Hooked on Primary Care with Jonathan Yadlosky, MD

Jonathan Yadlosky

For me, family medicine and primary care have always been about people. By “people," I mean both those folks who we take care of and those who we team up with to do the work.

From my earliest exposures to the discipline in medical school in Philadelphia, to my time as a resident in Aspinwall, Pa., and New Kensington, Pa., and even to work overseas in northern Ghana, family medicine has always been a collaborative and comprehensive person-centered approach. It’s a philosophy that values care for the whole person, including some parts of their life that some might consider non-medical or non-clinical. It’s been about seeing someone’s mind, body and spirit, while existing in and moving through a community.

I’ve been blessed to work with kind and caring people in my education and career, with whom caring for patients has always been a collaborative approach. This transformative practice of medical care that focuses on teamwork is what drew me to primary care and family medicine, and I believe allows us to treat patients in unique ways. Through experiences like talking to a mom about her challenges in breastfeeding while also seeing her newborn for well child care, to caring for the grandparents, cousins, neighbors in this family, and to be present at births and at funerals, family medicine physicians are able to connect with our patients in deeper ways, which allows us to better care for them. It’s this model of care that really drew me to the profession, and it’s the ideal that I continue to work toward day to day.

Jonathan Yadlosky, MD
Medical director, Mathilda Theiss Health Center
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center