“Committed to come back – and give back.”
Fear was the first diagnosis PNWU Student Doctor Brian Buchanan remembers.
As a Yakima high schooler facing a stubborn, chronic infection, he worried about everything he might lose—sports, school, the simple joys of growing up. Then a local infectious disease physician met his fear with partnership.
“We were partners in the fight,” recalls Student Dr. Buchanan.
“A good physician knows how to treat a condition, but a great one knows how to treat a patient. For me, this difference was palpable.”
In addition to restoring his health, the experience reoriented his life. Today, he credits it as the reason he’s charting a path back home as a future family doctor or pediatrician.
“Yakima needs doctors committed to addressing this problem,” he says. “I’d love to be part of the solution.”
“At its heart, PNWU is an institution with a clear mission: building a community of health professionals excited to serve rural communities in the Pacific Northwest,” he adds. “As someone who grew up in rural Central Washington, this mission really spoke to me. PNWU offers me a special opportunity to train in the community I hope to serve.”
Today, as a member of the PNWU-COM Class of 2029, Student Dr. Buchanan is shaping a career defined by the lesson he learned as a teenager: clinical excellence matters—but so do presence, reassurance, and trust. His goal is simple and bold: return home, expand primary care access, and care for the next generation with the same compassion that forever changed his life.