Q: Where are you from originally?
A: I moved to Marshalltown in the first grade and graduated form MHS, married a Marshalltown gal and returned here to practice in 1998.
Q: Why did you become a provider?
A: Dad was a family doc who sewed up my foot laceration two hours before a football game, and I still got to play. I wanted to be able to do the same thing for my family and friends.
Q: What qualities best describe the care you provide to patients?
A: I try to be humble and listen, I try to check my assumptions at the door and meet every patient right where they are without judgment.
Q: Are there any fun facts you would like the community to know about you?
A: I’m a sci-fi/fantasy geek and am active in the fantasy novel writing community. I want to be buried with used Zeno’s Pizza boxes (I’m talking line the coffin, to take that deliciousness with me to the afterworld)! If my fantasy novel sells a million, I told my daughter (who is the graphics design cover artist) that I would get the cover in a sleeve tattoo!
Q: What are your hobbies and personal interests?
A: Fantasy novel writing, landscaping, travel and experiencing other cultures. I am a total foodie, but I consider pineapple and other sweet fruit on pizza somewhat of a heretical crime.
Q: List your education, medical school and certifications.
A: I graduated from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, in 1991 with a double major in biology and anthropology, cum laude. I graduated University of Iowa Medical School in 1995 and attended North Iowa Mercy Health Center Family Medicine residency in Mason City, then sought ER training through the American Board of Physician Specialists in Emergency Medicine in 2014. I am ACLS, ATLS, PALS certified. I have been the medical director of this ER and the surrounding EMS communities for nearly all of the last 20 years.
