Hooked on Primary Care with Kathleen N. Mueller, MD, FAAFP

I started thinking about a career in medicine in high school.

My mom loved and respected our family doctor — I am one of 4 children, so she was very familiar with the office! — and I set up a meeting with Tim Ryan, MD. It was my first glimpse into the world of family medicine, and there was no going back.

Senior year in college, I decided to delay my application to medical school (much to my parents’ dismay) to spend a year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Mobile, Alabama. I wanted to be sure that the commitment to medicine was the right one for me.

That decision was life changing.

For 12 months, I worked as an aide in a preschool for deaf children, did all kinds of jobs in a busy community center, lived with others committed to social justice and met my future husband. It was that experience of service that solidified my choice of family medicine.

I planned on caring for patients in my hometown forever, just like Dr. Ryan. I practiced full scope family medicine with OB for 7 years, but quickly learned there was so much else that I loved about our specialty. One of the extraordinary benefits of practicing family medicine is that you can do anything as a family physician.

The needs of my patients led me to study acupuncture and other methods of nonpharmacologic pain management, to advocate for health care policies that support our work, and to create integrative medicine centers and wellness programs. My love of working with my fellow family physicians led me to become a medical editor, to pursue leadership roles with my Connecticut Academy of Family Physicians, and now with the AAFP. I could not have asked for a more rewarding career.

We can do anything as family physicians.

Kathleen N. Mueller, MD, FAAFP

member, American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors