Alyssa Brown: Embroiderer

I'm a pgy2 general surgery resident at Northwestern. I went to medical school at University of Louisville and PhD in biomedical engineering and physiology at Mayo Clinic.

During the pandemic, I wanted to learn something new. Inspired by my grandma who taught me how to sew (and bake) when I was a kid, I decided to learn how to embroider. I bought my first kit and I was hooked! I started with premade kits when I was first learning to embroider but recently, I've started drawing and creating my own pieces.

I have also found that if I keep my hands busy, I can pay better attention to lectures and learn more. I really appreciate that my residency program is supportive and allows me to embroider during our weekly lectures and M&M conferences. Embroidery is also great because it's so portable!