Who Is Dr. Mary Branch?
She is a fourth generation African American physician born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Youngstown. She left home at 14 to attend a prestigious New England prep school.
She set out on a mission to identify her unique gift and service. She continues on this adventure. You can be a part of her journey and help guide her as a subscriber.
Medical Education
MD, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, 2013
MS, Wake Forest University, 2020
Residency
Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2016
Internal Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2018
Fellowship
Cardiovascular Disease, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, 2022
- She was born Mary Banks on October 19, 1984 to two African American parents. Her mother is an infectious disease physician and her father was a lawyer. They were the reverse Cosby’s, but had a dramatic divorce. She was unconditionally loved by her stepdad; a famous artist, professor and town hero.
- She integrated a Yeshiva during her childhood. She then left home at the age of 14 to attend Choate Rosemary Hall (the highschool of JFK).
- This education set the precedent to her versatility. She then ventured to Smith College ( school of Gloria Steinem) where she learned important leadership skills as a women in an LGBTQ environment.
- Her journey to medicine was met with many bumps in the road. After years of research and medical school, she did not get a residency position. She had to fight her way back to medicine. She continued to believe that she belonged in medicine and had a purpose.
- After two years of working in Harvard lab with $400,000+ in debt, she made her way back.
- She started her medical training with the Opioid pandemic in Pittsburgh, PA. She persisted and transferred to North Carolina for love.
- In North Carolina, Trump became President and hate was on the rise. She finished her residency at the University of Chapel Hill. She then went on to cardiology fellowship as the first African American female in the program.
- She experienced bias, inhumanity, and the challenges of motherhood. Her father succumbed to rapid dementia and her stepdad passed one year later. Then COVID-19 hit.
- She chose to first take accountability and grow herself before healing. While doing all of this, she had a nervous breakdown. She then found a therapist who saved her life
- And yet, she persisted earned her Master’s of Science during training and is now an internationally recognized budding cardio-oncologist heading to the University of Pennsylvania.
