Pub. 3 2019 Issue 2

Resident Spotlight Karli Woollens, M.D. and Lyman Woollens, M.D. T he night before their residen- cy interview with St. Mark’s Family Residency Program, Karli and Lyman Woollens camped out. On the Salt Flats. In January. That should give you some idea of just how tough and ad- venturous these young doctors are. Karli Woollens will tell you that before her interviews here, she honestly could not have imagined herself living in Utah. A native of North Carolina, she had never visited Utah before, so she had to trust the word of her husband, Lyman, who had spent time in Utah vacationing and was excited at the prospect of spending three years work- ing, learning, and enjoying access to so many outdoor activities. Raised in Holly Springs, North Carolina, Karli remained in her home state to attend college at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill. Active both physically and mentally, Karli trained as a gymnast and eventually joined her college cheerleading team while majoring in chemistry and tutoring organic chem- istry on the side. While she considered going into chemistry as a career, she did research at the burn unit at UNC and found she preferred working with people rather than chemicals and de- cided to apply for medical school. She was accepted and decided to continue her education at UNC. Like many students starting medical school, Karli knew that she was facing the prospect of substantial debt after graduation. The head of the burn unit where she worked as an undergrad, Dr. Bruce Cairns, was a navy surgeon. Through him, Karli met other doctors who had served in the Navy Med Corps. She enjoyed hearing the stories of their time in the armed forces, their world travel, and their commitment to serving U.S. military personnel and their fami- lies. Karli applied for a Navy scholarship while applying for medical school and was awarded it. She spent the summer after her first year of medical school attending officer development school. Having not grown up in a military family, it was a bit of an adjustment, but she loved the culture of excellence, team- work, leadership and service. Karli is committed to serving as a military physi- cian in the navy medical corps for seven years after she completes her residency. Fortunately for the couple, who started dating just a month after starting medi- cal school, Lyman was interested in serv- ing in the military as well. When asked about his life leading up to medical school, Lyman says, “Before I met Karli was a waste of time. I’m supposed to say that, right?” Born and raised in Deep River, North Carolina, which is close to Fort Bragg, Lyman attended North Carolina State and majored in biomedical engineering. After graduating, he explored jobs in his field and found himself in a bit of an existential crisis, exploring other career options to seek fulfillment. Lyman moved about as far away from North Carolina as he could and remain in the contiguous United States. He moved to the small community of Chumstick, Washington, where he worked as a butcher and an EMT while trying to figure out his next step. Having saved up some money while working as an engineer and waiting tables, he was able to spend time climbing and snow- boarding nearly full time for about a year. After pursuing those passions and getting some advice from his dad, Lyman ultimately decided to apply for medical school. While he was on the interview trail, he met a man working on a medical anthropology project in Nepal. The crew had an opening for one more person, which allowed Lyman to live and work in Nepal before starting medical school at UNC-Chapel Hill in the same class as Karli. During the first years of medical school, Lyman had to convince Karli to attend a few group meetings for people interested in practicing family medicine. She initially never saw her herself going into family medicine and was considering dermatology or psy- chiatry. Lyman, however, had always been interested in primary care, and he helped Karli to “see the light.” She eventually decided to specialize in fam- ily medicine. During his clinical years in medical school, Lyman ended up loving the operating room and was strongly considering vascular surgery. After his fifth acting internship (four in surgery www.UtahAFP.org | 12