Thu. May 9th, 2024

Dr. Brian Blank grew up in the small town of Waterford, PA, delivering newspapers before leaving for the midwest to study broadcast journalism at the University of Missouri. He then spent the next several years working in cable news in both Atlanta and New York. In New York, he met his wife and father-in-law, a longtime primary care physician at the Cleveland Clinic. After many late-night conversations with him, he decided to switch careers to pursue family medicine. After stops in Boston and Costa Rica, he moved to Chapel Hill, NC, where he completed medical school at UNC. He then did my residency in family medicine down the street at Duke University Hospital.

In 2021, he opened Ember Modern Medicine, a practice he had dreamt about for more than a decade. By eliminating overpriced insurance restrictions, he can spend more time connecting with my patients and focusing on their health and wellbeing instead of rushing through 7-minute visits checking government boxes.

Dr. Blank and his wife Laura are now blessed with two beautiful daughters. In his free time, he enjoys competing in endurance sports. He’s run more than a dozen marathons, finished 2nd in a 50-mile ultramarathon, and barely survived an Ironman Triathlon. Lately, he’s been attending Swamp Rabbit CrossFit. In 2021, he started a running streak, attempting to run at least one mile every single day.

In this episode, Dr. Blank shares his story of how his love for family medicine drove him to change careers and how, after ten years, he has finally opened his clinic Ember Modern Medicine. He shares about his buildout, his staffing and so much more in today’s episode!

LISTEN HERE

39240cookie-checkMy DPC Story: Dr. Brian Blank of Ember Modern Medicine of Greenville, SC
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By Maryal Concepcion, MD

A Sacramento native, Dr. Maryal Concepcion is a Filipinx creator and connector. She attended the University of California at Davis where she graduated in 2005 with a double major in Anthropology (BS) and Evolution & Ecology (BA). She had an unforgettable time as a California transplant when she got her MD at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. It was there she discovered hayrack rides, found her Husband, Dr. Jeremiah Fillo, and discovered her love of rural family medicine. Her residency training was in the unopposed family medicine program at Doctors Medical Center, Modesto, a training extension through the UC Davis Medical School. During her time in training, she returned to rural Superior Nebraska to complete proficiency training in performing colonoscopies as part of her rural family medicine concentration. After residency, she moved to Arnold, CA where she worked under the fee for service model with her Husband doing full-scope care for over five years. Though grateful for her experience in this role, she was driven to seek a better way of life and a desire to practice insurance-free medicine and that was when she discovered DPC. She is the founder and host of the podcast My DPC Story, a weekly podcast that educates and inspires by featuring DPC and direct care physicians. Find it at mydpcstory.com and on all major podcasting platforms. Most recently, she became the CEO and wearer-of-all-the-other-hats at Big Trees MD, the first Direct Primary Care in Arnold, a rural town of 4,000 in the Stanislaus National Forest located in Northern California. Her clinic was created as a telemedicine and home visit model without a brick and mortar space. But, the title she is most proud of is being a Mama to Asher & Nolan, her two ridiculously awesome and cuddly boys!

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