Meet our Board: Melissa Young, MD

We continue the Meet our Board series with Dr. Young. Over the coming months the series will introduce you to our Endocrinology Network board.

1. Please state your name, title, and the organization you work for.

Melissa Young, MD, FACE, FACP; Mid Atlantic Diabetes and Endocrinology Associates, Freehold, NJ

2. Why did you choose your profession?

Temporary insanity?

I wanted to be in a subspecialty that still let me look at the patient as a whole. Hormones are involved in every other organ system, so I have to look at all of that.

3. What is the most rewarding part of your practice?

Happy patients.

4. What is the most challenging part of your practice?

Working within the confines of our current healthcare system, where decision making is no longer left to the physician and the patient, but involves insurance companies and the government, especially when what is best for the patient is denied them because of cost.

5. What one thing would you like to see change in your field?

Less interference with the physician-patient relationship - from insurance companies, from malpractice attorneys, from Dr. Google, and from sources of misleading information.

6. What is the best piece of career advice you received?

Always remember why you chose this path.

7. How do you picture the future of endocrinology?

Unless there are more endocrinologists (and that will require more funding for fellowship training and a change in how we are reimbursed), I am afraid that while many scientific advancements will be made, patients will not have access to them because there will not be enough endocrinologists around to help them.

8. What do you most enjoy doing when you’re not working?[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"41549","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image media-image-right","id":"media_crop_1191722081470","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"4412","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","style":"width: 300px; height: 200px; float: right;","title":"Dr. Young with her family at the Underground River, Palawan, Philippines.","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

Traveling with my family.