A new family doctor joined the St. John’s Clinic-Houston staff this week.
Tricia Benoist, M.D., began working Monday in Houston. She also has admitting privileges at Texas County Memorial Hospital.
Benoist is a Missouri native who grew up in the St. Louis suburbs. When she was just a junior high school student, she read several articles about rural physician shortages and felt called to serve in these underserved areas. Since that time, she has devoted her life to fulfilling her dream of becoming a small town family doctor.
She attended the University of Missouri-Columbia where she was active in student government while pursuing her dream of rural medicine. She then moved to Chicago to continue her medical education at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
Benoist saw a wide variety of patients and diseases during her training in Chicago. After graduating as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, a medical honor society, she moved to Muncie, Ind., for her family medicine residency training at Ball Memorial Hospital. While in Muncie, Benoist received top-of-the-line instruction in all aspects of family medicine but especially obstetrics, pediatrics and multiple medical procedures. She even gained extra experience in pediatrics moonlighting at an urgent care center.
Benoist said she values the relationships she builds with her patients. She feels that she is a part of their lives and will do anything she can to help prevent illness and help her patients control their current illnesses and lead healthy lives.
She feels that patient education is very important and takes extra steps to ensure that patients understand their diagnoses and medications. Benoist loves all aspects of family medicine: listening to stories from her elderly patients; playing with her pediatric patients; caring for pregnant patients and delivering babies; and then watching those babies grow up.
In her free time, Benoist enjoys a good movie, reading, nature walks and most of all spending time with her one-year-old daughter, Allie, and husband, Larry.
Benoist is excited to finally be living out her dream of serving a rural community. She and her family live in Houston and are hoping to become active members of the community.