NOTE: Throughout the month of July, BrownwoodNews.com is publishing stories daily on 40 standout citizens under the age of 40 making a positive impact and contribution within the Brown County community.
The career path Roy Byrd admittedly attempted to avoid prior to college turned out to be the perfect fit for him. Byrd, 34, is now a doctor at AccelHeath after formerly working at Hendrick Medical Center-Brownwood, including serving as the Chief of Staff in 2021.
“The decision to be a doctor, to be completely honest, I tried to run away from it for as long as I could,” Byrd said with a laugh. “I remember following my dad around the hospital here thinking to myself ‘I don’t want to do this.’ My second year at college at UT it really kind of clicked for me. I decided this is really what I wanted to do, I want to help people in this particular type of fashion.”
As for what eventually changed Byrd’s mind, he said, “The motivating factor for me going to medicine was Matthew 25 in the Bible where Jesus tells his disciples when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, when I was without clothing you clothed me and when I was sick you visited me. And the disciples asked the Lord when they did these things for Him and Jesus said that which you do for others, you also do for me. That was really something that spoke to me and motivated me.”
Byrd returned to his native Brownwood in 2018 when he began working at Hendrick Medical Center-Brownwood.
“The decision to come back to Brownwood was really a dream, a fantastic opportunity to not only serve the community but raise a family in a fantastic place to live,” Byrd said. “You have to wear a lot of different hats to practice medicine here. You have to be able to do a little bit of everything. We have a really great, fantastic medical community here, some really great doctors who care a lot and work really hard. To be able to work with them on a regular basis is really a dream come true from a professional standpoint.
“Then from the family standpoint, my wife and I really wanted to raise our kids here. I loved growing up here, we have family here, it’s a great place to raise a family. There’s something special about knowing that if you’re white collar, blue collar, no collar, it doesn’t matter. We wanted our kids to be able to go to a school and be around people from different backgrounds and that’s not necessarily the case in every community. It’s a great representation of what real America is and a great preparation for life moving forward.”
In May of this year, Byrd made the move to AccelHealth, and spoke about the differences in the two jobs.
“In the hospital it was rewarding to be able to immediately fix someone’s problem,” Byrd said. “In the clinic now, I get a great reward in taking care of people over a long period of time and trying to help slowly chip away at multiple problems. That also allows us to slowly builds relationships and trust with patients and walk with them through the difficult disease processes they often bear.”
Byrd specializes in internal medicine, which allows him to serve a wide variety of patients in the area.
“Pretty much any sick adult that’s not pregnant and doesn’t need a surgery we take care of,” Byrd said. “With internal medicine, the field that I practice in, we can take care of a lot of different people with different disease processes, and at the same time be able to take care of chronic diseases with different organ systems like the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys. Someone who has diabetes, heart failure, heart attack, pneumonia, we take care of those on a regular basis. I’m able to practice medicine that is a little more complex with different organ systems. You get to take care of more people that way and build more relationships. That’s something I missed while working at the hospital.”
Looking ahead to the future, Byrd does not anticipate any additional professional changes.
Byrd and his wife Lindsay have three children, and he considers his family his greatest blessing. The family attends Saint John’s Church.
“I couldn’t have done this without my amazing wife Lindsay and her support,” Byrd said. “Also, both my parents (Tom and Sue Byrd) from high school on have really pushed us. Having that whole familiar support system has been very beneficial.”