Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jennaire Lewars, MD.
Hi Dr. Jennaire, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Dr. Jennaire Lewars also known as Dr. Jaii on social media platforms. I am a board certified Internal medicine/hospitalist physician and medical author. I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and relocated to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, then the United States for my medical pursuits.
My journey to embarking on a career in medicine started at 12 years old when I developed an interest in medicine, from there, my curiosity for anatomy, the appreciation for the magnificence of the human body were further culminated by influences such as my mother who happens to be a nurse.
I am a firm proponent for chasing your dreams, but also understand what it takes to make something out of nothing. Growing up, my family and I moved from Jamaica to Canada and had found ourselves needing to survive more so than thrive. As immigrants to a new country, my family had to work exceedingly hard to establish a foundation to succeed. Whether it was working various jobs before establishing their careers or moving multiple times through out the city, I tried to emulate but also built upon that determination to push myself through high school, university and medical school despite any adversity that presented itself in order to realize my dreams.
Ultimately, amidst the struggles that came with the immigrant journey, I found myself relocating Central Illinois to complete my internal medicine residency and now have found myself practicing locally within the region.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I was raised in the city of Toronto, in my earlier years I lived in a smaller community called Rexdale. My community was a tough one, with a lack of access to resources but rich in heart. There were quite a few unfortunate influences in the area with crime being rather prevalent. At the time, growing up in a location that lacked the privilege of state of the art institutions and insufficient educational resources placed me in a position that required me to seek out alternative means of pursuing my goals, such as independent research into medicine and having to navigate the educational system without counselors apt in the navigation of such a career. All of this, whilst avoiding the local conflicts plaguing our community. With my efforts in school and support from family, I did find myself being enrolled into a gifted education program, then attended and graduated from the International Baccalaureate program during my high school tenure.
A part of my drive for medicine was also born out of the lack of diversity in the field, and not seeing any physicians that looked like myself or related to my upbringing as a Caribbean – Jamaican. My goal was to establish myself as a physician, but also be able to impact individuals from all walks of life. My aim is to be a source of motivation for others living in the same framework of not being able to see physicians that look like them and not recognizing that being able to achieve the goal becoming a physician was indeed possible for those of black and Caribbean descent. I do believe that this is paramount as it is evident that those that are treated by physicians that hold such relatability do have better medical outcomes and compliance in the long-term.
My journey required quite a bit of grit as I had to move from place to place throughout medical school, whether moving to the Caribbean for basic sciences or bouncing around for various rotations utilizing short-term Airbnb rentals for months at a time between Illinois and Virginia before graduating medical school and matching into residency in Illinois.
One advantage that I was fortunate to have was the ability to rely on the motivational support of my parents and close friends throughout medical school. I was able utilize that positivity to succeed. Medical school, residency, and even the nature of being a physician can be rather daunting and grueling. There are so many instances of uncertainty, and it really does require a strong, resilient, and positive mindset to get through and having people in your corner to encourage you, does make a world of difference. My goal with my social platforms, and in my interactions with those that I come across, is to provide as much positivity and optimism in the event that they have not been fortunate enough to have experienced this themselves.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a board certified Internal medicine physician/Hospitalist and medical author responsible for the care of those 18 and over that find themselves admitted to a hospital.
I am most proud of the ability to connect with my patients and being able to explain their conditions in simple terms in order to allow them to make informed decisions about their care which at times enhances their compliance, but also allows them to govern their care.
Outside of the hospital, I have established a social media platform that is geared towards motivation and medical education. Currently, I am utilizing this ability to communicate with my patients in such a manner in order to develop a YouTube channel called “The Heart of the Matter” to help people understand their bodies outside of the confines of the hospital walls.
Additionally, I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to publish various medical cases on various topics, including a landmark case of coronary artery dissection associated with COVID-19 in the early times of the pandemic, in addition to authoring and co authoring various peer reviewed medical journal articles involving the racial disparities in cardiac surgery, endocarditis involving infections such as coxiella burnetti, lung diseases, such as pneumatocele occurrences in COVID-19 and presenting these cases at conferences, such as the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I did not really have a mentor throughout my experience, I did not have connections, particularly. Given that I did not have any physicians in my family or in our circle, I had to begin developing connections once I reached medical school. Networking is paramount as holding close relationships can be a conduit to rooms and the opening of doors that may not have been possible without that connectivity. For me, being able to participate and present at various conferences have been rather helpful. However, the connectivity via social media, such as Instagram cannot be understated, as the opportunity to interact with those in your field becomes easier as sometimes it does not require traveling thousands of miles to a conference in order to create long, lasting professional relationships.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_jaii
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jennaire-lewars-md-141b26105/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@theheartofthemattermd
