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by Ashley Barker
Public Relations
Amy Blue, Ph.D.,
assistant provost for education and
professor of Family Medicine, began
running in 2001. She considers her
running "very low key," even with a
couple of completed marathons under her
belt.
"It's pretty much
just one foot in front of the other,"
she said. "I'm not fast. That doesn't
bother me. I finish. That's the whole
point."
From time spent
on sidewalks and tracks running to
relieve stress and stay healthy, to her
time in the classroom and in meetings
about interprofessional education at
MUSC, Blue has a constant support system
of women to lead the way.
Two mothers who
had sons on the same soccer team as her
son inspired Blue to begin running when
her now 17-year-old son, Ryan, was just
5.
 Dr.
Amy Blue, director for Creating
Collaborative Care and assistant provost
for education, with her husband, Dr.
Chip Mainous III, at a fun run in
Bristol, England in 2011.
"They were able
to manage running and being working
moms. So I just went out the front door
and started running too," she said. "I
always thought that to be a runner, you
have to be an athlete and had to have
been running for years. They both
changed it for me."
Eventually Blue
discovered that a neighbor was doing
something similar in her spare time.
"We found out
that we both run at the same pace and
have the same philosophy, so we decided
to meet up and run together about five
years ago," Blue said. "She was, in many
ways, the inspiration for my first
marathon because she had done one."
Blue completed
the Kiawah Island and Charleston
marathons with her neighbor's support.
She was planning to run the New York
City marathon this past year, but
Hurricane Sandy's damage put an end to
all of the participants' dreams.
"My son and I
were there in Madison Square Garden when
I started getting text messages from
friends saying, 'Did you hear they
canceled the marathon?'" she said. "I
had my shirt and bib number already. I'm
signed up for next year's race."
During the past
15 years while working at MUSC, Blue has
learned to balance running marathons
with being a mother and a working
professional.
 Dr.
Amy Blue shares her experience with
other institutions who are trying to
integrate an interprofessional
atmosphere into their programs.
"I haven't tried
to do everything," she said. "I have
recognized that at some point in time,
I'll be able to do some things more than
others. For many years, I taught Sunday
School at church and helped with the Boy
Scout troop. I don't do those things
anymore. I also limit my travel
professionally."
Instead, she
focuses on teaching first-year medical
students about interprofessional
communication, interviewing skills and
behavioral science in a small-group,
interactive format. Blue also shares her
experience at MUSC with other
institutions who are trying to integrate
an interprofessional atmosphere into
their programs, and she works on grant
projects that involve evaluating
interprofessional education.
"Traditionally in
health care, it's been very
hierarchical. Within that hierarchy
there is not a lot of comfort in terms
of questioning, sharing, communicating
and teamwork," she said. "There is a
push nationally for interprofessional
education in an effort to improve the
health care system so that our health
care professionals are working better
together. While working better together,
they'll improve patient care."
As she shows the
next crop of medical professionals how
to work better as a team, Blue also
hopes to be a role model for effective
collaboration to her co-workers.
"I think role
modeling is incredibly important," she
said. "A lot of times people think of
women in the workplace as automatically
kind and compassionate, and those two
don't always equate. The women mentors
in my life taught me to have a sense of
humor and know the importance of hearing
different perspectives and being able to
make decisions. The ability to engage
with others in a warm, friendly fashion
that's inviting while not being a
pushover is important too."
Women have had a
powerful influence on Blue's life, but
she wouldn't be the person she is today
without the "cute guy in Family
Medicine," her husband, Arch "Chip"
Mainous III, Ph.D.
Blue met Mainous,
associate dean for assessment and
evaluation in the MUSC College of
Medicine, and professor and director of
research, Department of Family Medicine,
more than 20 years ago while they were
both working at the University of
Kentucky.
"The first time
he asked me out for lunch, I said no
because I had a graduate student who I
was leaving for lunch with in the next
five minutes," she said. "So I said,
'No, but we could schedule for another
time,' and he hung up on me."
Weeks later, Blue spotted Mainous in the
hallway. She told him that if he wanted
to take her to lunch, he should call her
again.
"He called, and
the rest is history," she said.
Blue has since
convinced her husband to run a half
marathon, even though running has never
been a serious goal for Mainous.
"He'll complain
the entire time while training, but he's
great," she said. "The thing that keeps
me going is signing up for the races.
Then I have to do it, just like with
everything else on my schedule."
Editor's
note: In honor of
National Women's History Month, The
Catalyst will feature women who are
making a difference at MUSC.
Friday,
March 15, 2013
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