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United Family Medical Residency Home

Sarah Carlson, MD, was born and raised in the once small town of Shakopee, MN. She and her three siblings grew up building forts, camping and organizing the neighborhood “Kid Olympics”. Each family member is unique, but they all enjoy a rousing game of International Rummy. Jeff, Sarah’s older brother, is an electrical lineman who feels at home in the wilderness wearing something from his treasured boot collection. Bridget, Sarah’s younger sister, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has since been traveling throughout South and Central America between various wildlife and conservation jobs. The youngest of four, Ben, is constantly trying to defy the limits of gravity with snowboarding and wakeboarding. When he is not airborne, he is studying fluids and hydraulics. Sarah was lucky to have the unconditional love and support of her parents, Tom and Elaine. Without them, she could not have made it through medical school.

From a very young age, Sarah knew that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine. Sarah’s mother, a registered nurse, encouraged her to get dirty (both literally and metaphorically) in the trenches of patient care. The summer after her sophomore year of high school she became a registered nursing assistant, a job Sarah held until just before medical school. Working in transitional, long-term and dementia care units, she developed a new compassion and respect for her patients as well as all those working as part of the health care team.

Sarah headed to Duluth, MN to attend The College of St. Scholastica where she studied biology and psychology. While in college she was able to care for children with mental retardation, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She also volunteered at the on-campus Benedictine health care center befriending many of the participants of the adult day program.

Sarah returned to the Twin Cities for medical school, which allowed her to be close to her family again. During her third year, she was fortunate to participate in the Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) at the Allina clinic in Hastings, MN. This was Sarah’s most enjoyable and valuable experience in medical school. RPAP reinforced that only family medicine would allow her to pursue all of her medical interests, particularly obstetrics, pediatrics, mental health, and preventative medicine.

Throughout her education, Sarah has found balance in her life by staying active - playing any competitive sport or just relaxing in the great outdoors. The wilderness continues to have a strong influence in Sarah’s life, especially since she married her long-time friend Brett whose livelihood depends on it. He is an outdoors writer who travels throughout the country to report on professional fishing tournaments. Sarah and her husband like to spend as much time outdoors as possible whether it be canoeing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness or having a fishing contest of their own at the family cabin in Hayward, WI. Sarah is enjoying the struggle of picking up the games of golf and tennis. Sarah and Brett’s new favorite activity is spoiling their new nephew and niece.

Sarah is eager to build the foundation of her career with the United Family Medicine Residency Program and serve the West Seventh community.

Sarah Carlson, MD

Kate Diaz, MD, Born in Rochester, MN and now returning from a stint in Rochester, NY, is happy to be coming home! As the oldest of five children with a large extended family in the Twin Cities, leaving home was not easy to do. Since her Minnesota departure, Kate’s journeys have brought her to places near & far including Indiana, Chile, Pittsburgh, Mexico, Italy, Philadelphia, and most recently Botswana and South Africa. Somewhere along the way, Kate discovered medicine was the career for her! Kate is passionate about family medicine as a field well prepared to serve those most in need of healthcare. From the inner city of Rochester to the remote villages of Botswana, patients need a medical home with a provider they can trust and depend on! Kate is excited to someday be such a provider and offer full spectrum primary care, hopefully in an urban environment. She wants to combine medical care with community empowerment and mobilization through extensive outreach and research initiatives. Working alongside her patients, moving far beyond the walls of the traditional clinic, Kate hopes to be a modern, old-fashioned family doc! All these interests and ideas were born from inspirational people Kate met along the winding path of her journey. Starting with her parents, siblings, and extended family and their never-ending support for even her most hair-brained ideas, she has had great support and encouragement around every corner. Host family experiences in both Mexico and Chile gave a face and personality to the “third world” and taught her the meaning of true hospitality. Mentors during these Latin American adventures taught Kate the inspirational tenets of social justice, liberation theology, the value of simple living, and the meaning of solidarity. Visiting homes of families in crisis throughout the Pittsburgh area, Kate gained a bit of insight into the complexity of poverty in the U.S.. Kate discovered that to “live locally and think globally” was really possible while working with migrants and refugees in the greater Rochester (NY) area during medical school! She hopes to continue this work during and beyond residency in Minnesota. Kate is very excited to join the United family as a resident. She found like-minded, dedicated, passionate family physicians in the United program who brought energy and enthusiasm into the workplace every day. Faculty and residents alike were grounded and were truly happy to be at work! The residency program stood out as a place to get superior training with a true diversity of patients in a setting that strongly emphasized teaching. In addition, the proximity of United Hospital to St. Paul Children’s Hospital ensured a rigorous pediatric training unmatched at any other residency program Kate visited. Kate is eagerly awaiting her wedding in Fall 2008. Her fiancé Daniel is an optical engineer by training and did his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Rochester. Kate will be introducing both Daniel and their dog, Emma, to the joys of Minnesota life, and she is sure they’ll both love it!

