May 14, 2021

Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes more than 32,000 new cancer cases in the U.S. each year and most are preventable. Even though the HPV vaccine is an effective strategy in cancer prevention and has been available for more than 12 years, only 51% of adolescents have been vaccinated, far below the national target of 80% by 2020. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, that gap widened and caused more than 50% of adolescents in the U.S. to not receive HPV vaccinations. As grave as the gap is between the target rate and those who have received the vaccine, it is much worse in Utah which ranks 44th of 50 states for HPV vaccination completion among 13-17-year-olds.

This year’s session was very different from previous years. With COVID still in full swing and very few people vaccinated, the legislature opted for a hybrid version of the session. Committees that were typically held in small rooms were moved to larger spaces, all committees were given video access (most previously were audio only), and participants were encouraged to participate remotely. Because of the larger spaces, people were allowed to attend committees. Masks were required at all times, and chairs were spaced far apart.

I grew up in Holladay, Utah, with my parents, Wendy and Jamie, and my younger brother, Alex. Even before we could walk, my parents worked hard to instill a love of the outdoors in us. We went camping every weekend, backpacking, skiing, or biking. It was a running joke among my parents’ friends that no matter where they camped on Friday night, they would wake up to Wendy and Jamie there in the morning. It was a ton of work on their part, whether it was packing up after a long day at work or four-year-old me giggling in the bike trailer as I shrieked at dad, “faster, faster!” as he peddled up a steep hill. My parents’ hard work paid off, though, and I developed a deep love of the wild places around us. After undergrad, I even took off on a backpacking trip across the country, where I covered 1,200 miles of trail in 26 different parks over six months. There were so many memorable trips — solo horse packing through Yellowstone, picking wine barrels in Napa, deciding I could travel faster cross country, and being terribly wrong — it’s hard to pick a favorite, but that’s part of the fun.

I was born in Provo, UT, and moved around a few small Utah towns growing up but call Beaver, UT home. I graduated from Beaver High School, went to Southern Utah University (SUU) for undergraduate study and the University of Utah afterward for medical school. I got married while an undergrad at SUU. My wife is a Beaver, UT native — born and raised. She grew up on a farm and, as I have, has missed the country lifestyle, and we can’t wait to get back after residency. We graduated in the same high school class and started dating after we both started at SUU. She earned her bachelor’s in accounting and currently works for an accounting firm in Lehi. We have two children — Dax (five) and Zoey (one). We have a great deal of outdoor hobbies and take the children nearly everywhere with us … sometimes, we get some funny looks with our six-month-old on Timpanogos summit, or backcountry skiing with our 8-month-old, or biking with them in packs on our back, etc.

I grew up in Hurricane, UT, and lived there until I went to college. My wife and I met at Utah State University and have three wonderful children. We currently live in Vernal, UT, and enjoy the area. I am an avid runner and will be attempting my first Ultra-marathon this summer. I especially love trail running.

UAFP is excited to announce the addition of two new awards established to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of Utah medical students bound for a career in family medicine and one of our graduating third-year family medicine residents.

Practicing medicine has been hard. The over 1,100 Utah family physicians have seen challenges this year too numerous to mention. These challenges, both personal and professional, are not lost on us at the Academy, and I want to clearly acknowledge them and share our appreciation.

When life gives you lemons . . .

Well, just like everything in life, we’re finally seeing the light at the end of a very long tunnel. Just like everyone else, when we were quarantined for two weeks in March 2020, I thought we’d hunker down, ration our toilet paper, finally use some of that food in the freezer and pantry, and then it would all be over. It wasn’t until a couple of months later that we all started realizing this was going to be a much longer haul.