3rd year residents - Class of 2013
 | Sean Hommel, D.O.
Alexandria, VA
Edward Via Virginia
College of Osteopathic Medicine
|
I’m originally from Leesburg, VA but Blacksburg, VA had been home since 2000 while I attended Virginia Tech while completing a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. Without a good excuse to leave the beautiful mountains of Southwest Virginia I chose to enroll at Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. I love everything that has to do with the great outdoors and thankfully Winston-Salem has provided me with plenty of beautiful scenery to continue with my passions of hiking, cycling, and long distance running. If it’s raining, you can probably find me on a treadmill watching reruns of Full House. This past year I founded/coached a competitive Junior Parasailing team for 12-15 year olds in Forsyth County and can proudly say our team picked up a gold medal during our rookie appearance at this year’s Carolina Invitational. I was initially intimidated by the size of Baptist, our primary medical center, but soon realized that the diversity of our patients and the pathology drawn to Baptist strengthens my confidence in medical decision making on a daily basis. The camaraderie among the residents within all the residency programs here would have to be the biggest surprise that I ran into during my intern year. I knew everyone within our program treated each other like family, but the same attitudes carry over to other services and have allowed me to form solid friendships with other physicians from a wide array of backgrounds.
 | Hannah Kim, D.O.
Waynesburg, PA
West Virginia School of
Osteopathic Medicine
|
Hi! I grew up in rural West Virginia then went to the big city of Pittsburgh, PA for my undergraduate degree in music. I went to medical school at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. I chose the Wake Forest Family Medicine program for many reasons, but most importantly because I really enjoyed working with the faculty and residents that I met on a Family Medicine Sampler rotation. My medical interest is in providing primary care to rural or underserved populations. Outside of medicine, I love music, cooking, hiking and rock climbing. I have really been enjoying the great restaurants here in Winston-Salem and hanging out with my husband and my new family - the other family medicine residents.
 | Laura Lintner, D.O.
Cheverly, MD
Nova Southeastern University
College of Osteopathic Medicine
|
I was born in Maryland, but we moved a number of times, which traumatically forced me to attend 3 different preschools. My family arrived in Coppell, TX, where we lived for about 10 years. So, “Dallas” is usually my answer to the very difficult question, “Where are you from?” Family legacy and a volleyball scholarship took me to Houghton College in western NY for undergrad. Four winters in western NY sent me to Ft. Lauderdale, FL for med school. Then, Travis Lintner wanted to marry me AND go back to NC where he had attended NC State (Go Pack). After a number of “away electives” in my 4th year, I found a home at Wake Forest Family Medicine. I felt that the curriculum would prepare me very well for whatever I wanted to pursue within the field of family medicine. I have a particular interest in sports medicine and have ample opportunity for event coverage and team doctoring. I couldn’t imagine a more fun, honest, and balanced group of people to work with. In my free time I love to be with my husband, hang out with our small group from church, run, grill out, and cheer for the Boston Bruins - Stanley Cup Champions. I am so blessed to be a part of this program and live in such a wonderful city!
 | John Lucas IV, M.D.
Dallas, TX
University of Alabama
School of Medicine
|
Hello everyone. I am John Lucas, one of the third year
residents. I was raised in Chattanooga, TN and attended Samford
University in Birmingham, AL where I studied Sports Medicine. From
there, I went to the University of Alabama - Birmingham for medical
school. I was drawn to family medicine because I enjoy taking care
of patients over the course of time. Our clinic here at Wake Forest
is amazing! I have my own nurse - Jess - who works with me over my
3 years here. Our patients are wonderful and represent all aspects
of the community - from under-served populations to doctors in the
Wake Health system.
Sports Medicine was a major deciding factor for me when choosing
residencies and Wake Forest is second to none. We have 3 dedicated
sports medicine faculty as well as two sports medicine fellows. I
have covered a local high school football team each fall since my
intern year. Each resident has the opportunity to serve their own
local school. We also work with the North Carolina School of the
Arts and serve as the physicians for their plays and performances.
During the spring, I cover the Wake Forest rugby team and the Wake
Forest baseball team. This year, I had an idea for a clinical trial
and we are currently enrolling patients to test the effectiveness
of a particular medication on concussive symptoms. This program has
been so supportive of my interests! I hope to stay as long as
they'll keep me!
Winston Salem is a great place to live. We have amazing residents
and faculty and we are always finding something to do (lake trips,
wine festivals, Wake Forest games, camping). I hope you come to
Winston and see what Wake Forest has for you!
 | Emily Mann, M.D.
