Dr. Ouida Vincent
Class of 1994

Dr. Ouida Vincent attended medical college at Cornell University Medical College in Manhattan and began residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital Integrated OB/Gyn residency in 1990. After graduating from residency, she moved to Arizona to work for the Indian Health Service in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Dr. Vincent was not a National Health Service Scholar and did not otherwise have a service obligation. Two Cornell alums wrote the head of financial aid at Cornell to update her on their whereabouts, tell her about the Indian Health Service and asked her to make sure that Cornell students knew they could do electives in the Indian Health Service. Dr. Vincent happened to be in the office when the letter arrived and opened it. After her time in Arizona, in 1995, Dr. Vincent transferred to Gallup Indian Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico where she would become the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology and eventually the Chief of Staff before transferring to Northern Navajo Medical Center in 2016. Dr. Vincent is currently the Deputy Medical Director at the Indian Health Service Hospital in Shiprock, New Mexico.

Dr. Vincent lives in Cortez, Colorado and enjoys 270 degree mountain views, a hand-tool wood shop, and organic farming.

What made you decide to pursue OB/Gyn as a career?

My uncle was an Ob/Gyn. It was really the first medical career I was exposed to. I was briefly attracted to general surgery, but the general surgeons I was exposed to seemed not to have personal lives. I was ultimately attracted to the combination of surgery and diagnostic medicine that obstetrics and gynecology offers.

What made you choose BWH/MGH as your residency?

It's reputation. Because I thought I was going to pursue a fellowship in Gyn-OncoIogy, I wanted a residency at the best match I could achieve.

What unique preparation did the BWH/MGH OB/Gyn residency give you for your career?

Over the course of my career, I have thanked my lucky starts that I was a resident at BWH/MGH. I left residency with some of the best surgical training that the country had to offer and learned excellent critical thinking skills: two assets as I began my career in public health.

How does your current position correspond to where you envisioned yourself as you finished residency?

I thought I was going to pursue a fellowship and go into academic medicine. Now I am the Deputy Medical Director of a Rural Community Hospital on the Navajo Reservation…so…no.

Do you have a favorite memory from residency?

Spending the night out with co-residents at the ‘70s disco: Polyester

If you could go back and give advice to your intern class, what advice would you give?

Take financial management/business classes. Find a mentor, whether in medicine or an outside interest.

What is the most rewarding part of your current job?

Problem solving and quality management at an administrative level.