Fellow focus: Dr. Murphy Hinson

Get to know Dr. Murphy Hinson, PGY-5 cardiology fellow. Dr. Hinson completed internal medicine residency at UMMC and was a chief resident before entering cardiology fellowship. Here, he shares about his path to cardiology, his memorable month as a visiting student at UMMC, and his love of Mississippi.

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First, tell us about you.

I am from Natchez, Mississippi, and currently a second-year cardiology fellow. Recently I have been fortunate enough to accept an interventional fellowship spot here at UMMC (whoop whoop)!  I went to William Carey Medical School and was fortunate enough to do my residency here in internal medicine.   I did my undergraduate at the best University in the state of Mississippi, i.e. Mississippi State University. I am married to the most beautiful, caring, and outgoing woman I know who just happens to be my best friend, Caroline! Isn’t she lucky! I have two beautiful children named Ella Murphy (6) and Holt (4) who are little balls of energy! Those three are my rock and they are the motivation that keeps me going.  

When did you know you wanted to pursue cardiology?

Well, if I am being honest, I struggled with my decision mightily in the beginning.  I have always enjoyed taking care of sick people and watching them respond to treatment.  I also learned early on that I enjoy procedures.  During my intern year, the ICU consisted of two residents at night without an in-house fellow, which left us plenty of opportunities for procedures.  At the time, that was considered our “growing up month” and naturally, most people tended to gravitate towards the ICU. I also enjoyed the ICU, in part, because there were some great pulmonary fellows to teach me along the way. One was a mentor of mine, who is likely the reason I ended up at UMMC and the other is now trying to teach me ECMO on occasion.  However, once I started to realize the acuity of patients on cardiology as well as how much I enjoyed the heart, it was an easy decision. I started to really enjoy the physical exam and the pathophysiology behind everything cardiology-related during my second year.  As much as I hate to admit this, I need to give credit where credit is due; during my residency there was a class of fellows that played a very large role in my decision. They were a great group of people who complemented each other well and who took the time to teach me whenever I had a question. Over time, I became close friends with three people from that class and still ask them questions when I can! The real icing on the cake for me was when I finally got to see the cath lab. I knew that is what I wanted to do going forward and once I saw it for the first time, it was case closed! 

What do you like most about UMMC?

Everything! What is not to like?  I can say with 100% certainty that everything I have ever done was to get to UMMC. Mississippi is my home and this is my home institution.  You know I went to William Carey University but wanted to be here at UMMC. It may have been a blessing for me because it provided me extra motivation to do everything I could to get here. Everything I ever did in medical school was to ensure that I could get into internal medicine residency here. Being from Mississippi, I wanted to be trained here and have never really wanted to leave, and still don’t plan on it! I think the training here is second to none. I cannot speak about all departments, but I can tell you that in the internal medicine and cardiology departments have program leadership and staff that are phenomenal and are committed to patient care and making us better physicians. I can pick up the phone and call any one of them and ask them a question and they would spend time teaching me. Talking to current fellows at other institutions, that is not the norm. I can say the same for the internal medicine department as well.  I have been blessed to be here and when it is all said and done I will have spent 8 years in training here! 

Share a memory from your time here.

Well this is a hard one – I have a lot of them! I think my first exposure as a visiting student to UMMC was one of my best. I will never forget it.  Jessie Harvey was the administration chief resident and she paired me on Red Medicine in November 2014.  Teresa Crout and Jimmy Stewart were my attendings. Day Lennep was the resident and Alisha Parker was the other visiting student with me. Who would have known that every one of those people are now faculty here! It was a fantastic month and we had lots of fun. One day I was presenting and I mispronounced the generic name for Aricept. It was pretty bad, but to make it worse I never even realized I mispronounced it. Well, since that day I have never tried to pronounce that medication’s name again. To make matters worse, Day Lennep went on to tell my wife how badly I butchered the pronunciation and to this day she still questions my pronunciation on everything! 

What advice would you give to the interns?

It is okay to not know.  You aren’t expected to know everything.  Medical school lays the foundation, but residency gives you the building blocks to build you into the physician you want to be. You get out what you put in.  It is really that simple. The key is to work hard and not be lazy. I would much rather work with an intern with a great work ethic who is teachable rather than an intern who scored the highest on the ITE but is lazy.  

What could you give a 40-minute presentation on without preparation?

Well, probably not much. I have fear of public speaking but if it was a small group then I think I could manage a talk on hunting! Just ask Jeremy Courtney, Varun Sardar, and John Kolawole!

What is something you wish you knew more about?

A lot of things.  If I could choose one thing, it would be business administration because sometimes, I find myself wondering or questioning some things that physicians are required to do.

What are some small things that make your day better?

Seeing my kids and my wife! Making sure I am able to drink the right Monster color. It has to be pink or purple. Orange is acceptable, but any other color will just ruin it.  

Tell us something about you that most people don’t know.

I am definitely not a mechanic. I once blew up a car motor after changing the oil. Lesson learned – I have never changed the oil again. Also, even though I was a chief resident, I am terrified of public speaking. Once I had to speak at a conference because Monica Watkins wouldn’t cancel it it for me. I ended up taking propranolol beforehand and almost passing out! Good times.

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