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.
