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COM Outlook . Summer-Fall 2014
to faculty educational programs, to
being the first recipient of the NSU
President’s Excellence in Community
Service Award in the faculty category,
I think the thing that touches me most
is our Chairs Didactic Program,” she
stated. “One of the things about being
a physician in academics is that no
one trains you to be an academician.
Who teaches the doctors how to be
educators, department chairs, and
administrators? When I came here,
there were a lot of new department
chairs, so I created the Chairs Didactic
Program, where the department chairs
are required to attend a training pro-
gram twice a month.
“Initially, it was not a warmly
embraced program because we were
mandating that the chairs attend
training from 8:00-9:30 two Thursday
mornings a month. But what has hap-
pened with the program has been one
of the most rewarding in my career,
specifically because this nidus of
individuals has been together for four
years. We’ve dealt with areas such as
what it takes to deal with HR and legal
issues, to become good administra-
tors, to deal with difficult faculty mem-
bers, and to be encouraging to other
faculty members. More importantly,
we’ve become a very tightknit group
of colleagues and friends. It is the
most rewarding group of colleagues I
have ever been involved with.”
Along with attaining professional
happiness at NSU-COM, Dr. Wal-
lace found personal fulfillment as
well when she met her partner, Jill
Wallace-Ross, D.O., who serves as as-
sistant professor of family medicine.
Their union has produced three won-
derful children—six-year-old Raven
and three-year-old twins Hawk and
Jagger, who bring much joy to her life.
“I always wanted to have children, so
I’m truly grateful to be a parent now
at this stage of my life,” said Dr. Wal-
lace of her three precocious offspring.
They remind me every day what life is
truly all about.”
Living for Today…Planning
for Tomorrow
One trait that makes Dr. Wallace so
intrinsically interesting is her commit-
ment to setting both short- and long-
term goals, which is a practice she has
maintained religiously throughout her
adult life. “Early on, I decided I wanted
to continually reflect on my life,” she
explained. “Once a year, I would go
someplace and compose my plan for
the next year. And then once every 5
to 10 years, I would go somewhere
and write up my long-term goals. The
first place I chose to go for my long-
term plan was Chichen Itza in Mexico
because of all the pyramids I’ve been
to around the world, Chichen Itza is
my favorite. So every 5 or 10 years I re-
turn to Chichen Itza, sit down with my
journal, and think about what I want
to accomplish over the next decade.”
In terms of her annual contempla-
tion site, Dr. Wallace selected Am-
sterdam, which she has visited over
20 times. “I’m sure I’ve spent many a
lifetime in Amsterdam because there’s
something about the way the light
bounces off the water in the canals
that does something to my brain,” she
revealed. “It really attracts me.”
Interestingly, the last time she
visited Amsterdam at the end of 2012,
Dr. Wallace experienced a power-
ful epiphany that brought her to a
place all enlightened human beings
hope to reach. “The last time I visited
Amsterdam, I flew over by myself with
my journal and enough money in my
pocket to deal with my living expenses
for a week,” she explained. “But as I
sat on the bench I usually sit on and
prepared to write, I thought to myself,
‘What do I want to do with my life in
the next year?’ It only took me one
paragraph to realize I had gotten to
the point where I had achieved ev-
erything I wanted in life—a great job,
a wonderful partnership, and three
beautiful children. So I took the mon-
ey I had in my pocket, bought a return
ticket, and returned home the next day
without even staying in Amsterdam 24
hours. I have not been back since.
“I’ve hit a place in my life where
I’m really happy,” she concluded. “I
am, however, planning my next de-
cade. And I think the thing on the top
of my list is to write a book because I
feel I have some unique and esoteric
experiences to share because I’ve
lived a life that is really four or five
lives rolled into one.”
When Dr. Wallace publishes her
collection of life experiences, there’s
no doubt it will be a must-read for
all who know her—as well as the
world beyond.
Dr. Wallace
collaborating on a
research project during
her fourth year as an
Ole Miss student.
