A doctor whose confrontation with an MS diagnosis hasn’t come between her and her first loves: faith and the Braves.

Hometown: West Monroe

Now resides in: Monroe

Works out of: Northern Louisiana Medical Center

Degree and year: Bachelor of Science, Animal Biology, 1998; LSU School of Medicine – Shreveport, 2002

Why I chose my career: I still hadn’t declared a major by the spring quarter of my sophomore year at Tech. I told my advisor that I felt God was calling me to missions, and she suggested medical missions. So I chose Animal Biology as my major, took the Medical College Admission Test, and the rest is history. I chose family medicine because I wanted to be able to treat all ages and any disease I might encounter on the mission field.

How MS has affected my career path: As my MS has progressed, my mobility has definitely been affected, and I find that MS and the international mission field do not work well together. So I’ve just done a few short-term mission trips since becoming dependent on a cane or wheelchair for balance and mobility. MS has also affected my workload as I had to change to mainly outpatient work a couple of years ago. My neurologist told me I wouldn’t be able to keep that pace much longer. After a couple of years, I finally took his advice and made the change.

My best memory from Tech: I was a member of various honor societies and such, but the majority of my time was spent at the BSU (now BCM). My best friendships to this day started back at the BSU at Tech.

Advice to incoming freshmen: Take responsibility for yourself and don’t wait for someone else to do it for you or blame others when things don’t go the way you planned. Respect others and be humble. It’s a lot easier to humble yourself than to be humbled. Every choice you make has a consequence, so choose wisely.

And how about those Braves? I guess the loyal fan answer would be to say we will take back our division! But since I barely recognize half of our frequently-changing roster this season, I can’t say that emphatically just yet.

(Editor’s note: The Braves barely missed the playoffs this year, but Conville hopes that will change next year, Bobby Cox’s final year to manage her favorite team.)