UW Cheyenne Residency Physician Receives VIP Award for Aiding Maternal Delivery

A second-year resident at the University of Wyoming’s Family Medicine Residency Program in Cheyenne is the recipient of the Very Important Person (VIP) Award given each quarter by Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.

Chyanne Brown, a resident physician who will pursue a fellowship in obstetrics/gynecology after completing her residency, received the award during a ceremony May 26. She was nominated for her diligence, dedication and care given to a patient in labor. 

Her nominator, a nurse working in the delivery room, says “We had a younger mom who was not coping well before her epidural. Dr. Brown came into the room and saw she was in distress and instantly sprang into action, doing whatever she could to comfort and support her to help her cope.”

Brown’s nominator continues, “Dr. Brown didn’t have to do this, as another nurse could’ve assisted. But she did so without a second thought all the way up until we had a baby that night. It was amazing to witness a resident go above and beyond for someone she just met and be extremely active in their care.”

Brown graduated from medical school in December 2020 from the University of Medicine and Health Sciences, St. Kitts. After graduation, she became a birth doula and spent time with several women during their pregnancies, through their third trimesters, birth and into their postpartum periods.

This experience used Brown’s medical knowledge as well as teaching her learned comfort measures to help empower pregnant patients during an important time in their lives. Brown matched into UW’s Cheyenne residency program and became a first-year resident in July 2024. She will graduate from residency in June 2027.

“I am honored that I was recognized, but it was certainly not something I was expecting,” Brown says. “I don’t get to use my doula training very often in residency but, when I can, I try to be in the room working as a team with nurses to ensure a safe labor and delivery process.

“That is what I was doing with this patient, and it felt like a normal night to me,” she continues. “I have strived to put patients first in the world of labor and delivery, as I am highly sensitive to the many fears that birthing people have when interacting with the healthcare system.”

“Residents are often busy during their hospital shifts,” says Evan Norby, program director for the UW Family Medicine Residency Program in Cheyenne. “Rarely do they have the physical time or mental space to be there for patients in the way Dr. Brown was for this patient. When these times do happen, they serve as an internal validation that reinforces the human parts of medicine missing in many aspects of modern-day medicine. I am so happy that Dr. Brown was able to attend to her patient’s needs that night. It is nice to see her practice style recognized by others. Thankfully, Dr. Brown’s patients get to see it with each interaction.”

“We are so proud of Dr. Brown,” adds Beth Robitaille, designated institutional official and director of UW’s Department of Graduate Medical Education. “Connecting with patients on a personal level like this is the true joy of medicine. It is wonderful to see our resident physicians role model such compassionate care.”

The Cheyenne Family Medicine Residency Program is part of the Department of Graduate Medical Education in UW’s College of Health Sciences.