Growing up, Dr. Amy Banks Freeman ’12 was surrounded by the difference that physicians make in their communities.

“We can’t go out to dinner without someone recognizing my dad, who knew them for years or who delivered their baby,” Freeman says. “Seeing the positive impact he had on people’s lives was one of the main things that made me want to pursue medicine.”

Pictured from left to right at Freeman’s graduation from the UAB Pediatrics Residency Program: her grandmother, Jonell Banks; her brother, Dr. Adam Banks ’16; Freeman and her husband, Don Freeman ’09; and her parents, Sandra Banks – who worked as a NICU nurse for many years and also played a large role in Freeman’s choice to pursue neonatology – and Dr. Greg Banks ’83.

Along with sharing careers in medicine, Freeman, her younger brother, vascular surgery resident Dr. Adam Banks ’16, and their father, obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Greg Banks ’83, all experienced a Birmingham-Southern liberal arts education, one that has worked closely with their medical school experience to prepare them as doctors.

Freeman is currently completing her three-year neonatology fellowship, following her graduation from UAB School of Medicine and pediatric residency at UAB. Though she initially wanted to become an orthopedic surgeon, her med school rotation in the neonatal intensive care unit changed her path.

“It’s such a new field, and there are always new discoveries on the best ways to take care of our babies,” she says. “Even in the last 10 or 20 years, we’ve had so much development on the youngest gestational age at which we would intervene.”

In her fellowship, which she began in 2019, Freeman spends four to five months of the year in clinicals at the Children’s of Alabama Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or the UAB Regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Outside of her clinical rotations, she works on research.

BSC played an important role in how to manage different areas of her job, Freeman says. As a biology major, she completed genetics research with Dr. Pamela Hanson, former professor of biology, that allowed her to investigate what kind of medicine she might pursue. She also became close with the science departments and found guidance from her mentor, Dr. Clyde Stanton, professor of chemistry.

Freeman’s science course work – which her father and brother also completed at BSC as chemistry and biology majors, respectively – was paired with the chance to explore topics outside of her pre-med studies. Those experiences also affect the way Freeman interacts with patients daily. Art history courses and a literature course with Dr. Michael McInturff, professor of English, were some of her favorites.

“A well-rounded education gives you the ability to relate to people on so many levels,” Freeman says. “It helps you build rapport with patients and relate to them going forward, and that is one of the most valuable parts of my education.”

Freeman sees her education in action throughout her neonatology fellowship as she gets to know her patients, and her relationships become just as important as research and procedures.

“In the neonatal ICU, families may be there just a few days with term babies that have low blood sugars, but then there are families who are there for a year or more,” she says. “Being able to counsel them and teach them through having a new baby – what should be the happiest time in their lives but can be some of the hardest times of their life, is one of the things I enjoy the most about the field, and one of the things that drove me to pursue it.”

Freeman encourages current BSC students interested in medicine to take advantage of challenging classes within and far outside of their majors. This range in her courses and the close-knit biology community made the Hilltop like her family away from home – though her brother was not far behind her – and prepared her for both medical school and the multifaceted aspects of her career afterwards.

“You don’t think about the long hours when you’re taking care of your patients because the most important thing to you is to take the best care possible, whether it’s my pre-term babies or Adam’s surgical patients or my dad’s OBGYN practice,” Freeman says. “Taking care of your patients becomes your focus.”

This story was included in a special health careers edition of From the Hilltop, Birmingham-Southern’s alumni email newsletter.

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