Kindred Healers: A Mother-Daughter Legacy at Jefferson

Patricia Curtin White, MD ’88, FEL ’00, had already worked as a physician assistant when she arrived at Jefferson, but medical school was a leap of faith. “They told me I could become whatever type of doctor I wanted, and a good one,” she says. “That really stuck with me.”

Patricia became a leader during her time at Jefferson, serving as class president and later returning to complete a fellowship in geriatrics. She’s stayed deeply connected to the university through volunteer roles, most recently as president of the SKMC Alumni Association. “It was the best decision I ever made,” she says. “I felt well trained, supported, and inspired. Jefferson prepared me to be the kind of doctor who really listens.”

That example wasn’t lost on her daughter, Mary B.C. White, MD ’21. “We share a lot, same high school, same college, same med school, but she didn’t walk my path. She created her own,” Patricia says.

Mary shadowed Jefferson-trained doctors and joined her mom on service trips to Haiti before deciding to pursue medicine herself. At Jefferson, she joined Student Council, volunteered with JeffHOPE, and was part of the inaugural JeffMD curriculum. “It gave us earlier clinical exposure and a team-based learning model that really prepared us,” Mary says.

Having just finished her internal Medicine Residency and Chief Resident year at Yale, Mary is proud to share more than just a diploma with her mother. “We’re both internists. We both care deeply about our patients. And we both love Jefferson,” she says. “I hope one day to pass that passion on to the next generation.” Mary is now in the GI (Gastroenterology) Fellowship at Yale, along with her husband, Ben Chipkin, MD ’21.