Raised by a mother and father who were both pharmacists in Tunica, Mississippi, Trey Eubanks, MD, has always seen the importance of taking care of people.
“In that type of small community, when people get sick, they often go to the pharmacy first,” he says. “Some of them never went to the doctor and just went to Dr. Eubanks, who was my dad, and asked him for help.”
Dr. Eubanks credits many of his life decisions to his parents and other people who inspired him at pivotal moments. For more than two decades, he has dedicated his career to training future doctors as a professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, treating patients as a pediatric surgeon at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, and fostering the growth of his colleagues as a leader at both institutions. Now, in his first year as president of Le Bonheur, Dr. Eubanks’ goals are centered around building up the hospital’s people – the faculty, staff, and trainees – to provide patients and families with the best care possible.
While his experience around pharmacy sparked his interest in medicine, an incident on the high school football field cemented his ambition to become a doctor. “It was a tight game, and we had to block an extra point to keep us in it. We were able to block the point, but in the meantime, the left tackle, who weighed about 280 pounds, fell on my arm and dislocated my elbow,” he says. A doctor on the sidelines took young Dr. Eubanks to the hospital to pop his elbow back into place. “I was in a lot of pain, and all of a sudden, boom, it was gone. And I thought, man, if I can do that for somebody – relieve their pain and restore their health – that’s what I want to do.”
After high school, Dr. Eubanks attended the University of Mississippi on a premed track. He humbly admits he was not fully focused on his studies, so he decided to follow in his parents’ footsteps and attend pharmacy school rather than risk rejection from medical school. But during pharmacy school, Dr. Eubanks had a reawakening that inspired him to improve his grades, and he revitalized his goal to be a medical doctor.
Dr. Eubanks attended medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where his interest in surgery grew. His first clinical rotation was in pediatric surgery. He recalls a case on his first day of the rotation that confirmed pediatric surgery was his calling. “We took care of a little kid who had Hirschsprung’s disease, which meant he couldn’t go to the bathroom. We made it where he could normally go to the bathroom and eat and thrive,” he says. “As a medical student, I had been studying books all this time, reading and memorizing formulas, and now I’m actually taking care of patients, so I was just kind of amazed with all of peds surgery at that time.”
When the time came to match into residency, Dr. Eubanks was all but set on branching out to other parts of the country. However, he interviewed at UT Health Science Center as a favor to someone, and to his surprise, it ended up being his favorite residency interview. Dr. Eubanks was drawn to the people he encountered through the process – including the other residents, the doctors who interviewed him, and the college’s staff – and he was inspired by their sense of pride and their attitude of service and teamwork.
During his residency in Memphis, Dr. Eubanks was introduced to Le Bonheur as well as multiple faculty members who had a positive impact on his experience. He looked up to the late Louis Britt, MD, a transplant surgeon who served as chair of the College of Medicine’s Department of Surgery. He worked in a lab with Dr. Britt and Osama Gaber, MD, who became a mentor to Dr. Eubanks even after they no longer worked together.
“That was the thing that always struck me about the UT Health Science Center faculty – you never quit being a mentee,” he says. “Even after you’ve finished your rotation with them and moved on to being a chief resident, they would still mentor you and help you get through tough times. Even now, I still call my mentors occasionally to ask them how they would handle certain situations, leadership questions, and things like that.”
After his residency, Dr. Eubanks completed a fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. After two years there, he felt compelled to return to Memphis, not only because of his appreciation for Le Bonheur and for UT Health Science Center, but also to be closer to his roots.
“I wanted to come back and take care of my people,” he says. “Tunica is only 35 miles south of here, and we kind of collectively call ourselves ‘Memphissippians.’ I grew up in this area, and North Mississippi and the Delta are just a part of me, so to be able to come back here and serve this area of West Tennessee, North Mississippi, and East Arkansas is a real privilege.”
Dr. Eubanks has now dedicated more than 20 years of his career to Le Bonheur and UT Health Science Center. In addition to serving as a professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery in the College of Medicine, he has held many leadership roles at Le Bonheur, including surgeon-in-chief and medical director of trauma. Among his proudest accomplishments is developing Le Bonheur into a Level 1 trauma center, which he recalls was no simple task.
“I had to work with our neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, chief nursing officer, peds emergency medicine, and critical care, to get everybody to pull in the in the same direction for the same goal of being completely, 100% prepared for any kid that comes in the door,” he says. “We had to meet specific national guidelines, some of which were really difficult.”
The hard work has paid off. Dr. Eubanks says being a Level 1 trauma center has improved the care of children across the organization, benefiting patients in the emergency room, the operating room, and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. “I can think of half a dozen kids off the top of my head who never would have even had a chance of surviving but did survive because we have a Level 1 trauma center, some of whom I took care of,” he says.
As faculty, Dr. Eubanks takes pride in sharing his surgical expertise with UT Health Science Center trainees, and he enjoys watching them grow as they work through their program. Since he once stood in their shoes, he relates to many hardships trainees face, and he strives to assure them their sacrifice is worth it. “I like to catch them when they’re a little bit down and say, ‘Hardships make heroes – here’s your chance to be one,’” he says. “Being a resident or a fellow is hard. You are going to be here taking care of patients when your wife, your husband, or your children are sick. It doesn’t help when you dwell on the fact that you’re here doing this and can’t be at home. What you need to do is focus on the patient and the family, take great care of them, and then take pride in that.”
As he navigates the highest leadership position of his career so far, Dr. Eubanks is continuing to focus on people. His top priority is to retain and recruit employees who put patients and families first, who strive to discover cures to illnesses that affect children and ways to prevent disease and injury in children, and who are great educators for the next generation. Through the work of a dedicated faculty, Dr. Eubanks says Le Bonheur can continue to grow its national reputation as a top children’s hospital and training location for the future health care workforce while holding onto its culture of friendliness and charm.
“This hospital is only as good as its people. The buildings are great, the floors are fantastic, and the art is very beautiful, but that doesn’t help anybody get well, per se. What does is the attitude, the capabilities, and the commitment of the people we hire,” he says. “We’ve got to continue to bring in great people who have a great work ethic, who love to educate, and can do great research. That’s really what we need – a great team of people that the University of Tennessee Health Science Center will be proud of.”