Kate Diaz, MD

Amanda Goertz, MD, began her nomadic existence in Canada. She was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She later relocated with her family at the age of eight to the Seattle area, where she lived until she went off to college at Washington State University (Go Cougs!) to pursue what she thought was her life-long dream of radio broadcasting. During the existential crisis that every graduating college senior goes through, Amanda decided that she did not, in fact, have her heart in radio.

Invigorated by her recent overseas trip to Chile (her second time outside of North America, the first being Japan), and wanting a feeling of having contributed something, she joined the Peace Corps. During her Peace Corps interview, she was asked, “Where on the continuum between skyscraper and mud hut are you?” Her reply was “Mud hut.” Asked if she would eat bugs, she said “Yes, I suppose if I was hungry enough!”

So, a mud hut she got, and she spent January 2001-March 2003 in a rural village in Niger as a health outreach volunteer. She enjoyed the zen of handwashing her laundry, and the stark beauty of the Sahel (the region bordering the south of the Sahara), and learning to speak Hausa. Her work led her from home to home in the village, encouraging women to breastfeed exclusively, and teaching mothers about diarrhea home-treatment and prevention. She also did HIV/AIDS education meetings, tutored young girls in math, and painted a world map in the school. During her time there, she came to realize that she wanted to be a primary care physician.

During medical school, Amanda was involved in several service-learning projects, was a first-year representative for Family Medicine Interest Group, and was a student board member of the LAFP. She also earned an MPH in Tropical Medicine and hopes to put it to use someday, hopefully back in West Africa! Amanda’s particular interests within the realm of medicine include women’s health, palliative care, and international medicine.

Amanda was drawn to United because of the fun people, the caring faculty, and the interesting clinic population. Given her interest in practicing medicine abroad and with underserved populations, United’s patients were right up her alley!

When she’s not running from hurricanes or studying, Amanda enjoys making soap, geocaching, cooking, and baking. She’s also been known to knit and crochet from time to time, which she may be doing more of, now that she’ll be living in a colder clime and is expecting a baby with her husband, Brock, in October!

Amanda Goertz, MD

Ramsey Peterson, MD, was born and raised in Northfield, Minnesota. Traveling is something that was introduced to him at a young age. His mother is a professor at St. Olaf College in Northfield and she had the opportunity to lead an abroad program. By the age of four he had circumnavigated the earth with parents, older sister and 32 college students. By middle school he had moved to Egypt where he spent three years living and breathing the culture where his mother grew up. During high school Ramsey continued to travel during summers and vacations. He also stayed busy with typical high school activities: a sport for each season, orchestra year-round, and various leadership and church groups.

Eventually, Ramsey graduated high school and attended St. Olaf College, where he was considered a “townie” because of his upbringing less than a mile from campus. As he worked towards graduation, he spent six months abroad tracing the trip his parents had led 16 years earlier, around the earth. It was late in his college experience that he decided that Medicine would be in his future. Upon graduation, he had completed a major in Biology as well as Bio-Medical Studies and Asian Studies concentrations. Soon after graduation he began working at United Hospital in St. Paul, MN. He worked in the operating room prepping instruments and gained the title Surgical Support Tech with Level III training in Neurosurgery. He continued to work at United while taking classes at the U of MN to complete his prerequisites for medical school. Twelve months later he had finished his required classes at the University and decided that he needed a change of scenery.

Taking a leap of faith, he packed his bags and moved to Egypt without a job or any plans. Upon arrival he interviewed at several different NGO’s including: CARE International, The World Health Organization, UNICEF and several other UN organizations. He took a job at UNICEF, in the HIV/AIDS division, where he was able to work with multiple other organizations and the one HIV/AIDS clinic in Cairo. He created a library of information for doctors and patients as well as a database of the various projects of NGO’s, in an effort to minimize redundancy. Additionally, he explored the country extensively, took classes at a local university, and spent time with his extended family living in Cairo.

Ramsey returned to Minnesota to start medical school after a year in Egypt. He moved to Duluth where he spent the first two years of medical school. He was elected Duluth class president, which he thoroughly enjoyed and held the position for the four years. Representing the Duluth medical school and students was an enlightening experience and allowed Ramsey to be involved in a variety of committees and task force groups. He was also able to write several grants to gain funding for making changes to the medical school. During the third year of medical school, the Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP) was the experience that solidified his desire to enter the field of family medicine. He spent the nine months living with his parents and commuting to the neighboring town of New Prague, working at a family practice clinic and at the local hospital.

