A Life in Medicine: Drs. Barnes and Ugarte Hopkins

EDITOR’S NOTE: In recognition of National Doctors’ Day, coming up on Sunday, March 30, 2025, RACmonitor and ICD10monitor will be honoring two nationally recognized physicians: Drs. Clarissa Barnes and Juliet Ugarte Hopkins.

Both Doctors Clarissa Barnes and Juliet Ugarte Hopkins seemed convinced at an early age that medicine – specifically, becoming a physician – was their intended life’s pursuit.

“My father is a family practice physician, and growing up, my Halloween costumes were about 95 percent ‘doctor’ (with an occasional baseball player),” recalled Barnes in a recent interview. “It was likely around high school that I realized medicine was my calling.”

On the other hand, Hopkins remembers reading a book, “The Human Body,” while visiting the venerable Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

“Along with being very interested in the science, I really latched on to the concept of helping people, all day, every day,” Ugarte Hopkins said. “There was a period when I wanted to be a veterinarian as well, but my mother convinced me I wouldn’t have patients if I also took care of dogs!”

For Barnes, who is the Past President of the American College of Physician Advisors, she liked the idea of combining “hard work and heart to take care of your family and friends, neighbors, (and) the practice of medicine.”

But, she admits, somewhere along her journey to become a physician, she concluded that “lots of policies that influence how medicine was practiced were made by people who had never taken care of patients directly,” she said. “This made me want to not only be a physician, but to eventually use the knowledge I gained as a physician to go on to help both patients and physicians by improving the healthcare system.”

Meanwhile, growing up in Illinois, Ugarte Hopkins quickly learned what type of medical professional she wanted to be.

“My original plan was to pursue family practice or emergency medicine, so I would be versed in caring for patients of any age,” recalled Ugarte Hopkins, also a Past President of the American College of Physician Advisors. “But my first week of rotating in an adult-oriented specialty made me realize adults are gross. It’s one thing for a four-year old to vomit on you, and an entirely different experience for a forty-year-old to do the same.”

Dr. Barnes’s experience came in South Dakota, where she’s now the chief medical officer for the state’s Medicaid operation.

“I had been working as a physician advisor both at the system level and as the lead for the tertiary care/flagship hospital of my system for many years,” she said. “(When) the opportunity to become the chief medical officer for Medicaid came up, I realized it was a great opportunity to get to influence and potentially change the types of rules you work within as a physician advisor – the ability to learn the processes and system would be valuable insight, moving forward. And personally, it would allow me to work on additional leadership and management skills.”

Ugarte Hopkins, who is now associated with Phoenix Medical Management, eagerly offered this advice to women who might be considering a career in medicine:

“It breaks my heart to meet young women who originally thought about becoming physicians, but were convinced by family members it would be too hard – and prevent them from having a family,” she said. “This still happens in the 2020s, despite most graduating medical school classes being 50 percent female for decades! Put yourself, your goals, and your aspirations first; figure out the rest as you go, (and) block out anyone who advises you otherwise.”

Dr. Barnes believes that a career in medicine is a calling. “In medicine, you spend a lot of time “caretaking,” she said.

“You cannot take care of others 24/7. You need something just for you. When time is tight and things are stressful, it will feel selfish for you to hold onto that thing, but it is vitally important that you do,” she added. “For me, that thing is running. It took me a long time to figure out what that thing is, and even once I figured it out, it became the first thing I would drop when things got hectic.”

Today, Drs. Barnes and Ugarte Hopkins are being honored for their roles as physicians, as we celebrate National Doctors’ Day this Sunday, March 30, 2025.