Hi, my name is Brett! I am from a rural region of southern Colorado called the San Luis Valley, where I grew up surrounded by a large extended family. I first gained interest in medicine through my parents, who work as a physician assistant and a nurse. After high school, I spent two years in Ecuador serving a religious mission, which was an incredibly humbling as well as eye-opening experience in a foreign country. I received my bachelor’s degree in biology at Utah Valley University, where I continued to strengthen my desire to pursue medicine. I had the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic to build and donate prostheses to amputees in need, as well as volunteer with local Spanish-speaking communities through free health clinics. I then spent a gap year working as a research assistant in maternal – fetal medicine at Intermountain Healthcare. My wife, Lisa, and I welcomed our first child, Eva, into our family early September 2018.
I’ve enjoyed living in Charlottesville due to the beautiful mountains nearby, the beach being only a few hours away, and the fact that I don’t have to travel very far to be in the calming rural settings that I love. UVA has been a fantastic medical school, made all the greater due to the kindness of the faculty, staff, and fellow classmates. One aspect that I have enjoyed about GSP – besides the fantastic opportunities it gives students to learn about primary care – is the sense of community and belonging that exists within the program. I hope to take what I have learned up to this point, and what I will learn here at UVA, to serve underserved areas and populations both locally and globally. My interests are in primary care (obviously), healthcare policy, medical education, and rural health.