Joshua Kern, MD

Program Director

Dr. Joshua Kern graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2005. He did his residency training at the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho and finished in 2008, where he was one of the chief residents from 2007-2008. His medical interests include chronic disease management, obesity, and procedures including colonoscopy and colposcopies. He became site director in 2012 and did the National Institute for Program Director Development Fellowship in 2012.   Along with his clinical work in Jerome and working with the residents he is Vice President of Medical Affairs for St. Luke’s Health System, East Region.  In his spare time he spends time with his wife and three children and trains for Spartan races.

Nicole Ruske, MD

Associate Program Director - Magic Valley RTT

Medical school: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Current job: Outpatient, inpatient and operative obstetrical family medicine in Jerome, ID

Jim Irwin, MD

Assistant Site Director

Dr. Jim Irwin graduated from the University of Utah in 1980 and did his residency in Family Medicine at the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho in Boise. He has served as an auxiliary faculty member with the University of Washington since 1983 and a clinical faculty member with Idaho State University for many years. He is currently a Clinical Associate Professor with the University of Washington and Director of the Continuity Clinic for the Magic Valley Rural Training Track in Jerome Idaho. He is a recent recipient of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho Alumni Community Service Award. Dr. Irwin is also Jerome Citizen of the Year for 2010. He maintains a busy office practice in Jerome as well as serving as a Medical Consultant for the Regional Child Development Center. Dr. Irwin loves the full spectrum of family medicine—from obstetrics and babies through complicated internal medicine and into old age. He is especially interested in evidence based medicine, including alternative therapies to the optimal care of each individual. Dr. Irwin is actively involved in keeping our environment healthy. He has been instrumental in organizing cleanup for the Snake River Canyon between Centennial Park and Pillar Falls for the past 15 years. He has helped numerous Boy Scouts achieve their Eagle Scout award through involvement with cleanup efforts and other projects such as wood duck boxes. He and his wife, Lorna, have been married for more than 38 years and have 3 children, a profoundly deaf daughter in graduate school and 2 sons completing college. His non-medical interests include hiking, hunting, fly fishing, photography, scuba diving, and playing with his “gorgeous” mules. He was recently chosen as the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians’ Physician of the Year for 2011.

Steven Kohtz, MD

Magic Valley RTT Faculty

Steven was born in Twin Falls, Idaho as the 3rd-generation to be raised in agricultural Southern Idaho. Attending the University of Idaho he met his future wife, Elizabeth, who was to become a dairy veterinarian with the plan to move back to Twin Falls in the dairy heart of Idaho. After graduating AOA from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Steven worked his way to the Chief Resident position at the Kaiser Permanente Fontana Family Medicine Residency. After graduating in 2008 and moving back to Twin Falls, he began a full-time Family Medicine practice while initiating involvement in management of his large, multispecialty primary care practice and attending Idaho Medical Association events. Steven became his practice’s President for 2 years followed by transitioning to an employed position within St. Luke’s Health System where he acts as a Division Medical Director for Primary Care in Magic Valley and Jerome, serves on the Board of the St. Luke’s Health Partners Network, and Chairs multiple committees aimed at governing St. Luke’s transition from volume to value. Steven also serves on the Idaho Medical Association Board of Trustees. Elizabeth and Steven have 2 wonderful daughters, Arabella (6) and Josephine (4) and enjoy hiking, biking, and camping as a family. Currently Steven is working his way up the Idaho Centennial Trail in small increments with his brother and father, the 100-miles from Nevada to Hammet completed this spring.

Rick Sandison, MD

Magic Valley RTT Faculty

Dr. Sandison graduated from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine in 1989. He completed his internship in Family Medicine and Community Health at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where he was awarded “First Year Resident of the Year.” Following internship he worked in Africa for one year in a Presbyterian Church of East Africa Mission Hospital in Chogoria, Kenya. He returned to complete his Family Medicine residency at the University of Iowa. He has worked as a Family Physician in Twin Falls, Idaho continuously since 1993, with the exception of a sabbatical in 2008 and 2009, during which time he worked in a mission clinic in Ecuador. He has also lived in Mexico and Costa Rica. He was a cofounder of the Mustard Tree Free Medical Clinic in Twin Falls. His hobbies include running, cycling, swimming, triathlon, snowboarding, backpacking, and reading. He has ridden his bicycle across the United States. His most prominent fitness interest is ultra endurance sports with events completed including the Vermont 100-Mile Endurance Run, the Grand Teton 100-Mile Endurance Run, and the Big Horn 100-Mile Endurance Run.

Anthony Markuson, MD

Magic Valley Program 2021

Anthony grew up on the family farm near Chester, Montana. He attended Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Upon stepping on the campus, he felt right at home, found a group of lifelong friends, earned a degree in Biology, and studied abroad in Botswana along with a few other places. After graduating, he moved to Baltimore, MD for a year of service at the Don Miller Houses. A plethora of opportunities, including shadowing a Family Physician in his hometown, lead him to understand that practicing medicine is his vocation.

