Student Status: Sequoia 9th quarter doctor of chiropractic (DC) and enrolled in the human nutrition and functional medicine master’s degree program, Joanna 2nd quarter massage therapy (MT)
Hometown(s): Morgan, Utah and Layton, Utah
Brief History: We met in 2010 through a mutual friend while we were both in our first year of college. We both come from similar backgrounds and knew early on that we wanted to work in health care. We moved to Portland in 2013 and got married in the fall of 2014.
- What are the best parts of attending UWS at the same time?
Attending UWS at the same time allows us the special opportunity to teach each other unique skills and perspectives specific to our different health care professions. It is very convenient to have my husband acting as my personal tutor and walking encyclopedia. The frequent study sessions and soft tissue/palpation lessons are clinically a benefit to both of us!
- What made you and your husband decide to form this partnership? Do you plan to work together when you graduate?
Marriage is the ultimate partnership so engaging in our professional lives collaboratively made this DC/LMT partnership an easy choice! We plan on working together and opening our own wellness and nutrition clinic when we both graduate later this year.
- What do you hope to achieve in the future with this partnership?
Ultimately, we hope to heal our community by educating and encouraging them to make lifestyle choices necessary to live a happy and healthy life! There are many people in our community who are searching for the right combination of knowledge and guidance to make that critical shift to a healthier lifestyle. It is our mission to connect with and help these individuals.
- What do you think will be the biggest challenges and/or rewards that come from working together?
Some of the biggest challenges we foresee will be related to negotiating critical business decisions when we both come to different conclusions. We plan on having children in the near future and finding the right balance between shared work and family could be potentially challenging.
- What makes you great partners?
We are great partners because we share the same passions and have similar dreams. We complement each other like yin and yang and we know how to lift each other up when the other person is feeling down from the stress of life.
- What about your partner annoys the heck out of you that you did not know before going to school together?
When finals week comes around my husband’s study material starts to take over the entire house! It will start off in his office and slowly start to spread out to the living room then to our room. You can sure expect a great house cleaning session at the end of every finals week!
- Would you recommend this kind of partnership to other “dynamic duos” (both domestic partners and friend/family member)?
Most definitely! It is so rewarding coming home at the end of the day and being able to relate to each other. We have a better understanding and appreciation for each other’s profession. We get to readily teach and practice clinical skills with each other at our convenience.