Kelby Hunt’s Path to an Academic Medicine Career
We’re highlighting our Class of 2025 students in advance of Match Day on March 21. Stay connected with the Miller School of Medicine on social media for more student profiles and to follow along for live Match Day coverage.
Growing up in small towns in Australia, Kelby Hunt had a strong feeling that she would pursue a career in health care. But she didn’t know what sort of career it would be.
A lifelong dancer, she thought about working as a physical therapist with dancers or athletes, said the fourth-year M.D./M.P.H. student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. But after shadowing a physical therapist as an undergraduate biology major at the University of Puget Sound, she realized that PT wasn’t quite what she wanted.
Her work-study job as a clinic assistant at the campus health center, however, gave her a glimpse at a career that she wanted to pursue. There, she worked closely with a physician’s assistant on sexual health education and shadowed an M.D. The experience encouraged her to apply to medical school.
Sexual Health Education
At the campus health center, Hunt saw plenty of colds and strep throat, but also a lot of contraceptive counseling.
“In the past, sexual health was taboo to talk about,” she said. “But it doesn’t do anyone any good to keep it hush-hush. Increasing awareness, talking about it, and educating people is important.”
Her interest in reproductive issues and sexual health was piqued, and she began to think of medicine from a public health perspective.
“When I applied to medical school, I was getting exposure to public health,” she recalled, “and the ethos resonated with me.”
There weren’t many four-year M.D./M.P.H. programs.
“Miami is the only one I saw that was integrated,” Hunt said. “The M.P.H. components are scattered throughout, so you get to apply the public health aspects as you learn them.”
As a women’s health station volunteer at several health fairs, Hunt helped administer Pap exams, pregnancy tests, pelvic exams and SDI screening, and said it was “a fantastic way to increase access in the community.”
This growing awareness led Hunt to take on a medical school Capstone project that focused on infertility concerns among physicians. Her project began with a survey of fourth-year medical students at five medical schools. The survey led to a paper co-authored by Hunt published last year by the Journal of Women’s Health.
According to the survey, future physicians experience higher infertility rates than the general public because they tend to put off having children until they’re older. But they might not be aware of the risk, which may affect their own family planning, as well as their patients’.
A Future in Academic Medicine
Hunt then developed a course that educates medical students and residents about the fertility issues facing their profession. She plans to be involved in academic medicine after medical school and looks forward to teaching the course she created.
Today, she is getting valuable experience advocating for classmates and navigating coursework changes as a student curriculum representative at the Miller School. She attends faculty meetings on curriculum and and keeps the student body informed about proposed and upcoming curriculum changes.
“It’s a lot of work,” she said, “but a valuable position.”
Curriculum change, she said, is a “balancing act between everyone’s opinions and suggestions. Every class has their own perspective on policies and course structures, so we collaborate with faculty and our fellow curriculum representatives to best serve the evolving needs of the student body.”
Over the past four years, she has become passionate about the academic side of medicine.
“I can’t imagine not having that aspect of my career,” she said. “It gives you a fantastic opportunity to work in mentorship roles with residents and medical students.”
Hunt has applied for OB/GYN residencies across the country and looks forward to Match Day, when she learns where her next stop will be. Waiting can be nerve-racking, but she’s confident.
“All the programs I applied to are fantastic,” she said, “and will prepare me well for a career in OB/GYN.”
Tags: Match Day, Match Day 2025, medical students, Miller School of Medicine, Obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, student leadership