Get to know Dr. Laura Hribar, Clinical Director of PDPH Health Center #6

During my Philadelphia Health Corps interview, I could sense that my Clinical Director lives a life centered around service. Now as Patient Advocate serving at Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Health Center #6, I wanted to take the opportunity to get to know my Clinical Director even more so as to learn more about how her lifelong commitment to service and public health served as a foundation for her career as a physician.

Dr. Laura Hribar is the clinical director at Health Center #6. She served as an AmeriCorps Member through Teach for America (TFA) from 1996 to 1998 in Washington D.C., where she taught high school biology, anatomy, physiology, and green house gardening at Eastern High School.

Q: What does service mean to you?

Service is using your skills to achieve measurable improvement in a community.

Q: How did serving in AmeriCorps (TFA) lead you on your career path and benefit you for the future?

A: Serving in AmeriCorps cemented my desire to work in an underserved area. It gave me the confidence that I could make an impact in these same communities. It also gave me experience working with like-minded individuals who were also working toward positive change in the community.

Q: How did you make the transition from education to medicine?

A: Working in medicine, especially primary care, is a lot about education. Because I am always educating about health, it wasn’t a big jump between fields. As a physician, I am still intimately involved in the community. While at medical school and during residency, I did a lot of work in local schools with programs that worked with students interested in the medical field.

Q: What brought you to Philadelphia?

A: My dual MD/MPH program brought me to Philadelphia. The program was started by Jonathan Mann, a leading physician in public health, especially in HIV and global health. Philadelphia was also close to Washington, D.C. and I wanted to keep in contact with the students I had worked with during my time at TFA. During my first year of medical school, I made over ten trips to D.C. and wrote over 50 letters of recommendation for my students applying to college!

Q: What do you enjoy most about hosting Philadelphia Health Corps members?

A: I love the enthusiasm our members have toward service and engaging with patients. They’re always positive and energetic!

For more information about PDPH Health Center #6, please visit http://www.phila.gov/health//ambulatoryhealth/hc6.html
 

This post was written by PHC member Rachel Ganz.
Rachel serves at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health - Ambulatory Health Services as a Patient Assistance Program Advocate.