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Dr. Adam English enjoying the fourth of July with his family, wife, Ginger, daughter Morgan, and son, Drew.

Sometimes working in a small town can bring great rewards. Being back in his family’s hometown of Brownsville as a family practitioner, Adam English, DO, has found the rewards are greater than just what he can do for his patients. Working at Brownsville Family Medicine has afforded English the chance to work with a long time family friend and mentor and the opportunity to know his grandfathers in a way he never imagined.

Since middle school, English knew that he wanted to pursue a career in the medical field. He attributes Jack Pettigrew, MD, a family friend and family practitioner in Brownsville, and David Johnson, MD, an orthopedic surgeon as having a tremendous influence on his decision.

For a while, though, his passion was kicking a football. Growing up in Jackson, English was an avid soccer player from the age of six, playing on travel teams. When he turned ten, his father took him to a football game at Vanderbilt University. “Ricky Anderson was the kicker and I thought it was awesome,” said English. “When we came home, I got a football and started kicking. It seemed so natural, and I knew I wanted to be a kicker. My dad even put up a goal in our backyard for me to practice. The Jackson Sun newspaper even came out and did a story about me.”

In high school, English retired his soccer cleats to be a place kicker for the Indians as well as an outfielder on the baseball team.  In the summers, English would go to college kicking camps and by ninth grade, he was getting noticed by colleges and getting to know coaches. In the spring of 1993, his senior year, English signed to play football at the University of Memphis.

At Memphis, English was coached by special teams coach Murray Armstrong, a long-time coach and fixture at the university. “Coach Murray was the perfect coach for me. He had gone to med school for two years, then decided he wanted to coach football,” said English. “He was old school, I had a good connection with him, and it was a good fit for me. He was 58 when he coached me. He and his wife were my dorm parents; he was a huge influence on me.”

English was redshirted his first year at Memphis but during spring training that year, he was kicking more than he ever had, and the training was more intense. “I started having lots of pain in my left leg and was diagnosed with osteochondritis dessicans at the bottom of my left femur,” said English. “Dr. David Johnson of West Tennessee Bone and Joint Clinic performed a couple of surgeries on me during my freshman year to correct it and did a great job, but I could never completely plant my left foot, which meant no more kicking for me.”

With a college scholarship on the line, English was determined to find a way to play in spite of his injury. Although he never got to kick a ball in a college game, he did get on the field as a holder for the place kicker. “At 5’7” and 160 pounds, kicker options are pretty limited,” said English. “It was a true test of perseverance for me, plus my high school sweetheart was a cheerleader, so I couldn’t quit.” English went on to be a four-year starter and became the special teams captain of the Tiger’s football team. “I even threw a couple of passes; one for a touchdown.”

English graduated with a degree in biology in 1998. He had married his high school sweetheart, Ginger, in 1997 and he remained in Memphis to work for a pulmonologist while she finished her undergraduate degree. English applied to three medical schools,

East Tennessee State University, UT-Memphis and Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. “Kansas City was the first place I interviewed and the first school I was accepted to. It was a good opportunity for Ginger and me to move off on our own,” said English. “I also knew it would allow me to focus on school, so off to Kansas City we went.”

As English progressed through medical school, which began in 2000, he learned two things: He wanted to do primary care and he wanted to practice back home in West Tennessee. “I had experience with family medicine through Dr. Pettigrew and orthopedics with my surgery and Dr. Johnson,” said English. “I really liked all the different problems you see in family medicine and the opportunity it gives you to establish relationships with your patients. I loved surgery, but really felt family medicine was the thing I wanted to do.”

When he graduated in 2004 from medical school, he and Ginger returned home to Jackson for his residency in family practice with the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center program. “While in residency, I got to know Dr. Gregg Mitchell very well,” said English. “He was my mentor.”

When he completed his residency in 2007, English already had a spot at Brownsville Family Medicine practicing with its founder, Dr. Pettigrew. “When I came back to work here, a lot of my patients already knew me because my family is from Brownsville,” said English. “Every week or two, someone tells me something about my family that I never knew. One of my grandfathers died when I was very young and the other died when I was around eight. I run into patients all of the time who knew them. They tell me stories about them. It is like I am getting to know these two men that I never really knew through my patients.”

Along with Pettigrew, English is in practice with Jason Goolsby, DO. The clinic also has two nurse practitioners, Stacy Mott and Lynda Weatherly. “I had met Jason in Kansas City; he is a couple of years behind me,” said English. “I recruited him to the UT residency program. He was an intern when I was chief resident and I got to know him pretty well. When he was finishing up, I recruited him to join our clinic.”

“We have so many patients who need to have access to us,” said English, who is former chief of staff at Haywood Park Community Hospital. “For a lot of these folks, it is just inconvenient for them to drive to Jackson for medical care. When they want to see their doctor, they want to see their doctor. It is small town medicine at its best.”

Besides Haywood Park Community Hospital’s staff, English also is on the teaching staff at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital through the residency program. “We are open six days and stay open until seven each weeknight. We stay busy and see probably 100 patients a day. We see it all and get to treat such a wide variety of issues.”

Although English stays busy with his practice, he makes time for Ginger and their two children, Morgan, who is six, and Drew, who is three. They enjoy going to the beach and University of Memphis football and basketball games. English is also an avid golfer and tries to hit the links at least a couple of times a week.

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