Jacob Brown
My name is Jacob Brown and I am from Indiana. I graduated college in the spring of 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics. During college, I competed on the Track and Field team in Hammer and Weight.
Some of my favorite things to do are hunting, cooking, and building projects. I normally hunt deer and fowl, but I recently went on an elk hunting trip to Colorado. I am also interested in smoking meats, and my favorites include pulled pork, chicken, and ribs. My wife and I host dinner parties often, which helps keep us from eating the same thing every day for weeks (it takes awhile for us to eat 20 lbs of meat). We always enjoy hosting and having our friends over. I’ve done a few house remodeling projects, but also enjoy woodworking and knife making.
My wife and I got married the summer of 2016 after our sophomore year of college. We started dating our freshman year of high school (yes, high school sweethearts) and attended the same college. She is now in residency training to become a family medicine doctor!
Medical school stress and struggles put a huge strain on students and their families. I am working to provide valuable information for the reader on our journey and how I support my wife. I hope that you find something useful that you can use to help your spouse, significant other, or friend as they work to become a doctor.
Aleena Brown
Hi everyone! My name is Aleena Brown, and I am a Family Medicine Resident at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. I grew up in a tiny town in the northeast corner of Indiana. If you ask me why I wanted to be a doctor, my normal response is “that’s what I’ve always wanted to do!” My path into medicine was a more “traditional” path. I went to undergrad at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana majoring in Health Science with a Behavioral Science and Chemistry minors. I applied to medical school my senior year and was very excited to get my acceptance email from UTCOMLS. Jacob and I graduated in May 2018 and moved within 3 weeks to Toledo, OH for medical school, which started in August 2018.
Medical School: I started medical school in August of 2018. First and second year went by rather quickly. We didn’t start our blog until the end of second year so most of our posts are after second year. Step 1 was postponed due to COVID and third year was shortened by 20%! Our medical school journey turned out to be very different from most students. I applied and matched into Family Medicine in March 2022! Residency started in July 2022 in Mishawaka, IN. I am very excited to be working near home and learning to become the best primary care physician I can be!
Our Marriage: Jacob and I met the first day of freshman year of high school. I had recently transferred to the school district just south of where I lived. We had 2 classes together that first trimester, but ultimately, Algebra II is where we spent most of our time talking and sneaking glances. It wasn’t until basketball season that we realized we both liked each other. February 12, 2011 was the day we started dating. Fast forward into college, he asked me to marry him on July 31, 2015. We got married on June 11, 2016, one of the hottest days that summer. Our family grew when we welcomed our beautiful daughter on December 31, 2021; and now we are hoping to add another to our family in the near future.
Our goal for this blog is to provide a different view into the life of a medical student/resident and their family. Many blogs out there show the perspective of the husband in school and the wife working or at home. We realized we could provide a different perspective and maybe offer some advice that could be helpful to other couples going through similar life experiences. We hope that you will join us on our journey of medical school, residency, and life as a married couple (with kids).