I AM UAA: Dr. Katy Sheridan

WWAMI E'89
Hometown: Kasilof, AK
Fun Fact: Has a passion for scientific writing

Dr. Katy Sheridan's time with UAA's WWAMI medical program marked a lot of firsts. Hers was the first WWAMI group to start their studies in Anchorage, in the fall of 1989. She was also the first student to miss class that year-because she was giving birth to her first child.

"The same week I got my acceptance to attend WWAMI, I found out I was pregnant," she says. "Nine months later, my son was born on the Friday a week before finals." And Sheridan didn't miss a beat. Luckily the birth went smoothly and she was able to sit for two finals the following week.

Raised on a dairy farm in Kasilof, Alaska, Sheridan grew up taking care of animals. Through that experience, she decided that she wanted to take care of "life that had a little more buy-in to try and pull through traumatic events. That's really what piqued my interest in medicine and taking care of people," she says. Since then she has pursued a passion for family medicine, from in utero to grave. "I get to do everything; I love it-especially getting to know families as they go through intense aspects of their lives and getting to go through that with them."

Choosing to attend WWAMI for medical school was a perfect fit for Sheridan. "It was a way for me to go to school affordably and still spend a lot of my time in my home state of Alaska," says the mother of four. "My best memory of WWAMI has to be my six-week surgery rotation in Seattle, also my first clinical rotation. After two years of rigorous academics and juggling a family, I had told myself that if I didn't like my first rotation, I was going to throw in the towel. I didn't really like ER or surgery itself, but I loved the component of seeing people and hearing their stories. That hands-on patient component reaffirmed for me why I wanted to be a doctor."

And by doing her residency in Bangor, Maine, she was able to learn what it takes to work in a clinic that serves a diverse and rural population. Consequently, Dr. Sheridan is now settled into her own practice in Soldotna, Alaska. "I've always wanted to be in a place where we could be close to the outdoors," she says.

Of course, practicing in a rural area presents its challenges, as does balancing a career and a family. "Some of the challenges of practicing in smaller areas is having the support of others who were trained like you and who believe like you," says Sheridan. "My connections with the Alaska Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians have been critical. Also, growing up on a homestead gave me the mentality of doing what I need to do to get by and using all of my limited resources." One exciting aspect is that she gets to become an expert on the issues that directly affect her patients, allowing her to support them in getting the quality care they need close to home.

In addition to serving the Soldotna area, Dr. Sheridan has in the past opened her clinic to WWAMI students and medical residents, and she currently gives the lecture "The Art of Medicine" to the Introduction to Clinical Medicine class every fall to new WWAMI students. She also hopes there is a family medicine clinical rotation at her office in the works for the future. When she's not spending time at the hospital with patients or in the classroom with WWAMI students, Sheridan thrives on spending time close to home: kayaking, gardening, skiing or volunteering in her kids' classrooms.

Hear Dr. Sheridan and other rural Alaska physicians talk more about WWAMI and their lives in Alaska in the WWAMI 40th Anniversary video on YouTube.