Commitment to Service: Dr. Michelle Roett
The chair of the Department of Family Medicine at Georgetown University during Michelle Roett‘s residency once asked her, “Where do you see yourself in the next five to ten years?”
Excited by the novelty of being asked this question, Dr. Roett shared her aspirations for a career in family medicine centered on service, teaching, practice, and lifting others up. Given the values of leadership that her mother had imbued in her at a young age, she started to pursue leadership positions that allowed her to work towards those goals.
Originally from Barbados, Dr. Roett traveled to the United States to complete her undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University. She then went on to medical school and completed her residency at Georgetown University.
After having the privilege of speaking with Dr. Roett, I can confidently say that she has achieved all that she hoped for and more. She is now the chair of the Department of Family Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. She continues to stay committed to improving health equity and increasing medical student recruitment to family medicine. She is also the founding director of the Georgetown University Center for Health Equity.
When reflecting on a life committed to service, Dr. Roett emphasized that commitment must stem from genuine motivation. If superficial ideals give rise to the decision to serve, the quality and length of commitment will diminish. She also highlighted her strategies for increasing medical student recruitment to family medicine.
Rather than pressuring students, she showcases opportunities to meaningfully involvement and stresses the most important aspects of the career. She explained that this approach has been the most effective in fostering physicians who are genuinely motivated to pursue family medicine, with a focus on serving their community.
In her role at the Center for Health Equity, she has served as a liaison between multiple community programs and the health care system. Through this work, she underscored the delicate balance between having an institution renowned for premier treatments and an institution involved in its direct community. While both ideas are not exclusive, these goals must be critically evaluated in relation to one another.
The passion and certainty with which Dr. Roett prioritized service in health care called attention to my own goals regarding service. Hearing directly from someone as accomplished yet grounded was an immeasurable experience. I now continue to evaluate my own goals as an aspiring physician and build my involvement in service.
Malar Bala (H’26) is an undergraduate student majoring in human science at Georgetown University.