Winston Salem, NC
Wake Forest University
School of Medicine
|
Hi! I am one of the Chief Residents here at Wake. I grew up here
in the fabulous Winston-Salem and have the Southern accent to prove
it. For undergrad, I sucked up having a lame mascot and went to
Campbell University, home of the Fighting Camels (lame, right?!),
and had a wonderful 4 years. After undergrad, I married a
ridiculously cool guy who is a Detective, and on the SWAT team and
makes me laugh until I can claim an ab workout. We love spending
time with family and friends, all things humorous, playing outside,
youth ministry, creating ridiculous competitions, encouraging
others, sports, and perfecting our skills
as restaurant snobs. We have a dog who is cuter than your
dog (hey, I just want to be honest). I spent a year working in Diabetes Education and then started at
Wake Forest School of Med where I spent a great 4 years. During my
years as a Wake Forest med student, I kept hearing that the Fam Med
Dept was one of the happiest and kindest departments at our
hospital. When I rotated through, I quickly realized how true this
was and many mentors in this dept helped me realize my love of
Family Medicine. Choosing Family Medicine was a great decision as I
love serving as an encouraging partner in health to my patients and
their families. Choosing a place to train for residency was easy as
I truly feel like Wake Fam Med is incredible. It is full of very
smart people, who have great personalities, love to laugh, and are
passionate about professionalism, excellence in patient
care/evidence based medicine and service to our community. I
absolutely love my fellow residents and consider them part of my
family. If you want to receive excellent training in Family
Medicine from intelligent, enthusiastic and kind attendings, to
train alongside hard-working, fun-loving, smart and happy
residents, and to live in a great small city where traffic isn't a
problem, good restaurants abound and the people are full of
hospitality, then you have found your place. Please let me know if
you have any questions about our program - I'm obviously quite
biased, but I can honestly say that I adore this place and consider
myself blessed every single day to be training here at Wake Forest
Family Med!
 | Cheryl McGowan, M.D.
Washington, DC
Medical College of Georgia
School of Medicine
|
Hi, and thanks for your interest in Wake Forest Family Medicine! I was born in Washington, DC and raised primarily in the Maryland burbs, but spent seven years growing up England. I caught the travel bug during my family’s summer trips around Europe and still love to visit new places, try new cuisines, meet new people and learn what “a day in the life” is like for someone else. Back in the states, I attended the University of Maryland (Go Terps!), where I quickly realized that my passion was more for life sciences than the journalism major I originally declared. After graduation, I worked as a health educator, married my wonderful husband, Tom, had two beautiful little boys and moved to Atlanta for my husband’s career. I started medical writing while my sons were growing up, eventually becoming Senior News Producer at WebMD and working in Emergency Communications at the CDC (full circle to those journalism roots!). But deep down, I really wanted to be a physician like my grandfather. With my family’s encouragement I took the plunge and graduated from Medical College of Georgia in Augusta with my fellow residents Christy Thomas and Andy Thornton. I interviewed at many programs throughout the Southeast, but soon realized I was comparing all of them to Wake Forest. The program is highly respected and the residents at Wake seemed happy, intelligent, friendly and well-adjusted. They were passionate about the program, spoke highly of the amazing faculty, and genuinely cared about each other. My sons now tower over me, and my “babies” are two little Yorkies who are cuter than Dr. Mann’s dog – sorry, couldn’t resist! My husband and I enjoy living in historic Ardmore, exploring the beautiful area and sampling some of the terrific local restaurants, wineries, festivals and arts. Residency is challenging, but this Family Medicine Program truly is a family – one we hope you’ll consider joining.
 | Sarah Moyer, M.D.
Chicago, IL
Temple University
School of Medicine
|
Welcome to Wake Forest Medicine! I grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, and then ventured to the rocky mountains to attended college at The Colorado College, an awesome small liberal arts college where I majored in physics and was on the diving team. After a year off of school, and coaching diving and substitute teaching in Denver, I moved to New Hampshire and earned my MPH at Dartmouth. I started the move south for medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia where I met my husband, a fellow pediatric resident. We traveled all over the country looking for the perfect fit for residency and fell in love with Wake - the people, the town, and the education. My medical interests include women’s health, healthcare policy, and the underserved - both locally and internationally. This year, I’m looking forward to my elective in clinical leadership, spending a month in Malawi, Africa working in an HIV clinic for my rural rotation, and being the team physician for a local high school! Outside of the hospital I enjoy spending time with my husband and our dog, and exploring our new town - so many great restaurants, hiking, sporting events and amazing weather. Please email me if you have any questions!
 | Lindsey Sachs, M.D.
