Dr. Sierrah Grigsby Embarks on Her Next Mission
By Office of Communications & Marketing | Jul 14, 2026
Begins Highly Competitive Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship at Georgetown University
Three years after graduating from Downstate and beginning her Internal Medicine residency
at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Sierrah M. Grigsby, M.D., Ph.D., LT, MC, USN, (COM 23), is embarking on the next exciting chapter of a phase of her career built
on leadership, service, and scientific discovery.
Just two weeks after completing her residency, Dr. Grigsby joined the highly competitive Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship at Georgetown University, where she will continue her advanced subspecialty training while serving as an active-duty Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy through the Naval Medical Leader & Professional Development Command (NMLPDC).
Her selection reflects an exceptional record of clinical excellence, research, and leadership. While the Navy has traditionally trained most of its hematology-oncology specialists through military graduate medical education programs, few physicians are selected to complete fellowship training at civilian academic medical centers.
Georgetown’s nationally recognized program prepares physician-scientists and clinicians who are advancing cancer care through research, education, and outstanding patient care.
For Downstate, Dr. Grigsby’s achievement is more than an individual milestone. It reflects the University’s mission of preparing physician-leaders who improve health through service, innovation, and scientific discovery.
Military service has been part of Dr. Grigsby’s life since childhood. Her father served for more than three decades in the Air Force and Air National Guard, and she grew up in a family with generations of military service. Inspired by the discipline, camaraderie, and sense of purpose, she chose military medicine as a natural extension of the values that shaped her.
“I love the patient population. I love the camaraderie,” Dr. Grigsby said. “It just gives you that added purpose and calling to what you do.”
When she graduated from Downstate in 2023, she knew she would be challenged both as a physician and as a naval officer. “I didn’t realize I’d be wearing two hats,” she said. “As a naval officer, I had to learn everything that comes with military service while also becoming the physician my patients needed.”
During her three years at Walter Reed, Dr. Grigsby cared for active-duty service members, military families, retirees, and disabled veterans while navigating the demands of residency and military service.
She also completed the Navy’s year-long Joint Professional Military Education program,
an advanced curriculum covering military strategy, national security, maritime law,
and joint operations. Completing the program while training full-time as a resident
physician remains one of her proudest accomplishments.
Her work extended well beyond patient care. Dr. Grigsby mentored interns, residents, enlisted sailors, and junior officers, served on patient safety and quality improvement committees, and continued contributing to research.
As one of only three Black women in her residency program, she also benefited from the mentorship of accomplished women military physicians. This experience shaped her own leadership style and strengthened her commitment to mentoring others.
A physician-scientist, Dr. Grigsby earned her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Pathology from the University of Michigan before receiving her medical degree from SUNY Downstate in 2023.
While at Downstate, she served as president of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and was commissioned as a U.S. Navy Lieutenant following Commencement. She has long envisioned a career devoted to advancing the treatment of blood disorders and cancers while caring for those who serve the nation, and her experience at Walter Reed only reinforced that goal.
Dr. Grigsby is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, whose commitment to scholarship, leadership, and service mirrors the values that have guided both her military and medical career.
What surprised her most during residency wasn’t the complexity of the medicine; it was the resilience of her patients. “They put their bodies through so much, yet they keep going,” she said.
She also came to appreciate that military medicine is, above all, about caring for people. “You may be treating admirals and generals, but when they’re your patient, they’re simply people who need compassionate care.”
Dr. Grigsby credits Downstate with preparing her not only to practice medicine but to lead. “I always felt students had a voice,” she said. “If there was a better way to do something, people listened.”
Those lessons followed her to Walter Reed, where she looked for opportunities to improve the systems around her as much as the care she delivered.
Whether serving on patient safety committees, mentoring junior colleagues, or helping strengthen clinical processes, she embraced the culture of continuous improvement she first experienced at Downstate.
As she begins her fellowship at Georgetown University, Dr. Grigsby remains focused on improving the understanding and treatment of blood disorders and cancer while continuing her service as a Navy physician.
Her journey reflects the impact Downstate graduates are making far beyond Brooklyn as physician-scientists, military officers, mentors, and leaders committed to improving lives through medicine.
When Dr. Grigsby accepted her commission as a Navy Lieutenant following Downstate’s 2023 Commencement, she began a career that united medicine, science, and service. Today, as she starts her fellowship at Georgetown, that mission continues.
“What’s better than treating the people who put their lives on the line?”
Congratulations, Dr. Grigsby, and thank you for representing Downstate with such distinction.
