Luke Van Kirk, DO
Dr. Luke Van Kirk was raised in Minnesota, Louisiana, and Kansas. He graduated from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. There he met friends and had professors that helped him believe he could go to medical school. He attended Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in Pomona, California, and completed his medical training in 2013. He only applied to osteopathic schools because he wanted to learn how to manipulate the spine and body to help his patients as much as possible. Initially, he wanted to go into emergency medicine, but he soon realized he loved the continuity of care and getting to know his patients. That made family medicine the most obvious choice for him.
Dr. Van Kirk was lucky to meet a beautiful girl while he was at Evangel and started dating her before starting medical school. She was in nursing school in Springfield, Missouri, while he was in medical school in California. He decided to do a rotation at Cox Family Medicine Residency Program in Springfield, Missouri, to be closer to his future wife. He started his residency in July of 2012, and it ended up blowing him away. He initially thought he might do emergency department work and outpatient family medicine. This idea didn't last long because he soon discovered that his cousin, Josh Umbehr, had started a direct primary care practice called Atlas MD in Wichita, Kansas. Direct primary care completely changed his focus in residency and made him realize he wanted to do nothing but direct primary care. Thankfully, he has been patient and has waited until now to begin his direct primary care practice. He believes that it will change the world, and most importantly, the health of his patients. He is board certified in Family Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine.
Dr. Van Kirk discloses that he has no relevant financial relationships with any organization producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients relative to the content of this presentation.
