Dr. Andrew Albert Found His Calling with Emergency Medicine

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Andrew Albert, MD, found his calling in medicine when he worked as a scribe during his time at Arizona State University.

In his junior year of college, Dr. Albert started working in an emergency department as a scribe in Scottsdale. He also met his now-wife, fellow Class of 2018 University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix alumna, Catherine Hermann, MD.

When Dr. Albert enrolled in medical school, he knew he liked working in emergency medicine. However, he kept an open mind and to learned as much as he could about other specialties.

“I liked everything a little bit, but nothing quite as much as I liked emergency medicine,” Dr. Albert said. “I got close to doing radiology or interventional radiology, but I’m very happy with my decision to pursue a career in emergency medicine.”

During his time in medical school, Dr. Albert received a scholarship from the Mutual Insurance Company of Arizona (MICA) Medical Foundation Board of Trustees, a scholarship he said helped him financially and made him feel recognized.

“To be recognized for the hard work that the recipients and the rest of my classmates put in was so important,” Dr. Albert said. “Medical school is a large endeavor and many of us come into it with debt from undergrad. Every bit counts.”

Dr. Albert said his time at the U of A College of Medicine – Phoenix gave him an incredible foundation for learning how to be a doctor and take care of patients.

“I’ve spent a fair amount of time at some of the east coast academic medical centers,” Dr. Albert said. “I can honestly say that the clinical training we got and the rotations we did at the College of Medicine – Phoenix was vastly superior to training I’ve seen elsewhere.”

After graduating from medical school, Dr. Albert and Dr. Hermann moved to Pennsylvania for their residencies. Currently, both physicians live and work in New York City.

Emergency medicine is an ever-evolving field; artificial intelligence and computer software are used to interpret X-rays to help expedite decision-making. Dr. Albert said the future of medicine will include technologically savvy solutions to improve patient care.

“Based on looking at massive volumes of data, I think technology has a potential to impact the way we care for patients,” Dr. Albert said. “These are methods that definitely wouldn’t be possible until the last 10 years or so when things like the electronic medical records enabled that sort of structure to be in place.”

Since graduating from medical school, Dr. Albert said he has learned many lessons — including the benefit of making time to care for oneself to be able to provide better patient care.

“Finding things at work that you can do to improve your wellness and maintain that work-life balance was definitely a challenge for me,” Dr. Albert said. “Any sort of thing you do to promote your own wellness, in the long run, is helpful toward your patients.”

Practitioners like Dr. Albert are vital to shifting the needle in patient care. By donating to the University of Arizona’s Fuel Wonder campaign, an investment is made not only to support future physicians, but also future patients in Arizona.