Profiles in Medicine - Tyler Beccari
Next Generation Leaders in Healthcare Tell Their Stories
Every year, the Foundation provides a scholarship to a medical student at Drexel University. This scholarship was created by Maria Cerny Brabb, MD, WMC 1958, who made an endowment gift in 1999 to establish scholarship support for female students. Currently, the foundation is supporting Tyler Beccari through all four years of her education. We sat down with Tyler to hear about her experience as a medical student and the challenges of balancing life, personal health, and a demanding field of study.
2021-2024 Maria Cerny Brabb Scholarship Recipient
Undergraduate Degree and Major: Biology, with minors in chemistry and forensic science
Medical School Attending: Drexel
Year of Graduation from Medical School: May of 2025
What are your primary responsibilities in your current role?
I have several different roles, but my biggest role is being a medical student. I’m in my fourth year, so I am focused on taking step 2 boards in about two weeks. I’ll then decide on a specialty and apply for residency programs in the fall. The two specialties I'm considering are ob-gyn and pediatrics. Another role I have is being a Drexel Public Health Med Scholar. I have been doing research on increasing access to healthcare, specifically how to improve the transition of care for autistic patients from pediatric to adult care by creating a course for primary care physicians. My day-to-day work typically consists of being the first person to go into the room to meet the patient and discuss why they're here and what's going on. Some weeks, I help with surgeries, and I get to scrub in, or I just watch and learn.
What personal experiences or values sparked your passion for medicine, and how do they continue to influence your journey?
Medicine has always been a passion of mine. Growing up, both of my parents struggled significantly with chronic health issues, so I was able to see firsthand how the medical field impacted their lives. Some providers were able to establish great relationships with my parents, which led to better follow-up, compliance, and outcomes. Some providers did not work on those relationships, which led to worse outcomes. During high school, I struggled with access to healthcare due to a lack of insurance coverage. That experience taught me about how difficult it can be to focus on life around you when some of your basic healthcare needs are unmet. So collectively, a lot of these experiences taught me that healthcare quality and healthcare equity are both super important. My focus for the past couple of years, and hopefully continuing throughout my career, has been to work with more vulnerable populations. This is what has led me to the choice between ob-gyn and pediatrics because I think there's a lot of equity and quality healthcare work that can be done in those specialties.
Has a woman in medicine shaped your views on the challenges and opportunities for women in this field? If so, how?
I've had a lot of really great mentors in my life, but one of the most impactful mentors I’ve had was my first research mentor, Dr. Kelly Whelan. She was a significant inspiration to my career because, from her, I learned how to be a woman in the medical field. She showed me how to carry myself and how to participate fully in a historically male-dominated field. She emphasized the importance of providing opportunities, gave really great examples of how to be a mentor for women in medicine, and taught me how important it is to advocate for yourself and other women in this field.
In what ways do you believe female medical professionals can bring unique perspectives or strengths to the field?
Women come with a unique perspective because we've had different experiences than men. Throughout our lives as women, we've often faced a lot of preconceived judgments or challenges specific to being female. We've also encountered medical issues that are unique to women, so this drives us to understand the evolving differences and how medical conditions may affect or present differently in females. I also think that women typically bring a sense of change and open-mindedness to the field, which really helps the medical community challenge a lot of deep-rooted traditions that hold us back from being able to provide quality healthcare and equitable care to patients. Some of the strengths that we offer include fostering a more flexible and supportive workplace since we are typically balancing a lot of different roles in our lives.
How do you balance the demands of a medical career with your personal life, and what strategies have worked best for you?
Finding work-life balance in medicine will always be a challenge. A strategy that has worked well for me is setting time limits on the parts of my day that I can control, like studying. If I set aside four hours to study on a Saturday morning, and I don't get everything done, I've learned to give myself a little bit of grace and realize that I should go enjoy the time off that I've scheduled for myself with my friends and my family. I've also recently put non-negotiables into my weekly routine. My day is filled with work all day and then studying at night. But getting in at least 30 min of physical activity is really important for my physical and mental health, and that's something I’ve decided I won't give up, no matter how busy I am that day.
Have there been any initiatives in hospital residency programs or a shift in attitudes that give you hope for a better balance between work and personal life for future doctors?
I've seen some residency programs switching from the 24-hour on-call model to more of a night float schedule. With this change, there are residents working for 12 hours, a 7am to 7pm shift during the day, and then you have a 7pm to 7am shift with a completely separate group of residents at night, which most likely leads to better patient outcomes. As far as attitudes are concerned, if you talk to some of the older doctors, they'll say, “I worked 24 hours, and I survived, so you should be able to as well.” But I also see some of them coming around, acknowledging a lot of the obstacles and struggles that they endured during residency, and wouldn't wish those experiences on future generations, so I’ve definitely felt support from older doctors for policy change toward being able to balance family, and also have a very demanding career.
What personal philosophy or guiding principle do you rely on to stay motivated and passionate in the demanding field of medicine?
It's really easy to get discouraged, which is why there are such high rates of burnout in our community. But what works for me is to recognize the positive impact that I'm bringing to my patients, no matter how big or small. I'm really passionate about making a positive influence where I can. Being able to do what I love while still improving the quality of life for others is really a gift in my eyes, and just being able to see that in everyday patient encounters is extremely rewarding for me. That gets me through the day-to-day obstacles.
What advice would you give to other women who are considering or currently pursuing a career in medicine?
First and foremost, make sure it's definitely something you love cause you're going to be committing a lot of time to it! But once you've decided that this is what you want to do, and there's nothing else that's going to satisfy you, then my best advice would be to lean on the people around you. Lean on your loved ones and accept their support. The biggest thing that has helped me is finding the group that I identify with in the medical community, being able to talk with them and rely on them, and figuring out how we can help each other through this really difficult journey.
As you look to the future, what are the aspirations that drive you, both professionally and personally, and how do you envision achieving them?
My biggest aspiration is to just be the best physician I can for my future patients by staying up to date on evolving fields and being able to provide empathetic and compassionate care. I think there's been a lot of mistrust between the medical field and the patients in our community recently. So, my hope is to help to reestablish some of the trust in these relationships in order to improve the quality of life for my patients.