Midland, MI
Michigan State University
College of Human Medicine
|
Hi! I was born and raised in Midland, Michigan, attended Michigan State for my undergraduate degree in Microbiology, and stayed for my medical training at the MSU College of Human Medicine (Go Green!). I met my husband in medical school, and one of the many reasons we knew we were meant to be is we both had our hearts set on residency in the south. We were ecstatic when we couples matched to Wake Forest (Family Medicine for me, Radiology for Jeff), and were more than happy to make the southern trek. Since moving to Winston-Salem, we’ve found there is lots to love about the area and the institution- starting with the sunshine! Since joining the Wake Forest family, I’ve really loved working with our talented faculty, and getting to know all of our awesome residents. My professional interests are in women’s health and underserved medicine- both of which I’ve already gotten experience with. Outside of the hospital & clinic, Jeff and I have had a blast exploring Winston. Together we’ve enjoyed checking out the great restaurants (just ask if you want some suggestions while you’re in town!), hiking, biking, and visiting wineries. Jeff’s also a big golfer and he tells me the courses are great in the area. I hope you enjoy your time here, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
 | Christy Thomas, M.D.
Decatur, AL
Medical College of Georgia
School of Medicine
|
I am a rare southerner who dislikes fried chicken, sweet tea, and golf (which is important when you see where I am from). I grew up in Mobile, AL loving the gulf, fresh seafood and all that is Alabama. I moved to Augusta, GA in fourth grade and lost a lot of my southern twang (although my husband says it shows up more than I think). I was ready for a change of pace by the time college arrived and left GA to attend Samford University in Birmingham, AL where I majored in Biology and studied Spanish. Somehow, I ended right back in Augusta for medical school where I met my husband, Josh. We were married during our fourth year, went on a mission trip to Cambodia, couple's matched in Winston-Salem (he matched in Emergency Medicine at Wake), moved to NC, painted 9 rooms in our house in two days, and started residency. Josh and I have been involved with our church during medical school and have done medical mission trips to Bulgaria, Mexico, and Cambodia. We would like to eventually be oversees doing medical missions- location unknown. This played into my decision for choosing Family Medicine. There is such great variety between age groups, diseases and conditions, skill sets, and flexibility in scheduling (one day hope to be a mom). I like having my hands in everything and feel I will be well prepared for whatever comes my way. In addition to international medicine, I love love love adolescent medicine and have interests in integrative medicine and womens’ health. Our program here is well equipped to handle all of these areas. We have 5 practicing OB faculty and many who specialize in women’s health and adolescent care. There are opportunities to do a variety of OB and GYN procedures in clinic and be involved in group OB visits at our Southside clinic. I also have a chance to brush up on my Spanish every now and then at our underserved “Centro Clinico.” Being in Winston has been wonderful so far. Josh and I enjoy our Netflix movie nights with homemade pizza, weekly bible studies, being outdoors (camping, hiking, rock climbing at Pilot Mt), and going downtown to one of Winston’s many fun restaurants with other residents. Coordinating out lives between Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine has been somewhat rough, but my class and the faculty here have been so supportive. I am thankful to be in a program where the academics are solid and the people are genuine. My class is so much fun- I think sometimes Josh even wishes he was Family Medicine :).
 | Andrew Thornton, M.D.
Chapel Hill, NC
Medical College of Georgia
School of Medicine
|
Moving up to North Carolina last summer was a return to my roots of sorts, as I was born in nearby Chapel Hill and still have lots of family scattered throughout the state. I did move around quite a bit growing up as my dad was a physician in the army, and ended up spending most of my childhood in Augusta, Georgia, were my immediate family still resides. I attended the University of Iowa on a gymnastics scholarship, and after graduating continued to stay involved with the sport as an athlete, coach, judge, and business manager before returning to Georgia to attend medical school. I decided that family medicine would offer me everything I was looking for – diversity, sports medicine opportunities, and most of all, the chance to serve others the way I had always envisioned. After I visited numerous programs throughout the Southeast, Wake Forest was the one that felt the most like home. I couldn’t be happier with my decision, as all of my initial impressions have come to fruition. I’ve particularly enjoyed the awesome blend of well-rounded inpatient and outpatient training, the inspiring academic atmosphere, the camaraderie amongst the residency, and the sports medicine events. We have great exposure to pediatrics here at Wake, and my rotations on the general pediatric and pediatric infectious disease services have been two of the highlights of my time in the program. Having our own family medicine inpatient service is a huge benefit as well, as we take care of well-managed patients who are known to our practice, and the reasonable volume allows for plenty of learning and bonding time. In the midst of our transition into second years this summer, our entire class will head to Lake Gaston for a weekend retreat, and the following weekend several of us head to Wrightsville Beach for a sports medicine conference. I was able to cover a high school football team and help with numerous additional sporting events as an intern, and I look forward to doing even more as a second year. Couldn’t ask for a better residency experience than that!
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