Family medicine is unique because it allows you to develop very strong relationships with patients as you care for them over a lifetime. For me, there is tremendous joy in not only caring for a patient through different stages of life, but in caring for entire families, from great-grandparents to newborns. I chose family medicine because it allows me to go beyond simply treating a specific complaint or condition, and treat the whole person, including understanding their concerns, goals, and challenges. My focus is not just an individual's physical health, but their mental and spiritual health as well. Good medicine is about more than coming up with a diagnosis, it's about understanding a patient well enough to help them improve their health and prevent a problem before it develops."