Between patient care and teaching is his sweet spot
“The Seavey Clinic has significant investment to be successful at the tripartite mission of patient care, research, and education. There are expectations that we all will be involved in those three things, and we have more flexibility to collaborate and innovate.”
Even before Dr. Jason Higdon begins to speak, there’s proof that he’s made a big difference as a physician. A bulletin board is covered in thank you cards from patients. “That’s my wall of happy,” he says, smiling.
His happiness comes from putting down deep roots here first as an Emory University medical student then as a resident. He loved medical education, and the Seavey Clinic rewarded this passion by making him the Assistant Director of Education. He oversees the clinic’s medical students, who are at his side (and the side of other Seavey clinicians) to learn the essentials of patient care. “Teaching and patient care are folded into one job here at the Seavey Clinic that I love. I don’t have to be just a teacher or just a clinician; where this meets is wonderful.”
He teaches students to be confident, genuine, and to personalize their interactions with patients. “Make your approach match the person in front of you,” Dr. Higdon implores his students. “When patients see that we are invested and we care, they feel comfortable.”
As a Memphis native who volunteered at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Dr. Higdon was sure that he would become a pediatric oncologist. But through medical school and residency at Emory, he found his greatest satisfaction in creating long-lasting bonds with a variety of patients and discovered that adult primary care was his calling.
To that end, he devoted his early career to a new model of high quality, cost-effective, and personalized primary care. Along with Dr. Jennifer Zreloff, he started Patient-Centered Primary Care (PCPC) at the Emory Clinic in 2011 as a pilot of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) care model.
At the Seavey Clinic, he designed and oversees the curriculum for third year medical students rotating at Seavey for their Adult Primary Care Clerkship. Teaching benefits the students as well as countless patients at the Seavey Clinic—especially those with chronic health conditions—because the dialogue between the clinician and student repeats and verifies the exam findings. “Just interrupt us if you have additional questions,” Dr. Higdon tells his patients, and they often do.
They also keep coming back. Some patients met him as a resident a decade ago and were so impressed that they stayed in his practice. Over time, it becomes easier for Dr. Higdon to tell that something is wrong with a patient—and determine what that something is—because he knows them so well.
The wall of happy reminds him that he is where he is meant to be, helping his patients and students. He loves the variety and challenge, and patients respond to his devotion.
“The care I received was exceptional,” one patient wrote on a survey card. “Dr. Higdon is thorough, insightful, and provided the best internal medicine care I have had since coming to Atlanta 24 years ago. He is a kind and compassionate expert. I can’t imagine anything else they could have done to improve the experience for me or my family.”
Specialties
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Medical School: Emory University School of Medicine, 2007
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Internship: Emory University School of Medicine, 2008
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Residency: Emory University School of Medicine, 2010
Education and Training
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Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM)
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American College of Physicians (ACP)