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.
