Alumni Focus

Mary McNaughton Collins, DMS '91: Connecting with DMS Students

Mary McNaughton Collins, DMS '91

"I was honored and tickled to come back to DMS," Dr. Mary McNaughton Collins says of her visit back to Hanover last November, when she gave the first-ever DMS Fireside Chat. Fireside Chats offer DMS alumni an opportunity to come back to DMS and talk with students about medicine, patient care, research, family--or, as in the case of Dr. McNaughton Collins, all of the above. In her lively discussion entitled "Pampers, Patients, and Prostates," Dr. McNaughton Collins addressed one of the more challenging aspects of a career in medicine, striking a balance between caring for patients, engaging in research, and raising a family.

Dr. McNaughton Collins explains the quirky title of her discussion this way: "I have two young children, so for me, family comes first, always. Patients come next; I'm a clinician investigator, meaning I see patients and also conduct research studies in chronic prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome, but my patients come before my research."

While her priorities are clear, McNaughton Collins acknowledges that it's not easy to achieve a balance between family and career. "It's always a challenge to keep perspective and balance, and I'm continually working hard at it," she says. She cites her loving and supportive family, including husband Jim Collins, a professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, and her children, Katie and Danny, as her inspiration.

She also finds inspiration in her work as a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she has been for the last 10 years, and her research as principal investigator on a 5-year NIH grant to conduct clinical trials in chronic prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome.

When she was invited to speak to the next generation of physicians and researchers at DMS last fall, Dr. McNaughton Collins leapt at the chance to share with students what she herself learned as a student. "Well-roundedness was encouraged at DMS," she recalls. "Our professors had full, rich lives outside of medicine, and they would share that with us, through their lectures."

With her Fireside Chat, Dr. Mary McNaughton Collins has come full circle, showing DMS students that they can indeed have both a satisfying professional life as well as a full, rich personal life. "I really like the emphasis on encouraging DMS alums to connect with current DMS students," Dr. McNaughton Collins says of her Fireside Chat experience. "And I'd really like to see opportunities for this kind of networking to grow."

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