Dr. Mollie Gordon (Am’00) is the Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, as well as the Medical Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Program which is managed at Baylor. But, for Mollie, her biggest accomplishments thus far in life are being married to a wonderful physician surgeon and having three amazing children.
As a Thouron Alum, Mollie came to our fellowship programme having completed her undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. “I had already been accepted to medical school and knew I was going to spend my career studying the sciences. The Thouron Award offered me an opportunity to continue my academic interest in the humanities, studying literature for another year before matriculating into medical school,” she shares.
Along with the financial support, our Award also provides for living abroad, travelling, and partaking in cultural entertainment. Mollie found lifelong friendships through her time abroad in the U.K. studying for her master’s degree in English Literature at King’s College London. “It was an incredible opportunity to already have a cohort of Penn students studying across Great Britain. To have colleagues studying economics, art history, and the sciences, expanded my academic circle of outside students who were studying literature,” she recalls.
Life Learnings Applied
Living at the Goodenough Trust during her studies, Mollie met graduate students from all over the world who were living and studying in the U.K. This meant her opportunities to understand how other countries value higher education were exponentially heightened. “[The Thouron Award] offered me an opportunity to travel across both Great Britain and even as far as Africa. I learned about other societies, their literature, health systems, cultures, and beliefs. It truly contributed to me becoming a global citizen,” she states.
Present day, Mollie is very focused on her professorship and her family. Though she does lean on her Thouron mates for encouraging support in her career. As an academic psychiatrist at Baylor College of Medicine, Mollie treats patients and supervises medical students and residents. “My academic interest began in studying dopamine pharmacokinetics in patients with major mental disorders. While in medical school, I researched survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which promoted my interest in traumatic stress,” she explains. Upon completing her studies as a Thouron Scholar, Mollie went on to complete her MD at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and from there finished her internship and residency of psychiatry at Barnes Jewish Hospital.
“I work at a large county hospital caring for acute exacerbations of patients with major mental disorders, many of whom survived traumatic life experiences. Nearly 10 years ago I started to identify patients who had been victims of human trafficking and helped develop a program in caring for these patients. We now have a postdoctoral fellowship for the research and clinical care for survivors of human trafficking,” she details.
Caring for Others, Caring for Self
With a team that helps educate healthcare professionals nationally and internationally, Mollie’s work helps to build out public health solutions to mitigate trafficking. Thus far the Anti-Human Trafficking Program has partnerships spanning over 30 countries. Mollie credits her time travelling as a Thouron Scholar towards the passion and commitment she has for her work — especially from meeting professionals from across the globe and learning how to work with academic partners worldwide.
“Our academic contribution to this space in developing a public health strategy to prevent exploitation, as well as psychiatric treatments for survivors has been incredibly rewarding,” she mentions. You can imagine the toll this work might take on Mollie and her team. But the willingness to study and extend care for those with traumatic experiences that impact their mental health and wellbeing is incredibly admirable. Yet, she doesn’t stop caring for others as a mother of three and a wife to a physician surgeon.
Beyond her work and family life, Mollie still loves writing. She’s working on a novel and regrets not taking more creative writing and narrative medicine courses during uni life. But there’s always her retirement plan to focus on a novel! “I still read tremendously, and try to get through two to three books a week. About two years ago, I went back to art school and it has been an amazing experience to return to this world having not taken classes since my 20s, pausing to raise kids and build a career,” she describes.
The gap year Mollie took through The Thouron Award to study the humanities in London was a priceless experience! It helped alter the course of her personal life and professional career. “I think about those days often and am grateful for the support of the Thouron Family,” she shares.
Discover More About Mollie’s Work
We encourage you to learn more about the Anti-Human Trafficking Program at Baylor College of Medicine. You can also discover more about the Houston Health Foundation, the organisation that funds the programme.
What Could Your Future Look Like as a Thouron Scholar?
Learn more about the Thouron Award — one of the most prestigious and generous academic scholarships in the world, offering funding and cultural exchange between the University of Pennsylvania and U.K. institutions.
Applications for the Award are open from July to October for candidates from Penn and July to November for U.K. candidates.