Nicole E. Purcell, DO, MS

I look at patient care as a team effort. My job as a physician is to listen to patients’ symptoms, come to a diagnosis, educate them on the disease process and help formulate a treatment plan. So I present options and help them decide the best course for them. Taking a team approach means the patient, the patient’s family and I discuss their living situation, what their feelings are regarding taking care of their health and what influences their decisions. I’m just one part of that team, so together we make decisions about the best course of action that works for them.

I started in the laboratory as a biochemist and went back to school for my master’s degree in biochemistry, and that led to pharmaceutical research. Assisting physicians with clinical trials and giving patients experimental drugs got me closer to the world of physicians, and I decided to go to medical school to help patients and try to make a difference in their lives.

I’ve always seen myself as a community physician and have done many educational community lectures over the years, speaking on topics like migraine (to members of the public) or concussion (at sports camps). I want to help people achieve the best health they can, and have worked with all populations, including people with and without health care coverage and homeless people with special challenges. Beyond that I’ve also done volunteer work with my kids such as working at an animal sanctuary in Utah.

I spend a lot of time engaged with my daughters’ activities, and I enjoy traveling. Every time you enter and exit airports at different locations, you grow – learning something new, experiencing new things and enriching your life. I’ve traveled all over the world and have visited about 26 countries. One of my favorite experiences was trekking the Sahara on a camel in Morocco.