Interview by Natalie Myers, CEO, EPCMS
With context from Teresa Dyer, Practice Administrator

Who or what inspired you to become a physician?

That’s a good question. My high school anatomy teacher was a wonderful human being. She was fantastic—so passionate about anatomy. Something about that really inspired me. I loved math and science already, but she took it another step. She made it feel alive.

She went the extra mile to make sure that even as high school students, we had real hands-on experiences—like dissections. I know that sounds a little overwhelming, but you know… pig, frog… those sorts of things. And seeing how invested she was in it, how much she believed in us—she had high hopes for all her students and made us feel like we could do anything.

I think she was the first person to tell me, ‘You’re going to be a doctor.’ And it just… felt right.

How did you translate that into dermatology?

Dermatology took a while. I was fortunate enough to do a lot of different things in medicine. I did a military scholarship for medical school, and after medical school I worked for six years in the Navy. That gave me exposure to a lot of fields, and I could really see what I liked—not just subject matter, but day-to-day life and activity.

That’s when I really thought, yep, dermatology is right for me. I liked the outpatient clinic aspect. I liked that you can see patients of all ages, and there’s a lot of variety. And generally there’s a good success rate with what we treat—rashes, skin cancer, which is a big part of what I do. There’s a high success rate, and that’s very satisfying for patients… and for me. So yeah—that’s how dermatology got started.

Briefly describe a peak experience from your career.

Hmm. A peak experience… Okay. We talked about how I was in the Navy for a little bit. I got the opportunity to be part of a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman where they were practicing for an anti-piracy mission.

Basically, a ship gets taken over by pirates. They come in on a helicopter and take over the ship—this was an exercise where our country was helping special forces in Oman, so it was a joint training exercise. They chose me as the physician to be part of the medical standby. So, if anyone got injured, I was there.

Fortunately, no one did. But I think it was a key moment where I thought: I am so fortunate to do interesting things—and to transfer medicine into other aspects of life. I loved that.

What led you to engage with EPCMS?

Dr. Reinhardt:
I’ll diver to Teresa to start this one.

Teresa Dyer (Practice Administrator):
One of the things we talk about a lot as a practice is how connected the healthcare community is in Colorado Springs. Physicians here don’t practice in isolation—there’s a strong sense of shared responsibility, collaboration, and community impact. That’s something we value deeply, and it’s also why being connected to EPCMS matters.

Dr. Reinhardt:
Absolutely. For me, EPCMS represents the physician community in this region. Colorado Springs is a growing city, but it still feels connected—and EPCMS plays a big role in that.

In larger metropolitan areas, it’s easy for physicians to stay siloed. You focus on your specialty, your clinic, your systems—and that’s it. But here, there’s a real opportunity to engage across specialties, to have conversations that go beyond any one practice, and to think about healthcare as something we’re all shaping together.

What drew me to EPCMS is that it creates that connective tissue. It’s a place where physicians can come together, share perspective, and engage on issues that affect patient care and the physician experience across the entire region—not just within our own walls. That sense of physician community really resonates with me.

What advice would you give to physicians in training who are just starting their careers?

Stay open-minded. We’re constantly in this training pipeline that gets smaller and smaller in our scope—even within dermatology, you can subspecialize into Mohs surgery, and so on.

But there are still so many things you can do and be involved in within the bigger realm of healthcare. Keep that aperture wide. There are so many things that can color your life and your career if you don’t rush to narrow down too fast.

It may take a while. It’s important to focus for a couple years sometimes—but keep in mind a career is long, and we’ve got opportunities in life.

What do you enjoy doing outside of medicine?

That’s exciting to get to figure out. I’ve been so busy with cleaning—though I do enjoy research and writing papers on my weekends—but there are other things I want to do too.

We got an Epic Pass this year, so our goal is to hit a majority of the ski areas this winter—even if the weather’s not going to be so great and the snow isn’t there. But hey—we’re at least going to go.

And honestly, being outdoors. We’ve got a dog that keeps us outside.