Footnotes Summer 2024 - 8

Out of Your Comfort Zone: An
Interview with Dr. Kristen Brett
By Mark Gabriel, TUSPM Class of 2025
Being an APMSA Delegate has afforded me many historic
memories, but it is not every day that I get the privilege of
speaking to an APMSA legend such as Dr. Kristen Brett.
Dr. Brett graduated from Kent State University College
of Podiatric Medicine (KSUCPM) in 2020. She was an
APMSA Delegate, and later the APMSA President, during
her time as a podiatric student. She then completed her
surgical training at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota
and currently works as a member of the podiatric surgery
faculty at Hennepin Healthcare. I had the opportunity
to speak with Dr. Brett during the 2024 ACFAS Annual
Scientific Conference in Tampa, Florida. Our discussion
focused on her role within APMSA and how APMSA paved
the way for her current career in podiatry.
Dr. Brett was initially involved in Kent's soccer club, where
she was able to connect with the student body and her
upperclassmen. One such upperclassman encouraged
her to run for the APMSA delegate position, which she
subsequently won. The experience threw her out of her
comfort zone. Not only did the position require her to
develop her public speaking skills, but it also encouraged
her to continually reach out to her seniors and podiatric
professionals to search for prominent mentors in the field.
Dr. Brett fondly remembered the bonding experiences she
had with her fellow delegates as they traveled to Franklin,
Tennessee, where the APMSA House of Delegates and
the APMSA Academic and Athletic Conference used to be
held. She built connections with her peers and podiatric
physicians both inside and outside the classroom. While
she sat in classrooms and labored through clinical training
8
as a student, being a delegate introduced her to leaders in
podiatry who were cultivating the field in preparation for
the new generations of podiatric physicians and surgeons.
In other words, being a delegate showed her " the other side
of podiatry. "
As Dr. Brett continued her tenure within APMSA, she
sought to be more involved. She initially considered the
student liaison and committee chair roles but decided
that she was most interested in running for president.
Dr. Brett stated that rather than overpowering her own
voice, being an APMSA President allowed her to lead and
empower others' voices within the house of delegates. In
communicating with her peers at school regarding what
was occurring within the profession, Dr. Brett found a love
for nurturing the voices of others for the betterment of the
student body and the podiatric profession.
During her fourth year at Kent, Dr. Brett was thankful for
all the building blocks and benefits that APMSA provided
to aid in her search and transition into residency. She was
able to learn what her upperclassmen and residents had to
say about different residencies across the nation whenever
she attended conferences. The regional limitations of
podiatric schools could leave many students with a hindered
view of the opportunities that awaited them after they
graduated. Some of Dr. Brett's peers felt overwhelmed with
the number of residencies that they could visit, which left
a tremendous weight on the opinions of alumni who had
already visited those programs. The ability to speak with
residents at conferences allowed Dr. Brett to gain a better
view of the type of program she wanted to visit and the
type of career she wanted to cultivate as a physician.
SUMMER 2024
Footnotes Summer 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Footnotes Summer 2024
