You might expect a medical mentor to be someone who knew, from day one, that he or she was bound for the field.
But the students benefiting from the knowledge of Dr. Chad Garven are learning from someone who, for a long time, didn’t want to go into medicine – and, now that he’s practicing it, can speak in-depth on the appeal and importance of helping people.
Setting out on a different path
For Dr. Chad Garven, medicine was a field he long knew he didn’t want to pursue. Garven may have been raised by a doctor, but the Cleveland native packed his bags for Marquette University in 2003 with no intention of following in his father’s footsteps.
“I thought I would always end up doing something different than medicine,” says Garven.
“Science, initially, was always something I thought I was capable of. But I enjoyed the stories of why people do what they do; things that history focused on.” - Dr. Chad Garven
As a history major, Garven started getting involved with a group of students at Marquette who were planning medical service trips to Honduras. He began to realize there were stories to be heard in medicine and history alike.
“I fell in love with the work and, during my time in undergrad, was a part of developing an organization called Global Brigades,” says Garven. “I grew to love medicine in its ability to manage not just a cough or a rash, but deal with the patient’s whole story – what brought them to the office that day, what their families are like, why they make certain health decisions.”
And just like that, Garven changed the course of his life and career. He would go on to attend medical school at Wright State University, while simultaneously earning his master of public health degree. After completing his family medicine residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2015, Garven returned to Cleveland with his wife, Bridget, to work at the Tremont location of Neighborhood Family Practice (NFP).
An incredible wealth of knowledge
Garven fills many roles at NFP. First and foremost, he is a full-time clinical physician who sees patients every day. He also works closely with EPIC, the electronic records service that NFP utilizes, in the Provider Builder program.
“(This) is a program that puts providers through some of the back-end training that EPIC requires its technical support people to go through, (which) allows providers and tech support to use the same language when describing changes to the system,” says Garven. “Often, electronic health records have nonclinical support staff trying to best-guess the implementation on the clinical side. This program attempts to bridge that gap.”
Though Garven is involved in these other aspects of NFP, he truly enjoys paying forward all of the mentorships he’s received over the years by mentoring the next generation of physicians. As head of student experiences at the practice, Garven helps to coordinate medical and nurse practitioner student rotations with several schools in the area, including Case Western Reserve University, Ursuline College and Northeast Ohio Medical University.
“I’ve had a variety of mentors in my career path through Dayton, Ohio, and Charleston, South Carolina, that have provided me with an incredible wealth of knowledge in my brief career,” says Garven. “With them in mind each day, I view it as my responsibility as a newly certified family physician to provide that same experience to any medical student I work with at NFP.”
The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Foundation recognized Garven with the 2017 Family Physician Mentorship Award, thanks to a nomination from one of his students.
“I was honored to receive the award. It was a nomination by a particular student who spent two years with me early in her clinical training,” says Garven.
“It’s always nice to hear such great feedback, reassuring the student experience NFP is able to offer is worthwhile and impacting future generations of providers that will hopefully choose to work in a similar location.” - Dr. Chad Garven
But it’s not just the students who benefit from these mentoring relationships. Garven finds that working with students constantly reminds himself of his own ambition, enthusiasm, and passion for helping others.
Creating a medical home
NFP has cared for the underserved in the Cleveland area for decades. As a comprehensive primary care setting, not only can patients seek primary medical care at NFP, they can visit the dentist who is in the office daily, consult with behavioral health services or even deliver a baby with one of the midwives on staff.
“Neighborhood Family Practice, truly, can become a home for these patients, and they can have most of their needs met here without ever having to go to a new office,” says Garven.
One underserved population, in particular, has sought out NFP as a safe space. The majority of newly-settled refugees in the Cleveland area have their initial medical visits at NFP. A welcoming place for these patients, most continue to utilize NFP for all of their primary care.
More than anything, Garven is glad to be home in Cleveland with his wife and their 1-year-old son, Jack. His passion for teaching medicine is matched by his passion for spending time with family, traveling and Cleveland sports.
“We both have lived away from the Cleveland area for many years and are now happy to be back,” says Garven.
“I’m a die-hard Cleveland sports fan. I can talk to anyone, anywhere about the Indians latest playoff run, the consistent disappointment of the Browns or the night the Cavs won the title in 2016.” - Dr. Chad Garven
Jenny Wise is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
About the Expert
Chad Garven, MD, MPH completed his undergraduate degree at Marquette University. He earned a master of public health and his medical degree from Wright State University. Dr. Garven completed his family medicine residency in 2015 at the Medical University of South Carolina and returned home to Cleveland to practice family medicine at Neighborhood Family Practice.
