Cherry Elizabeth Cockrell, MD

One thing that is important for people to know is that my faith is really important to me. I appreciate that as a health system, Mercy supports and fosters an environment that we can talk about faith. If that's something my patients want to talk about, I want them to know I am happy to talk about that and encourage and support them in any way I can.

I would consider myself to be a good listener. I think that just makes it easier to be passionate about caring for what people are going through or what problems they're facing. I think that's essential to primary care as well, just being able to listen, being in the other person shoes and having that compassion and empathy.

I chose primary care as my specialty because it's always been relationships that attracted me to medicine. That's the essence of primary care. You develop deep relationships with patients as you treat the variety of conditions they come in with, and those relationships become lifelong. Compassion and being a good listener are important skills, because patients come in with a variety of conditions. Knowing how to listen helps you get to the bottom of what's bothering them and making sure they get the best care. If I could give patients one piece of advice, it would be don't be afraid. Whatever's been bothering you, nagging at you, causing anxiety, just go ahead, come in, let's talk about it, let's get it treated. If it's nothing to worry about, get that peace of mind and get rid of that anxiety keeping you up at night. If it is something that needs to be addressed, we can get it treated before it gets any worse.