Karl Dietrich, MD MPH (he/him/his)
Karl is the Inaugural Program Director of the Cheshire Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. Karl grew up in New Hampshire, and after exploring careers in wildlife biology and as a high school science teacher, he found his calling in medicine. He earned his MD and MPH from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and completed his Family Medicine Residency at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island/Brown University.
Karl previously served as core faculty and associate program director at the Swedish First Hill Family Medicine Residency in Seattle. He is passionate about medical education and is thrilled to help bring a residency training program to the region. His clinical interests include addiction medicine, sports medicine, quality improvement, and health equity—he loves the capacity of Family Medicine to address social justice. With his family, Karl enjoys taking advantage of all the outdoor activities the Monadnock Region offers, cooking and baking, and being back amongst New England sports fans.
Read more about Karl and why he was honored with a 2023 Trendsetter Award by the Business Journal.
Reuben Baker, MD (he/him/his)
Reuben is one of the core faculty physicians at the Family Medicine Residency. He grew up near the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and took a circuitous route of different careers throughout the South that ultimately led him to a career in rural family medicine.
He graduated from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he met his now wife and fellow core faculty member, Ellen Richardson. Together, they completed their training at the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho while enjoying many adventures in the Rocky Mountains and foothills of Idaho.
Before joining the Cheshire Family Medicine Residency program, he was on the core faculty of the Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency. He is passionate about teaching evidence-based medicine with special attention to gender-affirming care, reproductive health, and office procedures. He enjoys hiking, biking, running, snowshoeing, and skiing in the mountains with Ellen and their dog, Livvy. Reuben also likes to grow, forage, cook, and eat delicious food.
Cherie Holmes, MD, MSc (she/her/hers)
Cherie, an orthopaedic surgeon, is the Designated Institutional Official (DIO) for the Cheshire Medical Center/Graduate Medical Education at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center program.
Cherie attended Dartmouth College and Georgetown Medical School. After her residency at Harvard, she practiced for 4 years with the US Navy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, where she was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery and spent time in the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War. Like her Family Medicine colleagues at Cheshire, Cherie has had the pleasure of caring for whole families, from grandparents to grandchildren, over her long career in the Monadnock Region.
Gerard Kiernan, MD (he/him/his)
Gerard leads the inpatient medicine curriculum for the Family Medicine Residency. Gerard grew up in the New York City area and came to medicine after studying Geology and working in environmental education. He received his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, NY, and he completed his residency at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Gerard practiced rural family medicine in Cody, Wyoming, prior to joining Dartmouth Health. In Keene, he worked as a clinic-based family physician prior to moving to full-time inpatient work. Gerard serves as the Quality Officer for Hospital Medicine, chairs the Cheshire P+T committee, and is on multiple system committees. His clinical interests include communication skills for talking about serious illness, diabetes, sepsis, and quality improvement.
When not working, Gerard is likely to be skiing, mountain biking, hiking, cooking, or reading.
Christopher LaRocca, MD (he/him/his)
Chris is the Director of Graduate Medical Education and Family Medicine Residency Development at Cheshire. He’s lived most of his life in New England since attending Dartmouth College and then Dartmouth Medical School. After completing his Family Medicine residency at a rural training site of the University of Massachusetts program, Chris returned to New Hampshire, where he has practiced Family Medicine in the Monadnock Region since 1987.
Medical student education at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth has been a passion, and recently, he has broadened his interest to graduate medical education. Chris has a particular interest in medical humanities, including narrative medicine. In the beautiful New Hampshire surroundings, hiking, biking, kayaking, and barn and garden chores keep Chris and his family busy. And, just to keep things interesting, Chris loves to root against all New England sports teams.
KrisEmily McCrory, MD, MS Med Ed, FAAFP (she/her/hers)
KrisEmily is the Associate Program Director of the Cheshire Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. KrisEmily grew up in New England and is excited to bring her enthusiasm and experience to help establish the program and help educate new generations of family physicians here in the Monadnock Region.
KrisEmily earned her medical degree from Albany Medical College with a distinction in bioethics. After completing her family medicine residency at Albany Medical Center, she went on to a role as core faculty and director of women’s health and maternity services curriculum at Ellis Family Medicine Residency Program in Schenectady, New York. In this role, she practiced full-scope family medicine while teaching family medicine residents and medical students. Fueling an ongoing love of medical education, KrisEmily pursued an MS in Medical Education from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. She has a strong interest in innovative curriculum design and faculty development, as well as a dedication to diversity and equity pursuits. Outside of medicine, KrisEmily spends time with her family playing board games and enjoys knitting, reading, and gardening.
