Rural Training Track – Residents
Rural Training Track Residents
Third Year Residents
Melanie Barnes, MD
Melanie’s home town is Newport Beach, CA. She completed her undergraduate studies in the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, then spent 11 years as an active duty Air Force pilot, taking her all over the world.
During medical school she was active with Health Equity circle and focused on improving access to health care for underserved populations. She has a passion for rural health care, and a growing interest in women’s health care. She wants to be a guide that helps each individual patient reach their personal health and lifestyle goals.
Outside of medicine, she enjoys hiking, camping, biking, snowboarding and many other varieties of outdoor activities. She also has a small farm with chickens and ducks.
Melanie will spend her first year training in Spokane and then transition for her remaining 2 years to Colville, WA – Rural Training Track
Ryan Lucas, MD
Ryan grew up in Stevenson, WA and attended Clark College and Washington State University in Vancouver, WA.
He has worked to reduce food insecurities in rural communities in the Columbia River Gorge, has been a Spanish medical interpreter, a clinical specialist and a tutor for Spanish and English. Ryan is interested in working with patients and communities to overcome challenges and reach shared goals in health.
Outside of medicine he enjoys swing dancing, Tae Kwon Do – where he is a 4th degree blackbelt instructor and reading fantasy novels.
Ryan will spend his first-year training in Spokane and then transition for his remaining 2 years to Colville, WA – Rural Training Track
Second Year Residents
Anne Keeling, DO
Rural Training Track
Anne hail from Woodstock, IL and pursued her higher education out West. Undergrad at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT then Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, WA (living and doing clinical rotations up in Anchorage, AK during years 3 & 4). Out west, she fell in love with hiking, backpacking, and identifying/documenting plants, animals, and birds around her. Anne’s other hobbies include reading, writing, running, cycling, swimming, TV crime shows, and movies based on real events.
In high school, Anne narrowed down possible career choices to detective or doctor. The scale was ultimately tipped towards medicine by a love for science (huge nerd), in addition to solving mysteries. Anne is excited to bring her experiences and passion for medicine as she continues to learn from rural communities here in PNW.
Jenny Wickens, MD
Rural Training Track
Jenny was born and raised in northern Michigan, receiving her undergraduate degree at Lake Superior State University and completing medical school at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
What she loves most about family medicine is the opportunity to walk alongside patients while providing a wide breadth of medical care from acute procedural care to longitudinal treatment to preventative medicine. She is interested in providing full scope care in a rural setting after residency.
Jenny often spends her time outside of clinic in the great outdoors and enjoys backpacking, kayaking, hiking, and exploring new places.
First Year Residents
Kaleb Merrick, DO
Rural Training Track
Kaleb grew up in Moscow, Idaho and Prosser, Washington. He completed his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University-Idaho, taking a two-year break after his first semester to serve a church mission in northern Brazil. The experiences he had there helped shape his desire to care for the most vulnerable of society. He completed medical school at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. He has a passion for rural medicine with special interests in emergency medicine, obstetrics, and pediatrics. He is an NHSC scholar. After residency, he plans to practice full spectrum family medicine in a small community in the Northwest.
Kaleb and his wife Emily are the proud parents of three (mostly) happy little boys. They love listening to audiobooks together, traveling, and spending time as a family. When he is not caring for patients or hanging out with his family, you might find him hunting, fishing, reading, or spending endless hours looking up mostly useless, but always interesting, facts online.
Trinell Newby, MD
Rural Training Track
Trinell grew up on a small farm near Lynden, Washington. She completed her undergraduate degree in public health at the University of Washington and then worked at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for a couple years. She then attended the University of Washington School of Medicine as a TRUST (Targeted Rural Underserved Track) scholar with longitudinal training in Newport, WA.
She found family medicine filled her cup up from providing preventative medicine to the opportunity to provide longitudinal and multigenerational care. Her professional interests include population health, addiction medicine, obstetrics, and healthcare professional development. She hopes to complete an OB fellowship after residency and then settle down in a rural and underserved community within the PNW.
Outside of medicine she enjoys getting outdoors including hunting and fishing with her husband and two black labradors. When she’s not outside, she loves to paint, craft, and embroider. She is excited to continue her medical training in Spokane and Colville and learn from these amazing communities.
Contact Us
Cally Rehn
Program Administrative Assistant
Rural Training Track Residency
1200 E Columbia Ave
Colville, WA 99114
P (509) 685-4015
Your career starts here. What are you waiting for?
While the STHC was developed for resident physician training, Spokane is home to an increasing number of students in a variety of healthcare fields. Collaboration amongst all professionals is a hallmark of the STHC and the new clinic that was opened in 2016. Here residents work alongside pharmacy students, masters of social work students and PT/OT students to provide the very best care for patients while learning about team dynamics.