Making an Impact: Kelli Bullard Dunn, MD

by Chuck Cascio, Author and Former South Lakes Teacher

Kelli Bullard Dunn, MD

The myriad achievements of Dr. Kelli Bullard Dunn are rooted in many formative experiences. She says the “range of diverse people, cultures, and ideas” she was exposed to growing up in Reston significantly influenced her career, as did the intense academic programs at South Lakes High School, from which she graduated in 1984.

One especially pivotal opportunity at SLHS occurred when she was given the chance to take Advanced Placement Biology despite not having taken the Biology I prerequisite.

“I did not have any particular interest in biology, but when I approached Faye Cascio– whom I had in seventh-grade Introduction to Physical Science and whom I admired– about potentially taking AP Bio, she told me that if I read the biology textbook over the summer, I could enroll in her class." Kelli says she read the entire textbook "on the beach, from cover to cover, and it was in that class that I found my academic passion. I studied hard, but it didn’t feel like work."

Work came later for Kelli. She graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Human Biology, a program she describes as "a unique interdisciplinary major that, at the time, incorporated social sciences such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology with more traditional biology like biochemistry, anatomy, and more. Those integrated units explored ways that human interactions with one another and with the environment influence biology, evolution, health, and disease—things we now call 'Social Determinants of Health.' "

With her commitment to biology firmly established, Kelli pursued a medical career and graduated from Harvard Medical School. "I ultimately decided to become a surgeon,” she says, “not only because it was really hard and not many women pursued this career in the 1990s, but also because it incorporated the intellectual components of medicine with active interventions. Plus...operating is really fun!"

With her career as a colorectal surgeon well established, Kelli saw other opportunities to expand her impact through research and teaching. She has lived in 13 cities ("So far," she says), and has spent her career at universities and medical schools "where teaching and research are an integral part of what I do, in addition to clinical care of patients."

Kelli and her husband, and their daughter and son, now live in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2011, Kelli began working with the University of Louisville School of Medicine, where she created the Office of Community Engagement (OCE) that merges the university's medical knowledge with the private and public sectors. "We have integrated community engagement and engaged scholarship in all of the missions of the medical school, from clinical training to research," Kelli says, “and we have developed new curricula and secured resources for scholarships and innovation."

Through the work of the OCE, Kelli also has become increasingly involved with a number of community organizations, public schools, and nonprofits, as well as frequently interacting with political leaders on health policies at the local, state, and federal levels. Of particular importance, Kelli notes, is that "We have targeted programs in high schools with significant populations of students from marginalized and economically underprivileged backgrounds; for example, we have a 'Mini Medical School' program at Central High where, it must be noted, Muhammad Ali was a student!" The impact of the OCE program has been profound, doubling the enrollment of underrepresented students in medicine over the past four years.

"Reflecting on my career, I realize that I have gained the greatest satisfaction from teaching and mentorship, whether it is from high school students in our pipeline programs or faculty who want to start community-based projects," Kelli says. "My daughter thinks I should retire and teach high school biology, which sounds very appealing to me and brings me full circle back to Faye Cascio, my mentor at South Lakes."

Kelli appreciates how, during her teen years, the diversity of people, cultures, and experiences in Reston steadily influenced her life’s direction. "Growing up in Reston, I thought inclusion was just the norm, and it led me to embrace differences of all types," she says.

"Reston’s environment shaped many of the values I hold today that have led me to my work in health equity as well as clinical medicine. This had a profound influence on my personal and professional paths. I feel incredibly lucky to have lived there and would move back in a nanosecond!"