Three siblings find their shared calling at TCOM
Paging Dr. Daye... and Dr. Daye... and Dr. Daye...and Dr. Daye. Four Dr. Daye’s in
one family? Sounds outlandish, right? But it isn’t. Alec and Audrey Daye are brother
and sister; they are good friends; they were mischievous children growing up; they
are study partners, and now they are together one more time as medical students at
UNT Health Fort Worth’s Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, chasing their dream
together. For Alec and Audrey, it doesn’t stop with just them They have a third sibling
in medical school, Sami, making this trifecta more than a family connection when you
add that their father is a physician as well. It’s a family legacy.
Alec, a second-year student at TCOM, and Audrey, a first-year TCOM student, are following
remarkably similar paths through medicine. Just two years apart, the siblings grew
up watching their father, a general surgeon, care for patients throughout rural West
Texas. Their older brother, Sami, is one year ahead of Alec in medical school at Texas
Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso’s Foster School of Medicine.
Three siblings. Three medical students. Three different experiences. And yet, their
journeys are closely intertwined.
The story began long before medical school, in Massena, New York, a small community
along the St. Lawrence River near the Canadian border.
As children, Alec and Audrey were close, so close that occasionally they found themselves
in situations that probably made their parents question their judgment. One of those
adventures began with an idea from Audrey.
The siblings decided they would paddle across an inlet of the St. Lawrence River using
an old gymnastics mat as their makeshift vessel. Alec, then 15, and Audrey, 13, climbed
aboard and began paddling.
It did not go quite according to plan. The current carried them much farther down
the river than they expected.
“Audrey convinced me we would cross the river,” Alec said with a laugh.
Audrey remembers it similarly. The idea was hers, and Alec’s stronger arms helped
make the plan possible. Their parents, unsurprisingly, were not particularly happy
about the adventure. That episode became one of many childhood memories that illustrate
the bond between the two siblings.
“We came together as friends when we were young,” said Audrey. “We were pretty close
and joined together on some pretty crazy antics.”
That same partnership would eventually help lead them to TCOM. Their father’s career
provided the backdrop for their childhood. A general surgeon who works at multiple
hospitals across West Texas, he has served communities in places such as Monahans,
Big Spring and Andrews. Their mother is a radiology technician.
For Audrey, the interest in becoming a physician started early.
“I was always interested in being a doctor,” she said. “It’s been since first grade
that I wanted to be a doctor. We were around our Dad so much when he made rounds at
the hospital that there was a minimal interest already.”
Her interest grew as she progressed through school, particularly as she became more
fascinated by science and had opportunities to spend time around hospitals. She also
began to appreciate an element of medicine that would become especially important
to her: the way physicians interact with their patients.
She watched her father.
“I looked up to my father for his bedside manner and how much they loved him,” Audrey
said. “I was very inspired by him.”
Alec’s path was less direct.
In high school, a teacher’s passion for science helped spark his interest. An anatomy
class caught his attention, followed by microbiology and AP Biology. Audrey was in
some of those classes, too, and the siblings studied together.
“That was when I was really fascinated,” Alec said.
Their father never pressured them into medicine. In fact, Alec remembers telling his
father during his junior year of high school that he wanted to become an engineer.
His father’s response was simple: He wanted Alec to be the best engineer he could
be. That freedom ultimately made his father’s influence even more meaningful.
“I haven’t felt any pressure at all,” Alec said. “I’ve been inspired by my Dad and
his belief in us.”
That belief has followed the siblings throughout their education.
Alec took the first step toward medical school through the partnership that TCOM has
with Midland College and the Primary Care Pathway Program. Alec is quick to credit
the program's faculty and mentors, including Joey Schenkman and Shawna Lopez, the
directors of the Primary Care Pathway Program. with helping him understand what it
would take to pursue medicine.
It didn’t take long for Alec to encourage Audrey to consider the same path.
“I told Audrey how great an experience it was,” Alec said. “If you want to go to medical
school, this provides you with guidance and resources.”
Audrey eventually followed.