Ramsey’s fourth year of medical school was an event filled year including buying a home and marrying his long time girlfriend from college, Anna. Anna grew up in South Minneapolis, three blocks from their current house, and met Ramsey in the library at St. Olaf. As a nationally ranked swimmer in college, she somehow found time to mesmerize Ramsey. After college she attended the U of MN for her Masters Degree in Speech-Language Pathology. She currently works as a speech pathologist for the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Family is a priority in Ramsey’s life. Each member of his family has contributed to his personality. As an engineer his father’s mathematic and analytic skills have rubbed off on Ramsey, while his mothers love for Egypt and travel have inspired him. His parents Daniel and Samiha, and sister Mona have been an inspiration and the foundation for his education. Being the first family member to enter the field of medicine has been exciting for everybody. He is excited to be entering the next phase of medical education. His particular interests in medicine include: international preventative and emergency medicine as they relate to family medicine. The Untied Family Medicine Residency Program is a perfect fit for him, with its integration of service, community, and education into his residency training.

Ramsey Peterson, MD

Lisa Phifer, MD grew up in Staunton, Illinois as the oldest of three children. With the help of her 77 year-old neighbor, Lisa became an expert blackjack player at age two and developed a lifelong fascination with board and card games. She spent the rest of her childhood bossing around her brother and sister, playing sports, riding her bike, and learning to play the piano. Each summer, she trekked to Colorado to be spoiled by her grandparents, eat all the ice cream imaginable, and go fishing. Hoping to find a county with more than one traffic light, Lisa headed to Saint Louis University for college. She majored in chemistry and psychology and squeezed in a minor in biology. Lisa also managed to get involved with way too many campus activities. During one of these activities as a teaching assistant for the chemistry department, she met Jared, another teaching assistant. Two years later, Jared headed down the street to Saint Louis University School of Medicine, and Lisa joined him the following year. Lisa managed to drag Jared to numerous volunteer projects over the next few years before dragging him to the altar during their last year of medical school. While in medical school, Lisa developed a passion for underserved medicine while serving as a coordinator for a medical student-managed, free primary care clinic. She also fostered an interest in community health and preventative medicine volunteering with tobacco-free, HIV, and child abuse prevention education programs. During her clinical years, Lisa also discovered interests in maternal and child health and women’s health.

Lisa was excited to find a residency program like United with its compassionate and dynamic faculty and residents, strong obstetrics training, and commitment to community-oriented primary care. After finishing his MBA and spending months refusing to select a specialty, Jared found emergency medicine and is now a resident at Hennepin County Medical Center. They enjoy working on home improvement projects, watching movies, a variety of sports, yelling at the Bears, and board games. Lisa and Jared are excited for their journey in Minnesota and buying lots of warm socks!

Lisa Phifer, MD

Amy Schneider, MD is originally from Greenwood, Wisconsin and has two younger brothers. Her father, John, is an electrician, and her mother, Debbie, currently works as a medical transcriptionist, but used to be a veterinary technician during Amy's childhood. She often took Amy with her to work, where the veterinarians let Amy accompany them on farm calls and watch surgeries in the office. These experiences stimulated Amy's interest in medicine and are fond memories.

Amy went to college in Duluth, Minnesota, at the College of St. Scholastica. She had a marvelous experience there and majored in Languages and International Studies. The languages she studied were Spanish and Japanese. Amy had the opportunity to study abroad in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Her study abroad program included both university classes and volunteer work at a state-run clinic in a squatter settlement. It also included a romantic element, as Amy met her husband, Vicente Cortez, in Guayaquil.

Amy and Vicente moved to Milwaukee for medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin. They had two children during the medical school years. Christopher currently loves Thomas the Train, swimming, and going to the zoo. Maria Teresa's favorite things are playgrounds, her blanket, and ice cream. During medical school, Amy did work as a mentor for at-risk high school students in a program to expose them to careers in medicine. We enjoy participating in outdoor activities like walks, bike rides, and picnicking.

I’m excited about Family Medicine because I enjoy working with patients of all ages and maintaining a relationship with them over the years. I was drawn to United Family Medicine Residency Program because of its emphasis on community medicine and the diversity of the patient population. Amy and her family are very excited to be part of the United Family Medicine Residency Program and to be here in St. Paul!

Amy Schneider, MD