a detective, and I now realize that in medicine, I am sort of a detective, investigating the body.”

Dr. Beesley’s worst childhood illness?  “I had appendicitis when I was 16 and had to beg my parents for almost two days to take me to the hospital.  Finally, when I could no longer walk, they took me to the emergency room.  Within minutes, I was in the operating room.  My parents felt really bad after that.”

Jobs before healthcare?  Preschool daycamp counselor, luggage salesperson, archeologist’s field assistant, and set painter.

Her interests?  “Skiing, backpacking, mountain biking, watercolor painting, scuba diving, traveling, photography, Eastern philosophy.  I helped start the Arts in Medicine program at my medical school and I am very interested in the areas where medicine overlaps with the arts.”

Her favorite part of being a healthcare provider?  “Having the privileged position of sharing intimate moments with children and their families, both tragic and triumphant.  Also, the intellectual challenge….sleuthing to arrive at the correct diagnosis.  And, of course, playing with children all day.”