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E-mail This StoryDr. Nicole Bryan can empathize with the problems of her patients because she’s had them too.
“I had problems for a long time. I know how difficult it is to suffer with constant problems,” she said.
At the age of 14, Bryan, then Nicole Larson, had allergy and sinus problems. Her parents brought her to see ENT specialist Dr. David Chihal at Trinity Medical Center. At 16, she underwent surgery to help open her sinuses and help prevent the recurring sinus infections and headaches. Nineteen years later, her allergy and sinus problems are long gone, but her ties to Chihal are not.
That’s because Chihal extended an offer to Bryan to become his first medical partner in his 23 years at Trinity Medical Center. Bryan officially began Aug. 1.
“As I phase myself out, it’s better to bring someone in,” Chihal said. “I know her. I know her family. I would rather have somebody I know, I trust. Plus she has great credentials from residency.”
Bryan graduated from Newman Smith High School in 1992. She obtained a bachelors degree in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, then earned her Master of Science in Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. Then she attended medical school at the University of Texas at San Antonio and spent five years completing her residency in Otolaryngology at the University of New Mexico.
“It was never my big plan, per se, that I was going to come back home,” Bryan said. “I feel really lucky. I don’t think I would have had any better opportunity. It all came together really nicely.”
Keeping in contact with Chihal through the years has helped Bryan come full circle since first meeting him as a patient. During her junior year of medical school, she came to Trinity to observe Chihal performing ENT surgery and discuss a future career in ENT. Specialists in Otolaryngology, or ENT, treat disorders of the ears, nose and throat. They are also surgeons and do surgery as well as medical treatment.
“I knew I wanted to do a surgical specialty,” Bryan said. “I always liked the anatomy of the head and neck. Most of the people I met really liked what they did. It all went together, it worked and made sense.”
Bryan said she enjoys the interaction with patients.
“The thing that’s challenging, but interesting, is that every patient is different. Each case is unique. You get to know people more than you do in other jobs.”
Bryan met and married her husband while in residency. She says she is still trying to discover her hobbies after dedicating the past five years to her grueling residency schedule, but is glad to be able to spend more time with her husband, parents and dog. Working in a familiar atmosphere has made the transition from resident to full-time doctor much easier.
“Dr. Chihal is just a great guy,” she said. “He’s someone that my family has known for a long time.”
