Olivia Baker has always had vision and desire that extends beyond the track.
The talented 800m runner, who now trains with the Atlanta Track Club, has always had a passion for serving others, particularly in the medical field. That passion manifested itself when Baker was in middle school, specifically when she had the opportunity to dissect a frog.
The dissection of the small amphibian helped shape not only what profession that she felt that she was meant to do, but the community of people who could benefit from her expertise.
“I’ve always been interested in medicine, since seventh grade frog dissection,” she said. “Just learning about the biology and anatomy of the human body and how it works, experiencing that from the viewpoint of an athlete, as well as getting to study it in lab settings has really made me interested. The other part of it is that I want to do something after track where I think I could do a really good job – I think I would be a really good doctor. And where I can serve a community, particularly underserved communities of color is where I would want to serve as a doctor. With the prices that health insurance comes in right now, there’s just a lack of access to good medical care. If I can play a small role in increasing that access, I think that it would be really beneficial to the community, and something that I’d be good at and enjoy as well.”
Baker drew inspiration from the team of physicians that she would go to growing up. She said that her dentist, primary doctor and other doctors were black doctors and doctors of color. Those doctors made her believe that one day, she could be just like them.
“I grew up with almost all of the doctors I went to were doctors of color,” she said. “And I remember the impact that I had on me, seeing someone who looked like me in that profession and helping me believe that I could do that too. I think that primary care has a special place in my heart for that reason as well, in wanting to be visible in the community and inspire younger kids coming up to know that they can also become a doctor.”
Baker’s faith has been the anchor and foundation for everything that she does. She has high aspirations on the track, as well as in the medical field. Her faith has shaped her overall perspective for her athletic career, and her future medical goals as well.
“Having faith in Jesus Christ has really been the reason that I’m running,” she said. “It’s the same with my desire for medicine, it’s not for my own glory, but for His glory and His glory alone. It’s my hope that people would not see me, but see the talent that He’s placed in me, and not praise me for that and for those accomplishments, but turn their eyes towards Him. By the end of my running career, if some people are inspired and are drawn to Jesus Christ through this running career and through my hopefully future medical career as well, it would mean more to me than any accomplishment that I could achieve on the track.”
Faith equates to confidence for Baker. She believes that staying constant in prayer, while also learning and growing in God has allowed her to find the path that she’s destined to walk on. While she’s not exactly sure how it’s going to look, she believes that her faith in God will always be her guiding light that will show her the path that she’s meant to take.
“The confidence comes from God with both running and medicine,” she said. “It’s something that He’s put on my heart from a young age. From the seventh grade frog dissection that was so monumental in developing my interest in biology, and the future experiences I’ve had in the field of medicine since then. Similarly, the desire has been in me for a long time to go to the Olympics and to test the limits of what this body that He’s put me in is capable of doing, and to give thanks, encourage and inspire along the way. The confidence piece of things comes from constant prayer, constant seeking to know that this is in fact the path that the Lord has put me on and asked me to walk.
“Looking toward the future, that’s really all I can ask – is that going forward making sure I keep my eyes on the Lord and ask Him to continue to show me. And right now, the path that He has told me to take day by day, step by step is the one to continue running and then I trust that He’ll let me know when the time comes to apply to medical school again and continue to walk that road. Or if He has something completely different for me, I don’t know yet. But I trust that He’ll reveal that to me in due time.”
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lactic-acid-with-dominique-smith/id1591874732?i=1000587245018
