Wilmington pediatrician finds passion bringing care to underserved

Dr. Khadijia Tribie found her calling while attending Duke University.

As a child, Dr. Khadijia Tribie, a pediatrician at MedNorth Health Center, never dreamed of becoming a doctor. It wasn’t until college that the idea became a possibility.

Tribie attended Duke University with the intention of becoming a child psychologist.

“I’ve always loved children,” Tribie said. “I have a brother who is nine years younger than me and that influenced me. Watching him grow up, watching him change and develop was just amazing to me.”

Although Tribie loved child psychology, she soon found she loved science-related studies even more. Tribie had never considered herself smart enough to be a doctor, but being at Duke University changed her way of thinking.

“Even though I’d been a strong student and good enough to get into Duke I still never thought of myself as smart enough to be a doctor. Being in that space really made me think higher,” she said. “Being at Duke you have a lot of students there who are ambitious and they are thinking about being doctors and lawyers. I had never been around so many people who wanted to be these high tier professionals and that certainly influenced me positively. I started thinking ‘If they wanted to do it why couldn’t I?’ ”

In 1996, Tribie graduated from Duke with a B.A. in French studies and all her pre-med classes completed. In 2003, Tribie graduated Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta. In 2006, she completed her pediatric residency at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

While in medical school, Tribie applied for a National Health Service Corp Scholarship and was accepted. The scholarship pays tuition, fees, other educational costs, and provides a living stipend in return for a commitment to work at least two years at an NHSC-approved site in a medically underserved community.

Tribie was placed at Goshen Medical Center in Wallace in 2006 and her husband, Dr. Ro-Lyan Reid, joined her a year later, taking a job in Brunswick County. The two bought a home in Wilmington and commuted.

Once Tribie and her husband decided to start a family, she began looking for a job closer to Wilmington. “I specifically sought out a community health center, walked in, and handed them my resume and said ‘Do you need a pediatrician?’”

Tribie, who has two daughters, started at MedNorth Health Center in January 2012 and loves the community feeling being a part of MedNorth brings.