Amanda White was well on her way to becoming an elementary-school teacher when she took a part-time job with a pediatrician in Irving. “He told me if he could do it again, he would be a physician assistant,” she remembers.
Although White completed her bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Dallas and taught for a year, she couldn’t forget her mentor’s admission. “I investigated physician assistant (PA) programs and went back to school to complete the necessary prerequisites while working at UT Southwestern doing Alzheimer’s research,” she says.
While completing the PA program at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, White quickly discovered she was drawn to urology. “The attending physicians and residents I worked with during my urology rotation just seemed so down to earth,” she adds. “They allowed me to do procedures, be involved in surgeries and see as many patients as I wanted. I excelled and participated more than many of the med students.”
Fresh out of PA school, White began working alongside Dr. Tracy Cannon-Smith and Dr. Keith Xavier helping women overcome incontinence. She’s been with them ever since.
Now eight years into her dream career, she is thankful that her college mentor set her on this path. “Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us, but his positive influence is a staple in the way I try to practice medicine,” she admits. “I find joy in educating patients. I think patients really appreciate that I take the time to explain a little bit more about anatomy and how the disease process affects their bodies. But my true passion is doing in-office procedures that deliver an immediate result. I just love seeing positive change in my patients.”
White has seen first-hand the huge difference treatments such as InterStim and Botox injections—two of the incontinence procedures she performs—can make in a woman’s life. “I have a lot of patients who I’m really close with,” she says. “When they come to see me, I want them to know they can tell me anything. When they reveal they have a problem wetting themselves or incontinence is making their lives miserable, I find a way to get at the heart of what’s really going on and determine what we can do to make life better.”
When she’s not caring for patients, the die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan loves traveling, running and doing anything outdoors with her husband and stepdaughters.
