Dr. Kiki Louis just celebrated her one-year anniversary as the President of Oscar Medical Group. While she may be new to Oscar, she’s been practicing medicine for over 20 years. Since she was young, she knew that she wanted to make a difference in the world – it’s the thing that she prioritizes over everything else when she’s making decisions, leading others, and imagining what she’ll do next.
“I don’t remember not wanting to be a doctor,” Dr. Louis said, reflecting on her childhood. Growing up, she was surrounded by physicians. Her father and all of her uncles were doctors, and from a young age, she knew it was the path she wanted to follow. She said, “I never wondered, ‘am I going to be a doctor?’ It was always, ‘what kind of doctor am I going to be?’” Dr. Louis didn’t stray from her childhood vision. She attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, thinking for a while that she wanted to be an OBGYN. Over time, however, she realized she was more drawn to Emergency Medicine. She went on to do an Emergency Medicine residency in inner-city Baltimore at Johns Hopkins, seeking to be on the frontlines and have the opportunity to save lives.
And that, she did — she met patients after accidents, in the throes of drug addiction, suffering from gunshot or stab wounds, and generally in some of their worst moments. While she felt honored to be helping so many people in their most vulnerable times, it saddened her that she didn’t know what happened after they left the ER. She could help them survive through a trauma, but she wanted to know what happened next. Plus, it was emotionally exhausting. “I have the utmost respect for Emergency Medicine physicians,” she said. “The work they do is important, but it can take its toll on you. It is incredibly stressful.” She had begun to feel like she wasn’t making the impact she wanted to make. That’s when she knew it was time to go. “This is the only life that we’ve got. If you are finding that you’re not experiencing joy in the work that you’re doing, don’t be afraid to make a change,” said Dr. Louis.
Dr. Louis worked at a healthcare company for 11 years, where she learned a lot about leadership and how to build highly functioning clinical practices. When the opportunity arose to work at Oscar, she felt ready to take on a new role. She was also excited about the possibilities of what she could accomplish at Oscar: “What brought me to Oscar was this chance to do something that very few people get to do, which is to change the way we’re practicing medicine in this country. It was an incredible opportunity, and I didn’t know how I could say no.” After accepting the new role, she quickly learned what made Oscar Medical Group different from other healthcare providers. At Oscar Medical Group, operations, tech, and clinical teams come together to provide a new kind of virtual healthcare. “We’re caring for patients who need immediate care on our Virtual Urgent Care team, and also delivering longitudinal primary care on our Virtual Primary Care team. On our Virtual Primary side we are delivering primary care in its truest sense, but in the virtual setting. We are providing a comprehensive care solution to the patients that we serve,” Dr. Louis said.