“I first met Joey when I was in high school, and I was very impressed by the program,”
Audrey said. “But when Alec went, he said how great the experience was and how many
resources and how much help they gave him. That convinced me to do the same.”
It is a pattern that has continued at TCOM.
Alec entered medical school a year before Audrey, giving him a head start on learning
how to navigate the pace and demands of medical education. Now, he has become something
of a guide for his younger sister.
“He’s been very helpful in telling me what’s worked for him and what hasn’t,” Audrey
said. “You would think I would be able to figure things out being in my first year
of medical school, but Alec has paved the way for me so I don’t waste my time on what
doesn’t work study-wise.”
The pair live very close to each other and see each other almost every day.
Sometimes they study separately. Sometimes they study together. Sometimes studying
together means staying up until midnight working through material, but they are both
constantly there for each other.
On exam days, Audrey might bring Alec food or an energy drink. When Audrey isn’t feeling
well, Alec returns the favor.
“We really do look out for each other,” Alec said. “Having somebody in your corner,
it makes it a lot easier.”
That support has become particularly valuable because medical school can be isolating.
Long hours of studying and the sheer volume of material can make it difficult to maintain
the same connections with family and friends that existed before medical school.
“If I moved to Fort Worth without anyone here, it would be a lot more daunting and
more homesick,” Audrey said. “Having Alec here makes a big difference; just having
him as a friend and a brother really helps.”
Their relationship also carries forward the teamwork that characterized their childhood.
Growing up, the siblings were often partners in whatever they were doing. Alec remembers
teaching Audrey how to play basketball so the two of them could team up against an older sibling.
Now the competition has been replaced by encouragement.
“We both push each other to do the best we can do,” said Alec.
And then there is Sami.
Four years older than Audrey and one year ahead of Alec in medical school, Sami is
pursuing his medical education at the Foster School of Medicine in El Paso. His experience
gives the family a third perspective — and gives his younger siblings someone who
has already encountered many of the challenges they are beginning to face.
Sami said he always knew he wanted to become a physician.
Growing up in a family of doctors, he heard stories from teachers, friends’ parents,
and others in the community about the ways his father, grandfather, and aunt had helped
people.
“There was something meaningful about using your career to have that kind of impact,
not just one time but every single day,” Sami said.
Now he is able to return that perspective to his younger siblings.
His experience preparing for the USMLE has taught him lessons he hopes will help Alec
and Audrey when they begin preparing for their COMLEX examinations. He has even written
down advice he wants to share, but Sami understands that there is no single formula
for succeeding in medical school.
“I can give my best advice, and they are welcome to ignore 99 percent of it,” Sami
said. “But if 1% of what I’ve learned is able to help them, then I’m happy to keep
sharing.”
That willingness to help reflects the larger dynamic among the three siblings.
They are not competing to see who becomes the best physician. Instead, they are creating
a succession of experience — with each sibling learning something, passing something
along and making the road a little easier for the one behind them.
Sami remembers once thinking he might be the only one of the siblings to pursue medicine.
When Alec and Audrey ultimately chose the same path, he said it was exciting and fulfilled
an image he had carried since childhood.
Now, their parents are watching all three children make their way through medical
school. The family will eventually have four physicians, with the siblings’ older
sister, Olivia, pursuing a career as a speech pathologist.
For now, though, the Daye siblings are still in the middle of the journey. They know
their time together in Fort Worth is temporary. Audrey is aware that this year represents
their second and final year of overlapping at TCOM before Alec moves forward with
rotations in his third-year.
That makes their everyday moments more meaningful.
“We are here for each other,” Audrey said. “We push each other to do better.”
For a family accustomed to medicine, the sight of three siblings pursuing the same
profession might seem almost inevitable. But the Daye siblings know it was not.
Each found medicine in a different way. Alec discovered his interest through science.
Audrey felt the calling early and was inspired by her father’s example. Sami saw from
childhood the impact a physician could make every day.
Now, their paths have converged, and starting in 2028, the physician legacy of the Daye family will grow.