Michael E. Clark, MD
Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest
Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency
Mike is the Medical Director of Maine-Dartmouth FP, our Fairfield clinic site.
I was born in the middle of the cold war, into a dysfunctional family, the product of a teen pregnancy. I spent my formative years on the ball fields of Hubbardston, a small working class town in central Massachusetts where ambitious children hoped for the opportunity to join their fathers at work in the local backhoe factory. I attended Colby College where I met and later married Ann Rhinehardt, the only other poor person to graduate from that esteemed institution during the opulent 80's. After graduation, both Ann and I began graduate school at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. After two years of psychological torture by a paranoid advisor, we both fled with Master's degrees in molecular genetics. A short trip down the Mass turnpike in our yellow VW bug deposited us in Boston, where I did GI research at BU for two years. Later, I did AIDS research at Duke, and then began medical school at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University. In medical school, I tried hard to convince myself that I would enjoy life as a radiation oncologist. Unfortunately a 40 hour work week and more money than I could possibly spend just couldn't compensate for the fact that I thought a "real" doctor should be able to treat an ear ache. Thus I began my career as a family physician. The highlight of our time in Winston-Salem was the birth of our oldest son Jackson, now 17.
It was with great excitement that I learned that I would be attending the Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency. At last we would be returning to Maine! I looked forward to joining the eclectic group of residents, faculty and staff that comprised the FMI. I enjoyed my time as a resident so much that I chose never to leave. Upon completion of residency I was given the opportunity to join Cathy Morrow in a tiny practice on the edge of Somerset County, and to become a member of the esteemed faculty at MDFMR. In the last 13+ years, that practice has grown into the heath care giant that is Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice. What more could I ask for! Ann and I now have three sons. Graham is almost 14 and Evan is 10. We spend much of our free time at our children's many activities. Soccer, which is now a year round activity thanks to a new indoor facility in Waterville, seems to take up most of our time. When not held hostage by our kids' busy lives, we enjoy the usual Maine pastimes: skiing, kayaking, hiking, and gardening. In 2002 the entire family came with me to Hawera, New Zealand where I spent my sabbatical working as an ER physician. It was a great experience and we can't wait for an opportunity to return.