She’s a pediatrician who had 30 years of experience in the field even before moving back closer to home to join Lincoln Community Health Center in 2019, working with health problems and complications that arise in patients ages birth through 21.
Her name is Dr. Angela Odom-Austin, a Shreveport native who received her undergraduate degree in general biology at Dillard University in New Orleans before heading to medical school at Duke in North Carolina. In that process, she had done summer research at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport in deep tissue burns then took on intense studies of the immune system at Dillard.
“I really wanted to go to medical school,” she told the Journal, with reference to her studies of immunology. Her training was honed during those years by working in the medical field through a series of pandemics. “I was at Duke in the middle of the AIDS pandemic. Early on, people in the medical community were panicked about how you deal with handling those affected folks. But we learned.”
She said the same fear “in the early going” of COVID was witnessed. By that time, Dr. Odom had worked through AIDS, Avian flu, SARS, Ebola then COVID. “The rule is ‘First, do no harm.’ But then you must accept that we’re here to help our community. So we help others.”
The young doctor did her pediatric residency at Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine (Old Dominion) and stayed in Virginia where she had family for the next 30 years with her medical practice and raising her own family. She came to Ruston at Lincoln Community Health Center in 2019. “My mom was still living in Shreveport but getting on in age and needed me near. I wanted to get back to Louisiana.” She put out the word and Trinity Community Health Centers of Louisiana responded. “It was not quite Shreveport but close enough. Since I also have family in Grambling and as a child, I went to Girl Scouts camp there, this brings good memories. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, Trinity serves an underserved community. I’m quite happy to be here.”
Faith and church are important parts in Dr. Odom’s life. A member of New Rocky Valley Baptist Church in Grambling, she notes that during the COVID pandemic, many learned to worship online so she is able to do that occasionally with several of her churches back in Virginia.
“So what do I do outside of work?” she asks. “I enjoy looking in on the Ruston Community Men’s Shed, a place for woodworking and fellowship. Men and women get together, repair and build projects for those who need help. And they build friendships.”