Dr. Tracey Henry ’02
It’s common practice for patients to ask their doctors for some measure of spiritual guidance, in addition to their medical expertise. University of Mobile alumna Dr. Tracey Henry is no exception, but unlike many physicians who don’t necessarily count godliness among their skills, she has a soul full of scriptural references, ripe for the giving.
“I really enjoy helping people achieve wellness,” Henry said. “And part of that wellness is spiritual wellness.”
Henry, a 2002 graduate, knew she wanted a devotional component to her college education, as well as smaller class sizes, accountability and one-on-one interactions with her teachers. She found all of that at the University of Mobile.
“I was really looking for a complete package where you’re supported, even from a spiritual standpoint, and get a quality education,” Henry said. “It was a world-class education, but on a smaller scale.”
A rising star in Mobile, Henry’s reputation has continued to soar in the years since she graduated from the University of Mobile with a degree in psychology. She attended medical school at Georgetown University and earned her Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Now a practicing physician and professor with Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, in 2017 she was chosen as one of 60 U.S. Presidential Leadership Scholars, which was the culmination of years of training and support that she traces back to her years in Mobile.
Long an advocate for the burden of student loan debt on the medical profession, Henry has testified before the U.S. Congress about the average student loan debt of $200,000 that hampers students in healthcare fields. That leads many aspiring students to choose to specialize — which has greater earning potential than primary care physicians — or eschew the profession altogether.
The notion that someone would deny a deeply rooted vocation solely due to financial concerns is an affront to passionate healers like Henry, and she’s chosen to try and change the way the system works.
Methods of treatment might always be in flux in the medical field, “but what doesn’t change is learning how to think and synthesize information,” Henry said. “And I think I learned that really well at the University of Mobile.”
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