Dayna Parish Dennis: The Only Black Student in Med School

Dayna Parish Dennis: The Only Black Student in Med School

Dayna Parish Dennis is a wife, Shameless Mom, and doctor. Originally from Oklahoma, she relocated to the Bay Area to complete her residency in pediatrics. She has served patients in low income, urgent care, private practice, and Hospitalist settings, and just recently made partner at a multi-specialty group practice in the Bay Area.  She speaks a couple of languages, loves reading books with happy endings, and raising 2 free Black children.

Listen in to hear Dayna share:

• What it’s like to be a doctor in this pandemic
• How she’s managing her mental health as a physician, wife, mom, and woman during this time
• What it was like to be the only Black person in her medical school class
• The pressure of being the sole Black representative in conversations around race
• The relief she found in moving from Oklahoma to Oakland for residency and to work with other Black doctors
• How her employer (Kaiser Permanente) responded to George Floyd’s death and supported the Black Lives Matter movement
• The benefits she’s seeing in living through this pandemic and why we need not desire going “back to normal”
• The power in making partner in her medical practice this year
• The legacy she is building to show her daughters that Black girls can do anything

Links Mentioned:

• Connect with Dayna
• IG: @wittyacronym
• IG: @bookish.black.nerd
• FB: Dayna Parish Dennis