MEMBERS
DR. Who
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
BRIAN HARBRECHT, MD
Aaron Burch
D
r. Brian Harbrecht is a Louisville native who practices
today as the Director of Trauma Surgery for University
of Louisville Hospital. Although soft spoken and hum-
ble in person, his job requires steady hands and nimble
problem-solving skills on a regular basis.
Dr. Harbrecht grew up in the Bancroft neighborhood near Bal-
lard High School. He attended Trinity and played multiple sports
throughout his childhood, but spent most of his time on the bas-
ketball court.
His father, Dr. Phil Harbrecht, was a longtime surgeon at the
Louisville VA Medical Center and a member of the UofL Department
of Surgery for several decades before retiring in the early 1990s.
“When we were old enough to try to figure out what we wanted
to do, my father took me and my older brother to see what he did.
We knew what his job was, but we hadn’t watched his work much
before,” Dr. Harbrecht explained, acknowledging that medicine
wasn’t a sure thing until he entered college. He would soon discover
the field was a natural fit.
Although he interviewed across the country for residency, Lou-
isville remained Dr. Harbrecht’s first choice. “UofL seemed to have
outstanding clinical training, and I found that to be true. It was a
good place to train. I started out as every resident does, with more
book knowledge than practical knowledge. But, over time the latter
increased and so did my comfort level.”
As he approached the halfway point in his residency, Dr. Har-
brecht wanted to expand his knowledge and explore the oppor-
tunities of academic surgery. That meant putting in substantial
research time.
“I went to Dr. Hiram Polk (UofL Chairman of Surgery from
1971-2005) with my request, and he graciously made arrangements
for me to talk to a series of prominent surgical investigators to see
what opportunities were available. I spoke with physicians from
three or four research facilities across the country.”
Dr. Harbrecht was most intrigued by the laboratory at the Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, chaired by Dr. Richard Simmons. He moved
there for a one-year research fellowship in 1989.
“Finding a career in medicine for me was a process of exclusion.
Very few of my classmates who went into medical school saying they
wanted to be one kind of doctor actually ended up following that
path,” he said. “Surgery was my first rotation. I liked it, but I didn’t
have a firm idea that it would be my specialty until I checked out
the other rotations. I found myself coming back to it.” “One year soon turned into two. It takes a long time to get things
done in a research setting, and it was a very productive lab with
a lot of bright people. Many of those people have leadership roles
across the country today. My time at the University of Pittsburgh
was an intellectually stimulating experience, as well as a good place
to mature and broaden my learning.”
Dr. Harbrecht found relief from the daily grind of medical school
in a close-knit group of friends. “We studied as a group, played
pickup basketball, went running in the park and then went back
to studying. It became a really good pattern,” he recalled. “While
the academic load was challenging, it was easy to see where that
knowledge would fit into a future career.” In the midst of his fellowship, Dr. Harbrecht was invited to
Churchill Downs with friends. It would prove to be one of the most
important gatherings of his life, as it was there he met his wife,
Kathryn. The two were married just a few years later and now have
three children: Rachel, Mark and Eric.
Following his research fellowship, Dr. Harbrecht returned to
Editor’s Note: Welcome to Louisville Medicine’s member spotlight section, Dr. Who? In the interest of simply getting to know each other
as a society of colleagues, we’ll be highlighting random GLMS physicians on a regular basis. If you would like to recommend any GLMS
physician member to the Editorial Board for this section, please e-mail [email protected] or call him at 736-6338.
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