Dr. O’Sullivan is a native of Grand Coteau who found her love of Family Medicine in the book, The Essentials of Family Medicine. She continued, “My interest began with a book, The Essentials of Family Medicine, which I found in a cart of free books sitting outside my graduate school library. In it, I discovered a comprehensive, generalist approach to medicine that resonated profoundly with my past experiences, personal beliefs and professional aspirations. I had decided to apply to medical school by that time, but it was only after that point that I began to visualize a path forward as a physician, especially as a person who did not identify as a “science person” at all before. The philosophy of family practice just fits who I am and how I think.”
Dr. O’Sullivan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Loyola University, New Orleans, a Master’s Degree in Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College. She returned to New Orleans to pursue her passion for medicine and public health, enrolling in the dual MD/MPH program at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine as a Primary Care Scholar. As part of the MPH program, she focused her public health training on Health Policy and Systems Management.
Dr. O’Sullivan is currently a second-year resident at the DePaul Community Health Centers Family Medicine Residency Program. We asked her if anything surprised her in choosing to become a family physician. She stated, “The outpatient clinic is my home field, as I expected, but I have a much stronger appreciation of the value that family medicine adds to the inpatient space, especially in areas like ours where patients have such incredible need and, at times, seemingly insurmountable barriers to addressing that need.”
When asked about thoughts on how to encourage students to choose FM, she stated, “I have 3 thoughts: Mentors. Mentors. Mentors. As Wendell Barry put it in his 1994 speech “Health is Membership”, the community is the smallest unit of health. We can apply this idea to the health of our specialty. Learners want to belong, and they want to feel good at what they do. Teachers want to feel they are making a difference. Our community influences how aspiring physicians see themselves in the context of our health system, for the better or the worse. Great mentors can show students that comprehensive family medicine not only can be done but has power and adds tremendous value to our communities. They show us we can be both affable and effective, empathetic and fierce advocates. I think medical students, and learners at all levels for that matter, are most encouraged by observing and working with physicians who show interest in them, whether they are seasoned leaders or newly minted graduates, and those who are willing to teach, coach, create and facilitate opportunities to develop their skills. And in return, students inject energy, enthusiasm and nice bolus of humility. I’ll take a dose of that any day. As we love to say, family medicine is all about relationship. ”
Dr. O’Sullivan envisions practicing comprehensive primary care in some combination of private practice and academic medicine. She continued, “I always want to stay rooted in the raison d’etre, practicing high quality primary care. I plan on staying here in Louisiana and would like to continue caring for patients in New Orleans and the surrounding areas.”
Her professional interests include comprehensive primary care delivery, maternal and child health, chronic disease prevention, and medical education. Outside of medicine, Dr. O’Sullivan enjoys reading, exercising, attending local music festivals, and exploring New Orleans’ culinary scene with her husband, Conor, their son, Cían, and their poodle, Molly.
Join us in congratulating Dr. Dorian O’Sullivan as our July Member of the Month.
LAFP’s Member of the Month program highlights Louisiana family physicians in the Weekly Family Medicine Update and on the LAFP website. We feature a biography and a Q&A with a different LAFP member each month and his or her unique approach to family medicine. If you know an outstanding family physician colleague who you think should be featured as a Member of the Month or if you’d like to tell your own story, nominate yourself or your colleague by contacting Lee Ann Albert at