Local student eyes future as doctor specializing in women's health

Bryana Beans is focused on her future success like anyone devoted to a single path.

The 17-year-old St. Theresa’s Catholic High School student knows where she’s going and has big plans to help women when she gets there.

When starting her co-op at King Place Retirement Home in Midland recently, Beans had the opportunity to introduce herself, and her enthusiasm for health care makes you hope that she’ll be your doctor one day.

And, she may just be. 

The teen is applying to medical school in November. 

“I want to help people that need to be helped,” says Beans.

Clarifying that asking for help is a sign of strength makes the high school senior sound wise beyond her years.

Beans says she has chosen to pursue medicine for a lot of different reasons that have all seemingly coalesced into her primary focus. 

“I have always had a really curious mind,” she says, noting she would respond to the answers she received with more questions, asking “why?” a lot. 

Her love of science led her towards marine biology, until she realized that medicine was where she found she could align her work and life enjoyment.

After working with children at Marygrove Camp, she briefly considered specializing in pediatrics, but quickly determined she would get too attached to her patients.

With the reversal of Roe vs. Wade — a historic Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion in the United States — Beans knew that women’s health was where she could help the most.

“It’s important that we get a say in what’s healthy for us. We need resources that are helpful for us,” says Beans of her desire for representative health care. 

While Beans says Canadians have had some basic reassurance from their government, she remains vigilant about a woman’s right to choose and many more women’s health issues.

“Medicine is still a male-dominated field,” says Beans, indicating she is hoping to change that. 

Historically, health care has focused on men’s health, and many health studies continue to focus primarily on men. According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, early heart attack signs are missed in about 78 per cent of women, and two-thirds of heart disease and stroke clinical research has focused on men, she explained.

Beans wants to open a health-care facility that looks at all aspects of women’s health. She lists physical and mental health, help getting out of domestic violence, a safe abortion clinic, and a safe pregnancy clinic among her priorities. 

“I want to offer women a place where they won’t have men disregard their issues as another ‘problem’,” she says. “It will be a place that addresses women’s health in a caring and nurturing manner.”

Beans says she’s had the experience of having her own health concerns downplayed by male doctors.

Gender is one of the main social determinants of health, and gender bias leads to women being misdiagnosed on a regular basis.

While addressing the systemic biases in the healthcare system is no mean feat, Beans is resolutely prepared with an optimistic outlook for the future.  

“Things that are meant to happen will come to you,” says Beans. “Don’t stress it. The more you stress it, the more difficult it will be for you.”

Her advice to anyone pursuing their dream is all about karma. 

“If I put charisma and ambition out in the universe it will come back to you.”