Dr. Francesca Decker is a family doctor with a master’s degree in public health (M.P.H.). She is also a writer, actor, wife and an exhausted-and-gleeful toddler-mom.
Francesca graduated from Cornell University with honors, before entering a combined M.D./M.P.H. program at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY. She completed her family medicine residency at the University of Rochester, where she was also a chief resident. Throughout her training, she was involved in research on issues like access to healthy foods in rural settings, medical student perspectives on patient sexual health, and the long-term effects of behavior change programs on patient obesity.
She started this site in 2015, while caring for her mother, who died from a rare disease called multiple system atrophy (or MSA) in March of 2016. The name is a humandoctor, because she felt like too often she had to detach from her humanity as a doctor, and she saw other doctors doing the same. The words are linked together to reinforce that connection.
After her mom died, Francesca rediscovered her passion for acting, completed a five-semester program in the Meisner technique, and decided to take a break from practicing medicine. She and her husband moved to Los Angeles in 2018, and she gave birth to their daughter that same year.
She was able to land a couple agents and a manager, attend numerous auditions, book a few roles, and learn from some of the best acting programs and teachers in the world.
But when COVID-19 hit, the doctor and public health advocate in Francesca’s brain kicked into overdrive. She found herself translating what was going on to friends and family members, and felt a pull back to medicine, and to the East Coast. Francesca and her family moved back to the East Coast in 2020, where she has returned to medical practice, while continuing to pursue her passion for edutainment.
If you have questions or ideas you’d like to discuss with Francesca, contact her here.