Dr. Britsch grew up in Wilsonville, Oregon, a quickly growing suburb of
Portland. She graduated from Oregon State University with an Honors degree
in biology as well as minors in chemistry and public health. She finally
ventured away from her home state for medical school when she went to
Des Moines University in Iowa. To no one’s surprise, she couldn’t
stay away from the Pacific Northwest for long, and she is excited to be
back on the West Coast for her residency training. She has a particular
passion for women’s health and obstetrics, and she is ecstatic to
have found a program that emphasizes full spectrum primary care training.
When she’s not catching babies, or lowering A1Cs in the clinic,
you can find her catching up on her favorite reality TV shows, cooking
up goodies, or hanging with her nieces and nephews. She also enjoys a
good tennis match and just might pick up pickle ball so that she can keep
up with her talented medical assistant.
Dr. Hieu was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her passion
for technology and medicine brought her to the U.S. for the first time
at the age of 16 as an international exchange student. Since coming to
the U.S. she has received a Bachelor in Computer Science and a Master’s
in Bioinformatics prior to her matriculation into the University of Denver
School of Medicine. Even though Dr. Hieu truly believes that technology
has the power to improve access and quality of care, she deeply values
the importance of the human touch in medicine. During medical school,
Dr. Hieu participated in global health trips, worked extensively with
communities, healthcare institutions and other healthcare professionals
to combat racism in healthcare.Dr. Hieu and her husband love spending
time outdoors, especially hiking and stand-up paddle boarding. Additionally
she enjoys: cooking, dancing, playing board games and scrapbooking. Dr.
Hieu loves all types of cuisine, though she is biased towards Vietnamese
food and fresh seafood.
Dr. Goodrich was born and raised in Idaho Falls, ID amongst the potatoes.
For undergrad, she attended Utah State University and her first degree
was in Drawing and Painting. Though she will always be an avid lover of
the arts, she did not feel this was her true calling. She decided to go
back to school in pursuit of a medical career. During this time she earned
a Bachelor in Nutrition and worked on several clinical trials. She was
able to work in a clinical setting creating advertisements and promotions
using her art background. For medical school, she attended Pacific Northwest
University in Yakima, Washington. Dr. Goodrich spent her medical school
clinical years in Blackfoot, Idaho, a rural town 30 minutes from her hometown.
During this time she had several wonderful mentors. One family medicine
doctor that stood above the crowd and really solidified the importance
of family medicine and fueled her passion for the field. Her personal
hobbies include spending time with her husband and their children, hiking
and scuba diving. Occasionally she finds the time to paint and kindle
the artistic side of her that brings a different perspective to the medical field.
Dr. Kuhar was born and raised in Augusta, GA before attending Emory University
in Atlanta where he majored in French Literature and thought it might
be a good idea to be an EMT on the side to prepare for his dream job at
the time of becoming a ski patroller. This experience ignited a love for
patient care, but also an early recognition of the health inequities that
so deeply impact the lives of others. Several years after undergraduate,
he completed his MPH at the University of Washington in Community-Oriented
Public Health Practice (COPHP) where he advanced his understanding of
the social determinants of health and health inequities - developing a
love of program design and evaluation along the way. The experience also
confirmed his desire to act at the interpersonal level of health care
delivery specifically for underserved and marginalized populations. At
the University of Washington School of Medicine, Dr. Kuhar found family
medicine to be the best way to help his patients through the benefit of
longitudinal relationships over the life course. In addition to full-scope
family medicine training, he is particularly interested in addiction medicine
and integrating service-learning and advocacy into residency education
for the benefit of the communities the residency serves. In his free time,
he enjoys alpine activities such as back-country skiing and climbing deep
in the Cascades and Coast Range with his wife, and he is looking forward
to passing their obsession on to their new son.
Dr. Lee was born in Taiwan but grew up in various places including Nicaragua
and Paraguay. He moved to Minnesota from tropical Asuncion for a BA in
Biology with special interests in Film Study and Japanese. After graduating,
he worked with a medical organization in Sao Tome e Principe and then
returned to Taiwan for military service. He returned to America, where
he obtained a MS in Biomedical Science at New York Medical College, followed
by a combined MD/MPH at the same institution. Dr. Lee chose St Peter Family
Medicine program in the hope to become the most well rounded Family Medicine
physician he could be, having a wide exposure to both hospital medicine
and clinic, pediatrics and OBGYN, rural and urban communities. He is especially
interested in community medicine and global health, hoping to improve
access to underserved and marginalized communities. When he has free time,
he enjoy hiking and exploring the many trails available in the PNW or
playing board games while eating good food with friends.
Dr. Matine Shenas has had a global upbringing. He was born in San Diego
and moved early on to Vancouver, B.C. where his father’s family
settled after arriving as refugees. His parents, who are both educators,
always intended to live abroad, and when the opportunity to move to Jamaica
presented itself, Matine, his older sister, and parents moved to the small,
beautiful island. After a few years of island life, they returned to the
US and settled in the Seattle area where Matine started high school and
has remained ever since. After high school, Matine took a year off and
volunteered with the Baha’i World Center in Haifa, Israel. He returned
and attended the University of Washington where he studied Business. During
his senior year, he took an international service trip with team of doctors
shortly after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, which ultimately changed
his life forever. After graduating from the UW, he gained international
health experience with the Clinton Foundation, and realized his calling
was in the field of medicine. He returned to Seattle to attend the University
of Washington School of Medicine. In medical school, Matine took part
in a clinical research partnership between the Fred Hutch in Seattle and
the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala examining the prevalence of various
cancer types among the HIV population in East Africa. He enjoyed training
across various disciplines of medicine, but ultimately found the greatest
fulfillment in building relationships with patients and focusing on prevention
of diseases. To him, this area was most aligned with family medicine,
and he is excited to pursue this field and stay in the Pacific Northwest.
He appreciates his residency at Providence and in particular, their commitment
to the poor and their acknowledgement of the mind-body-spirit connection
to healing. Outside of medicine, you will find Matine spending quality
time with his loving partner, traveling the world in search of a good
beach, cooking, spending time with family and friends, working on cars,
or, most likely, watching a movie with his cat, Nala.
Dr. Smith grew up in Minnesota, but has been a Pacific Northwestern transplant
for the past six years. She attended the University of Minnesota- Twin
Cities for her undergraduate education, majoring in Psychology. After
graduation, she moved to the West Coast and worked at a Level 14 group
home and hospital diversion program in San Francisco, working with children
and teenagers with emotional and behavioral dysregulation and mental illness.
She fell in love with osteopathic medicine after shadowing an osteopathic
family practitioner, and moved up to Lebanon, Oregon to attend Western
University College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest (COMP-NW).
While in Lebanon, she became passionate about community engagement and
advocating for her patients, working with the Child Abuse Prevention Network,
as well as volunteering at the local high school parenting class and at
the free clinic. Dr. Smith also continued to develop her manual medicine
and teaching skills by completing a Pre-doctoral Teaching Fellowship in
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, spending an additional year in medical
school. She chose St. Peter Family Medicine for the opportunities to work
in an underserved community, the focus on outpatient medicine, and the
Osteopathic track. Dr. Smith believes in the power of creating lasting
relationships with patients, and is invested in continuing to provide
care for underserved and marginalized populations. Outside of medicine,
she enjoys dancing, hiking, spending time at the ocean, and watching musicals.