He matriculated at the University of Washington School of Medicine as a Targeted Rural Underserved Scholar. This program allowed him to spend time in Lewistown, MT throughout various stages of his schooling. Service learning was an essential component, and he enjoying working with vulnerable populations including LGBTQ, underserved, HIV+, and those suffering from homelessness. His mentors insisted he “check out FMRI’ as a potential residency program.

Early on, Anthony understood FMRI would train him extremely well to serve his future community. He is extraordinarily enthused that he matched with the Magic Valley Rural Training Track and looks forward to joining the Boise, Twin Falls, and Jerome communities in the coming years.

When not working, Anthony enjoys spending time with his dog Cooper, skiing, biking, kayaking, rock climbing, running, fly fishing, scuba diving, and camping as much as possible!

Luke Sugden, DO

Magic Valley Program 2021

Luke was born and raised in the heart of the Magic Valley in Jerome, Idaho. At the time; Jerome was a single stoplight, agricultural community with a small critical access hospital staffed entirely by family physicians. His mother being one of them. Growing up watching the impact she had on the small community was the genesis of his interest in rural family medicine. After many summers playing in the mountains and fields, off he went to Boise State University. There, he majored in microbiology and minored in chemistry, although what he really enjoyed was playing tuba in the Blue Thunder Marching Band! While in Boise he trained as an EMT and joined the Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit. This allowed him to blend his love of the wilderness with his love of medicine. After graduation it was off to Peru for five months of medical volunteering. There is a dramatic need for primary care in developing countries and this furthered his resolve to become a family physician. Once back, he headed to Colorado to attend medical school at Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. There he was selected into a Rural and Wilderness Medicine Honors Program, providing additional training for a practice in rural family medicine. He could not feel more privileged to be attending the Magic Valley Rural Training Track. He is excited to be able to return to the community that helped him get started, and be able to give back.  The full scope training offered at the MVRTT will well prepare him for his dream of being a full scope family physician practicing in a small town! When he is not at school he enjoys spending time with his wonderful wife Michelle in the outdoors.

Logan Perkins, DO

Magic Valley Program 2022

Logan grew up in in the small coal mining town of Price, Utah. After graduating from Carbon High School he served a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to Santiago, Chile. Upon returning home he enrolled at BYU in Provo, Utah where he majored in genetics and biotechnology. While attending BYU he met his wife Anna who grew up in nearby Oakley, Idaho. After BYU, Logan, Anna and their 18 mo daughter Sadie moved to Lynchburg, Virginia for medical school at Liberty University. During his 3^rd year of medical school Logan and Anna had their second child, a boy named Sam. Logan and family wanted to move back west for residency to be closer to family and after completing a sub-I during his 4^th year they knew it would be the perfect place to continue raising their family. When not at work Logan enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, and listening to audiobooks.

Victoria Talbutt, MD

Magic Valley Program 2022

Tori Talbutt is happy to be staying in Idaho for her residency training! She was raised in Boise, ID where she attended Capital High School and played soccer, basketball and violin in the chamber orchestra. She then went to Concordia University- Portland on a soccer scholarship where she majored in Biology- Pre-Medical Studies. During her time learning and playing at Concordia, she was honored to earn All-American accolades as a goalkeeper for her soccer team, and the Champions of Character award for her work with the Lutheran Malaria Project. Following graduation from college she remained in Portland for two years working as a scribe and learning more about medicine.

Tori matriculated into the University of Washington- Idaho WWAMI program in 2015 and was able to return to her home state to train in Moscow, Idaho for 2 years followed by 2 years of training in Boise, Pocatello, and Idaho Falls. During her time in medical school she developed a love for women’s health, obstetrics, pediatrics, and providing care to the underserved members of her community. She also took the chance to spend a summer in Peru learning some Spanish.

In her spare time, Tori continues to enjoy playing soccer, but has also picked up running, skiing, mountain biking, and any sport she can find to stay active and enjoy the outdoors. She is excited to get the chance to train in the Magic Valley and get to know her new community. She is joined in Twin Falls by her dog, Sophie, and intermittently by her partner Magnum Kincaid who lives full-time in Boise.

Jameson Bastow, MD

Magic Valley Program 2023

Jameson Bastow is so excited and humbled to be back home! He was born at the old Magic Valley Regional Medical Center on Martin Street. He is proud to be an alumnus of Idaho schools, including I.B. Perrine, Robert Stuart, Twin Falls High School, CSI, and Idaho State University. He spent his childhood years developing a love for Idaho between his time adventuring with the Boy Scouts and traveling to his grandparents in North Idaho. As a Boy Scout rafting the Middle Fork of the Salmon River and backpacking the White Clouds, Jameson became fascinated with medicine as his fellow scouts and he utilized some of their leaders’ medical training, probably more often than they should have! These experiences also helped him decide on family medicine as a career so he can live wherever he wants and care for adults, teens and children, pregnant mothers, and everyone’s grandma. His plans after residency include completing a surgical obstetrics fellowship then working in an underserved, rural Idaho community.

