Faculty Spotlight: William Dabbs, MD

“Every day is an adventure,” said William Dabbs, MD, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Family, Community and Preventive Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. Dr. Dabbs was speaking of family medicine, his chosen specialty based on the variety.

“There are no other specialties where one can round on their patients in the hospital, deliver a baby, take care of nursing home residents, do sports physicals or volunteer in the community, and see pediatric and adult patients in clinic — sometimes all in one day!”

Dr. Dabbs recently joined the faculty at the college and is also practicing at the Wesley Health Center, a facility south of downtown Phoenix that provides family health care to both insured and uninsured patients. Many UA College of Medicine – Phoenix students spend time in service learning at Wesley, allowing them early hands-on experience.

Wesley Community and Health Center

“Students are exposed to pediatrics, women's health — including prenatal obstetrics — and adult ambulatory care,” Dr. Dabbs said. “Working at Wesley allows students to examine patients, interpret findings and formulate their own plans while under the clinical guidance of their preceptors. This allows them to implement their medical knowledge and learn critical thinking skills early in their career.”

“The Wesley Health Center also shows the value in caring for the underserved by providing first rate medical care to that community. This is a core value of medicine that is much better to learn by experience than by textbook.”

Medical Students Give Back to Phoenix

Background

Dr. Dabbs is originally from Knoxville, Tenn., where he met his wife at the University of Tennessee while studying biomedical engineering. The pair then ‘couples matched’ for residency in Phoenix, with Dr. Dabbs choosing family medicine at Banner Good Samaritan and his wife, Katherine, matching at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in pediatrics.

Medical Moments

Working in family medicine has provided many unique and memorable moments for Dr. Dabbs.

“There are babies that I delivered which are now patients of my own,” he said. “I helped convince a Friday afternoon clinic patient with chest pain that it actually was his heart, stayed on the phone with cardiology, and heard from his wife on Monday morning about how our clinic ‘saved his life.’”

“One of my favorite memories was a geriatric patient who, when asked to write a sentence for a mental test I was administering, wrote, ‘Thank you for talking to me.’”