Brandi Gorden Klukas, MD

Practice philosophy: Take care of yourself so you can give your best to patients. Treat them the way you would treat your family or yourself.

What are you passionate about and why? I am passionate about my two children because they contain the best parts of me and are smarter than I could ever hope to be. I am also passionate about treating others with love, dignity, and respect, regardless of belief system, religion, race, genre, color, personal failings, etc.

If you weren't a health care provider, what would you be? A novelist

Why did you become a provider? When did you know this was the career for you? I was three years old, perusing the human biology section of an encyclopedia, when I knew human anatomy and medicine were for me.

What is something you have learned from your patients? Life is too short not to pursue your own unique happiness.

What is one of the challenges of this career you enjoy? And why? I enjoy the intellectual challenge that medicine provides because I am never bored and always learning.

What is your personal health goal? To get back on my road bike and start racing competitively again.

What is the best thing you've done for your health or the best health advice you've received? The best advice I have received is that to achieve your health goals, you should do it first thing each morning. Don't wait until the end of the day, when the temptation to skip a workout is highest.

What are you most proud of? My two children and what intelligent, curious, and compassionate citizens of the world they are becoming.

What are a few of your personal achievements? I overcame poverty (all meals from a food shelf, no vegetables unless we grew them ourselves, no college fund) to become the first doctor in my family.