During high school and his undergraduate years, Jameson was also equally interested in business and computer systems. He graduated from Idaho State earning a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems, all the while keeping his sight set on medical school. A pause in his studies to serve a volunteer, two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in central Chile uncovered a deep love for Latin people and their culture. He also enjoyed career experiences at Wells Fargo and Idaho Central Credit Union, including as a loan officer. Finally, his medical education took him to the BBQ capital of the world, Kansas City. Though he loved his time in the Midwest, he longed for the sound of sprinklers and mountains, zero humidity, and normal-sized bugs.

After his mission and at CSI, Jameson met and married his best friend, Becca. She graduated from Jerome High School and shares Jameson’s love for Idaho, especially the Stanley Basin. She earned her Bachelor’s of Music Education and loves to teach voice lessons to children and teens. During medical school they became parents to Ruby and Jimmy. Jameson’s greatest priorities in life are his marriage, his kids, and his faith in Jesus Christ. They all enable him to become a better physician and a better person each day. His ancillary passions are basketball, outdoor adventuring, popcorn, Mexican food, and Dutch oven cooking. His nerdy pursuits include, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Marvel movies, musicals, budgeting, and mobile apps. He is so happy to be able to use Spanish again and welcomes all Spanish-speaking patients too!

FUN FACT: Jameson has had a part-time job through every step of his education. This included cleaning the butcher shop at Swensen’s Markets to running the audiovisual equipment for his medical school class.

Tony Blankers, MD

Magic Valley Program 2020

Tony Robert Blankers hails from Hospers, Iowa, a town of 600 in scenic northwest Iowa. The son of James (a pilot for Southwest Airlines) and Brenda (a classroom aid at the local elementary school). He is the middle of three brothers, Theo (older) and Jake (younger). Traveling to the big city of Minneapolis/St. Paul, he attended Bethel University for an undergraduate degree in Biology. Favor fell upon him when he was accepted to the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, MN. A few years after graduating, he married his college sweetheart, Steph, in the summer of 2015. Following college friends to Boise, the mountains called and he decided to make FMRI home. Traveling to Twin Falls for the Magic Valley RTT will afford him the small town feel he grew up with. Tony is privileged to practice medicine with a dedicated and caring team and looks forward to serving a rural community in the not-so-distant future.

Kena Lackman, MD

Magic Valley Program 2020

Eastern Montana is home to me – I grew up on a sugar beet farm along the Yellowstone River outside of Hysham. While my summers were consumed by taking care of my 4-H animals, irrigating, and driving tractor on my parents’ farm, I stayed busy during the school year by participating in basketball, volleyball, and track, and competing in FFA.

I attended Montana State University (GO CATS!) in Bozeman, MT. After graduating, I took a year off and worked as a nanny before attending the University of Washington where I participated in the Targeted Rural and Underserved Track (TRUST) program. Primarily through the TRUST program, I realized my desire to practice full spectrum family medicine in a rural/underserved community.

I chose FMRI for multiple reasons after completing my Sub-I in Boise. The attendings are phenomenal teachers and really cool people to be around. The residents work hard and play harder. The experience is unopposed, with hands-on training in all aspects of family medicine. A particular interest of mine was the ability to develop my Spanish communication skills, and FMRI supports language development through patient interaction, international medicine rotations and language classes, and a grant to provide individual/group tutoring weekly to those interested.

During my Sub-I in Boise, I spent a day in Twin Falls-Jerome and immediately knew the Magic Valley RTT was the program for me. Not only did I get the true intern experience of being on a team of residents in a more structured teaching environment in Boise, but I then would receive a more independent and hands-on form of training in a critical access hospital. The combination seemed too good to be true.

When I’m not catching babies or rounding on inpatient medicine, I enjoy playing sports, knee-boarding, boating, camping, cooking, baking, and the occasional Netflix binge (do not judge!). Come visit us in Boise or one of the RTTs! We would love to have you!

Jared Henderson, MD

Magic Valley Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: Ohio State University
Current Job: Primary Care with group in St. Luke’s Magic Valley

Sarah Waterman, MD

Magic Valley Program Graduate 2019

Medical School: Creighton University School of Medicine
Current Job: OB Fellowship in Omaha, NE (2019-2020)

Robert Crouch, DO

Magic Valley Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Current Job: Broad spectrum surgical OB faculty member in Nampa, ID

Andrew Schweitzer, MD

Magic Valley Program Graduate 2018

Medical School: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current Job: Broad spectrum surgical OB job in Cottonwood, ID

Catherine Doyle, MD

Magic Valley Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of Washington School of Medicine
Current job: Outpatient and inpatient family medicine in Jerome, ID

Tara Mertz-Hack, MD

Magic Valley Program Graduate 2017

Medical school: University of North Dakota
Current job: Outpatient and prenatal care in Oakes, ND. L&D coverage in Fargo, ND