Law school confirmed Cory Brewer’s desire to serve others. It may also have saved her life.
As a law student, Brewer JDx’17 enrolled in the Center for Patient Partnerships (CPP), where she not only became a health-care advocate for her clients, but for herself as well.
CPP is a national resource for building more effective partnerships among patients, providers, and other stakeholders. As an interdisciplinary project, it draws students from the medical school, law school, and nursing school. Together, they work to help clients with serious health conditions to navigate the complexities of the health-care system.
“My supervisor at CPP is a melanoma survivor,” says Brewer, “and Kyle, one of my first clients, also has advanced-stage melanoma. It’s because of Kyle that I scheduled a dermatology appointment on a whim and learned I had in situ melanoma, which means the cancer cells were confined to the top layer of my skin. If it hadn’t been for him, I may not have caught and treated my melanoma in time.”
It was an experience that reinforced Brewer’s commitment to serving others, and it informed her approach to working with clients.
“I came here wanting to help people, and I’m approaching my education with the goal of becoming the best lawyer and the best person I can be.”
Cory Brewer
“Having to navigate the system for myself — making phone calls, scheduling appointments, figuring out which doctors to see and what insurance will cover — all helped me build empathy for Kyle and my other clients,” she says. “As a lawyer, I never want to lose sight of that.”
Another lesson for Brewer was that good lawyers never stop learning. “We are constantly researching and figuring out the best ways to support our clients,” she says. “I’ve also learned a lot about myself. I came here wanting to help people, and I’m approaching my education with the goal of becoming the best lawyer and the best person I can be.”
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