After completing medical school, Trevecca alumnus Curtis Rich returned to Nashville this summer to begin a residency in emergency medicine at Ascension Saint Thomas. It’s a move that feels full circle for the 2016 graduate who credits his time at Trevecca, a life-changing year abroad and a deep sense of calling for shaping his path to medicine.
“From the get-go at Ascension Saint Thomas, we are in the Emergency Department taking care of patients and doing everything they expect residents to do,” Rich said. “Everyone seems super happy to be there, and they are really passionate about the patients that we’re treating.”
Ascension Saint Thomas has become a key partner for Trevecca in recent years by making clinical learning opportunities available for nursing students.
Before taking on his medical studies, Rich earned his undergraduate degree at Trevecca in intercultural studies with a minor in biology. He spent time working with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in Serbia alongside his wife Megan after graduation. That year overseas, supporting refugees and migrants, proved pivotal in discovering his passion.
“We wanted to serve in some capacity with our life but we didn’t know what that would look like,” Rich said. “That year we got to see medical professionals doing things that were really important for the people we were serving, especially refugees and migrants passing through Central Europe. That ultimately inspired me to go into medicine.”
When the Riches returned to the U.S., he worked as a nurse technician and then as a research assistant in emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University. It was during this time, immersed in challenging medical cases and emergency department research, that he ultimately decided to pursue medical school instead of PA school or nursing. Rich enrolled at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, completing a one-year master’s program in medicine followed by four years of medical school.
“I fell in love with emergency medicine when I was in research before med school. You see practically every patient that comes into the hospital,” Rich said. “A big part of what drew me further during my time at Creighton was seeing how much our healthcare system depends on the emergency department as a safety net. We meet people on their worst day and try to figure out solutions to their problems. That’s a rewarding part of why I chose emergency medicine.”
Now a resident physician, Rich is excited to grow in his field and continue serving with compassion and purpose. While he’s committed to the rigorous demands of residency for the next three years, he’s also thinking about the future, and how he might someday return to international work with his family.
“I’ve realized I really enjoy teaching, and I could see myself being involved in medical education overseas, maybe helping train local providers in underserved areas,” Rich said. “We don’t know yet if we’ll return to long-term missions, but those doors are definitely not closed.”
Looking back, he sees how his time at Trevecca laid the foundation–not just academically, but spiritually and relationally–or the life he’s building now.
“The support I received at Trevecca was instrumental. Even though I didn't go straight into medicine after graduation, the experiences I had there and people like Dr. Kathy Mowry investing in me helped to shape the way I wanted to serve others,” Rich said. “It just took time for me to realize that medicine was the way I was going to do that.”
As he begins this new season at Ascension Saint Thomas, Rich is grounded in the same values that first drew him toward service years ago in Serbia: compassion and a deep desire to meet people where they are, especially when they need help the most.