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Joyce L. Owens, MD

Owens Edit

Board Certified in Family Medicine

Education:
Medical School: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Internship: Fairfax Family Practice Center
Residency: Fairfax Family Practice Center (Chief Resident)

Hospital Affiliations:
CalvertHealth Medical Center (formerly Calvert Memorial Hospital)
Anne Arundel Medical Center

Dr. Joyce Owens formed Dunkirk Family Practice with Dr. Cathy Brophy, a medical school classmate, in 1997 in order to practice medicine as they wanted, not as the insurance companies and hospitals dictated. With their own practice, the doctors have the flexibility to deliver the level of care and treatment that they feel their patients deserve, without having to explain their decisions to outsiders. “I don’t want to be told I only have 8 minutes with a patient when I think they need more.”

Dr. Owens comes to medicine naturally; her mother was a nurse so she always felt the desire to help people get and stay healthy. She chose family medicine because she enjoys working with a wide variety of patients and a variety of medical conditions, from colds and flu to chronic disease. And while she likes having healthy patients, it is gratifying to care for those with illnesses and work with them as they get better. “Ideally, my not-so-healthy patients become healthy patients and stay healthy patients. I’d much rather talk about what vacations they are taking than why they can’t breathe and are feeling miserable.”

She also likes treating the entire family over time. While some new moms will take their newborns to a pediatrician, her new mom patients will often bring them to her. The ‘mom’ may have been her patient as an adolescent and stayed with her as an adult, so it’s only natural that they bring their children to her, regardless of the age. “That’s the nice thing about family medicine; my patients range in age from 3 days to over 100 years old. And it’s nice to see them over time. You see that over the years they stay healthy and you get to think ‘hey, maybe I had something to do with that!’”

Like the rest of the Dunkirk Family Practice team, Dr. Owens has roots in Calvert County and Southern Maryland. Her parents are both Calvert County natives and she has lived in Southern Maryland her entire life. This is home.