Peter Park MD, FAAFP, CAQ-SM (he/him/his)
Peter is a core faculty physician and leads the sports medicine curriculum for the Family Medicine Residency. He is involved in many sports and activities, and it seemed inevitable to combine his love of sports and medicine. However, his path includes a few twists and turns.
He graduated with a degree in biology from the College of the Holy Cross, followed by humpback whale research in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and then two years at Paschal Sherman Indian School in rural Washington state (where he met his wife Shelley) before earning his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He returned to the Pacific Northwest for rural family medicine residency training in Olympia, Washington. During residency, he discovered northern New England during a sports medicine rotation at Mount Snow, Vermont.
From 1998 to 2022, he served the Mount Snow/Deerfield Valley as the town doctor, where he delivered babies, taught medical students from Tufts and the University of Vermont, treated those battling addiction, stood on sidelines and court-side, stitched wounds, reduced fractures, responded to airplane crashes, and stabilized critically injured athletes at the Winter X Games. Additionally, he spent a year practicing rural family medicine in New Zealand.
He returned to academics in 2022, completing a primary care sports medicine fellowship in Asheville, North Carolina, before returning to New England. He is proud to be a part of the team training the next generation of family physicians.
Ellen Richardson (she/her/hers)
Ellen is one of the core faculty physicians at the Cheshire Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency. Ellen grew up in Vermont and became interested in community and public health in college. After finding her passion in Disability Studies, she pursued medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where she met her husband (and fellow core faculty member) Reuben Baker. Together, they completed their residency at the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho in Boise.
After residency, Ellen moved back east to be core faculty at the Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency. She is thrilled to be part of the Cheshire Family Medicine Residency team, where her educational and clinical focuses include reproductive care, health equity, gender-affirming care, and office-based procedures. When not at the clinic or the hospital, Ellen enjoys cooking, gardening, skiing, and exploring the many trails of the Monadnock Region with Reuben and her dog.
Stefanie Russell, MD (she/her/hers)
Stefanie is one of the core faculty physicians at the Cheshire Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. Stefanie grew up in Adirondack Park in upstate New York and is excited to use her background to help patients with the unique healthcare challenges that come from living in a rural area.
She received her MD from St George’s University in Grenada and completed her residency at UMass-Barre. She remained as a faculty member, where she was able to provide primary care, including addiction medicine, hepatitis C treatment, prenatal care, and reproductive care. She also worked as a hospitalist.
She is passionate about learning, teaching, and using the art of medicine to provide evidence-based and patient-centered care.
Stefanie enjoys traveling, a good podcast, gardening, and exploring the Monadnock Region with her family and puppies.
Catherine Schuman, PhD (she/her/hers)
Cathy is the Director of Behavioral Science for the Family Medicine Residency Program at Cheshire Medical Center. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology with an emphasis in health from the California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego, and specialized in behavioral medicine during her fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Cathy was most recently the Director of Behavioral Science for the Gundersen Health System, Family Medicine residency. Previously, she was the Director of Behavioral Medicine and Behavioral Medicine Training at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) and Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She has also been the Director of Sleep Psychology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Fletcher Allen Health Care, where she was a Clinical Associate Professor in the departments of Neurology and Psychiatry.
Cathy provides collaborative, collocated, and integrated patient care and trains others to do the same through her role as the director of Behavioral Science Education for the Family Medicine Residency program. She has published a book, several book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles about the integration of sleep management into clinical practice and the integration of behavioral health in primary care, the relationship between stress, physical disease, and psychological well-being, and the impact of health disparities.
Cathy is an avid weaver and enjoys all things fiber. She is also a beekeeper and has a love of all things outdoors—especially gardening.
Christine Symonds (she/her/hers)
Program Coordinator Christine Symonds was born and raised in the area, and other than a short year spent in Boston, she has made Keene her home. Christine joined the Medical Center in 2007 working as a physical therapist assistant (PTA).
Her love of organizing and doing administrative work allowed her the opportunity to coordinate student clinical experiences in Cheshire’s Education Department. Christine’s talents have been instrumental in creating the first residency program at Cheshire. When not working, Christine enjoys spending time with family—especially her grandsons—tending the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway trail, road biking, watching HGTV, and reading.