An Open Door and a Clear Path
By Milana McLead
For WSMA 2025-2026 President Bridget Bush, MD, connections and stories empower her leadership journey and point to the future.
One might wonder what a piano teacher, the fictional Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, and the book “Starship Troopers” have in common. The answer is that each was a throughline across Bridget Bush’s journey into medicine. Like intersecting avenues on a map, the path is clear now, even if it wasn’t then.
An aunt who taught Dr. Bush piano lessons suggested biogenetics engineering as a cool career, igniting a fifth grader’s imagination and dream of helping people have healthier babies. Patricia Cornwell’s crime novels featuring the forensic pathologist and medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta planted early thoughts of medicine combined with law (notably, both of Dr. Bush’s parents are lawyers). In high school, Jurassic Park’s genetic scientists prompted the future Dr. Bush, who loved being outside digging and solving puzzles, to think: “Oh my God, I can do both! I can do dinosaurs and genetics!”
Those interests led to a biochemistry degree from the University of Nevada in Reno, as the dream for medical school solidified. Then 9/11 happened during a time when she was rereading “Starship Troopers,” a favorite book of hers and her father’s. “The movie is campy and hilarious, but the book is phenomenal,” she says. “I remember its message hitting me so hard—the concept that if you’re willing to give your life for the country, then you get to vote for how it’s run. That made sense in my core, that if you’re willing to put yourself at risk, then you get a say. And the little voice in my head said, ‘Maybe you should serve.’ ”
As she was deliberating how best to pay for medical school, she’d heard of the Health Profession Scholarship Program through the military. The program made sense for her, especially since her grandfather had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II.
One of my goals in life is to create connections with people and to say ‘yes.’ The more you say ‘yes,’ the more doors open and things change. I want to create positive change.” — Bridget Bush, MD
After medical school at Tulane School of Medicine in New Orleans, she served out her commitment in the Navy as a flight surgeon. “I had the chance to do a lot of things that most people will never experience,” she says. “I’ve been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, I’ve seen K2 from the air when we flew close to Pakistan, I’ve seen slopes on the Hindu Kush that I’d love to ski down. I’ve fast-roped out of a helicopter, did combat casualty care training, and made it through survival, evasion, resistance, and escape training. Would I go through SERE training again? Absolutely not! Am I happy I went through it? Yes. Those are important skills.”
Besides those critical survival skills, Dr. Bush notes other skills that serve her well in her field of anesthesia. “One of my superpowers is as a ‘calmer,’ ” she says. “It’s part of what drew me to anesthesia because I get to speak to people when they are most scared, and my calming influence helps them with their experience, mentally and physically, because they can go into it less stressed.”
In clinical rotations, she loved nearly all the specialties except for emergency medicine, but that was because she never had a chance to get the patient stories. For Dr. Bush, the story, the puzzle pieces, and the detective work all add up to the care she wants to provide. “I was sold on anesthesia,” she says. “As anesthesiologists, we take the patient as a whole, looking at all the puzzle pieces to see where the cracks are, where the failing points are going to be and try to improve or circumvent or treat as needed. That’s what we’re doing the whole time, before, during, and after.”
One of her first patients on third-year clinical rotations crystalized that care approach for her. The patient was a veteran, ill potentially with tuberculosis (common at the time in New Orleans) and was thus in isolation. “We were all in there wearing N95s, it’s super loud and he wouldn’t talk to anyone,” she says. “He had a lot of tattoos, and I’m fascinated by them, so I asked, ‘What kind of bike do you ride?’ He started talking to me. He opened up about having lung and prostate cancer and said that instead of more tests for something that couldn’t be fixed, he just wanted to go home. That molded how I saw care. Making the diagnosis, doing the tests, it was all puzzle work. It was being a detective but also talking to the patient to understand their story.”
The WSMA is where you meet people.” — Dr. Bush
People, their stories, making connections—all are woven through Dr. Bush’s approach to work, life, leadership, and her engagement with the WSMA. “One of my goals in life is to create connections with people and to say ‘yes,’ ” she says. “The more you say ‘yes,’ the more doors open and things change. I want to create positive change.”
Saying yes is exactly how Dr. Bush deepened her engagement with the WSMA. Her journey began when she was invited to serve as part of the WSMA Young Physician Section Governing Council, and from there on, she kept saying yes and found connections along the way. “One hundred percent, making connections is a WSMA resource anyone can tap into,” says Dr. Bush. “You’ll meet physicians in all different fields, you’re going to meet your mentor or your next boss or next best friend, and you’ll get to know what medicine is really like across the state. The WSMA is where you meet people.”
It’s also how a physician in Washington state gains access to educational opportunities, knowledge, advocacy, and networking. “The WSMA is the path to making change—by standing with us, we provide that path and can help change and make things better,” she says. “And if it’s not in our power, maybe we can help you figure out a way. Joining the WSMA allows everyone to have a voice, to make change, and to take action,” she says.
As she steps up to lead the WSMA, her leadership approach will surely be inclusive, open, and engaging. “I believe the best leaders are the ones who bring up everyone around them and give voice to those who may not feel able to speak up,” she says. “I want to hear other people’s voices and to empower them to know that what they’re experiencing matters.”
Milana McLead is WSMA’s senior director of strategic communications and membership.
Snapshot
Family
“It’s more of a family vine than a family tree!” Husband, Phil; dog, “mostly poodle,” named Ludo for the scary monster in Labyrinth who is kind and makes friends with rocks.
Odd jobs
Intern at the Yucca Mountain Project in Las Vegas greeting media and visitors; Department of Energy intern in Washington, D.C., where she managed $40 billion in taxes related to nuclear site decommissioning.
Passions
Mental health and well-being, women’s health.
What keeps her up at night
“Not a lot, unless it’s something my body is trying to figure out in dance.”
Meaningful quotes
“I will survive” and “Walk into the room as though God sent you as a punishment!”
Wishful playlist for making an entrance
Carmina Burana!
Spare time
Self-described movie nerd; Duolingo enthusiast (French, Spanish); pole dancing and instructing; gardening and tree planting (850 during the pandemic!).
Movie references during interview
PCU (Port Chester University), Star Trek, American Gods, Labyrinth, What Dreams May Come.