Susanna R. Magee, MD, MPH, is Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is Director, Family Medicine Obstetrics Fellowship of Rhode Island, Chief of Obstetrics, and Chief of Family Medicine at Landmark Medical Center, 115 Cass Ave. in Woonsocket. One of the most respected medical voices in Rhode Island, she’s here to weigh in on a number of topics.
Tell us about your career and how it’s progressed
I came to family medicine in a roundabout way – I loved labor and delivery (so I thought about OB GYN as a specialty), but I also loved caring for the babies (so I thought about Pediatrics). It was at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia that I first learned of the specialty where I could do both – through Family Medicine! And so I completed my family medicine residency at Brown, stayed on for a fellowship in obstetrics at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket which has since closed, and went on the lead that same fellowship that I completed a few years after graduating from it. I have now been a fellowship director in family medicine obstetrics for 20 years (2006-2026 and counting), moving it to Landmark Medical Center in 2017 when Memorial closed. I served as core faculty for the family medicine residency at Brown until Memorial closed (from 2003-2017) and then decided to focus solely on the fellowship when we moved to Woonsocket. Many patients that I had in residency followed me to Woonsocket. I have even delivered the baby of someone I delivered – so I am officially a granddoctor.
What do you think of Rhode Island as a community of people?
Rhode Island is now my home and I love it. It is incredibly diverse, and filled with smart, motivated people. There is ton of focus on health and education in the state, lots of new initiatives, lots of partnerships and collaborations out there. We have hard working people here who want to give back to their communities. It’s a small state, but the people have big dreams and the potential is always there for big impact.
What do you see as being one of the biggest challenges facing the medical field right now, and how are you and Landmark perhaps positioned to best address it?
I think there has been a loss of community in medicine, in the sense that COVID really separated us from our patients for a time, and relationships were strained some. Lots of people left medicine all together. Staffing is STILL not what it should be in outpatient and inpatient settings. Landmark is focusing on both primary care AND the building of the referral services we need to better care for our community, so addressing this issue head on.
Is there something you would tell your younger self if you could?
When my kids were young we used to always say, “be smart, be kind” when they were going off to school in the morning, I should have mentioned to them that I ALSO meant “be kind to YOURSELF.” And I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to be kinder to me. Mistakes will happen, but we must learn from them without beating ourselves up. I think when we are too hard on ourselves we lose some of the love and respect for ourselves that we need to do the work. That creates burnout, which of course is problematic Kindness to ourselves and others always is step one; kindness is at the center when building great services and relationships.
What are some of the greatest ways you’ve seen Landmark progress over time?
Landmark went from just over 100 deliveries a year when we came in 2017 to close to 500 a year now and growing. Moving out fellowship and practices from Pawtucket to Woonsocket helped with that volume increase. We also recruited new doctors and advertised to patients in the area. They helped build the type of place where families expecting a child feel safe and cared for, and where families are known. They have added an internal medicine residency and have plans to host rotations for a new family medicine residency based at Thundermist Health Center Woonsocket in 2027. Landmark is committed to training the next generation of physicians in speciality and primary care. And we certainly need more primary care in our state!
What are the greatest unsung qualities of a doctor?
The love. You know when a doctor loves their job. They are “deep in it” all the time, and it is more of a calling than a job. That may sound old-fashioned, but I think the docs that love their job are happier overall, and better at it.
What is your daily routine/schedule like?
I see patients three days a week, I teach fellows one of the days, and there is a day in the week where I get to catch up on clinical work, teach medical students at Brown Medical School, work on research or presentations, etc. I also take phone calls for my practice most nights and I am in the hospital overnight once a week or so for OB call. It’s a busy life. Like I said, you have to love it.
How do you balance work and career with family and other obligations?
Never easy. I think telling stories of the day (without using names or specifics) gets your family interested in medicine and the joy it can bring. I have three daughters and when they were little and I was running out to labor with a family and “catch a baby’ they liked to try and guess “boy or girl” or potential names the family might pick. It was fun, and it involved them.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I love to sing! I am in a women’s chorus called Carillon. Look us up on social media and come hear us sing! We have a holiday concert every winter and another in April/May. I love to cook, but I am mediocre at it at best. I try to exercise a little every day. And I love a good book or TV series. Watching the new season of Ted Lasso right now and loving it. Highly recommend!
