Within The University of New Mexico Health and Health Sciences community, there are thousands of people with diverse personal reasons for entering health care. For two UNM leaders, their journey into medicine began as mother and son.
Eve Espey, MD, MPH is the chair for the UNM School of Medicine Department of OB-GYN, and Nathan Boyd, MD is the interim chair of the School’s Dental Medicine Department.
“I’m really passionate about reproductive health. One of the things I have enjoyed most about my career is building a program that incorporates clinical care and education on reproductive health care,” Espey said.
Boyd, who is also the director of Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery at UNM Hospital, specializes in oncology. “I just love taking care of patients,” he said.
Sitting by his mother’s side in her office, Boyd recounted a formative moment from his childhood playing ping pong with Espey. “She told me that anything I can do, she can do 10 times better,” he said with a laugh.
“I mean, he was six years old. So, I thought it was an appropriate time to really let him know,” Espey replied jokingly.
Six years after that memorable ping pong match, Espey—who was a single mother at the time—moved a 12-year-old Boyd from Southern California to New Mexico to start her career as an attending OB-GYN physician at the Gallup Indian Medical Center. A two-year contract turned into six years before Boyd graduated from Gallup High; but not before declaring his plans to follow in his mother’s footsteps.
“He was in 11th grade when he announced to me that he was going to be a doctor, and I was absolutely thrilled,” Espey said. “Typically, boys follow in the footsteps of—well, not their mothers—so that was a really nice moment, and I have totally enjoyed having a career in common.”
Espey’s life and career brought her to UNM shortly after Boyd received his high school diploma. However, it would be several years until he would join her there.
“I’ll never forget when Nathan graduated from high school and was going to college in California while I was moving to Albuquerque to take the job here at UNM and get married to my now husband of 26 years,” Espey said. “My car was pointed east; Nathan’s car was pointed west; we were sitting on the porch swing. Nathan said, ‘Well mom, thanks for raising me.’ Then off we went in our separate directions.”
Years later, Boyd’s path rejoined Espey’s. Professional relationships formed with his otolaryngology mentors during medical school and an opportunity to be closer to family drew him back to Albuquerque where he started his career as an attending otolaryngology surgeon at UNM Hospital. Even then neither could have predicted becoming chairs of different UNM School of Medicine departments simultaneously.
While they have different specialties, their passion for delivering optimal patient care aligns perfectly.
“I have really loved it here—the diverse people we take care of—and our mission encompassing education and research has been gratifying," Espey said. "It’s been rewarding seeing Nathan doing similar work.”
Boyd noted that his mother has been his primary mentor and inspiration for pursuing medicine; now they continue learning from each other as colleagues.
“We learn from each other like all good relationships,” Espey remarked while looking at her son beside her. “Even before you were interim chair—but certainly now facing some similar challenges—I learn as much from our conversations as you do from me. We have different perspectives... It helps parents and children focus less on mentorship alone but enjoy each other more.”
