Alix Cooper, MD
Pronouns: She / Her or They / Them
Oregon Health & Science University
Alix grew up in Hood River, Oregon—a city well known for its abundance of outdoor activities including windsurfing, kiteboarding, hiking, mountain biking, and skiing—all activities Alix grew up loving. Alix’s only long-term ventures outside of Oregon were during college, when they attended University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA and majored in biology with a minor in bioethics. During college, Alix developed a love of the Seattle Sounders soccer team, thanks to their partner. They moved back to Oregon to go to medical school at OHSU, and in during their fourth year of medical school had the opportunity to move to Klamath Falls to complete the rest of medical school here at Cascade’s East Family Medicine. Alix loves that Klamath Falls offers many of the same opportunities as Hood River did growing up. Alix’s special interests in medicine include transgender health, palliative and end-of-life care, and adolescent health.
Ryan Dunkley, MD
Pronouns: He / Him
Ryan was born and raised in rural Minnesota. Having a father in the DNR helped to spur a love of outdoors activities including hunting and fishing. He attended college at Saint John’s University where he majored in Biology and Hispanic Studies, possibly related to his mother being a Spanish teacher. Ryan was able to pursue a love of travelling through study abroad experiences in the Ecuadorian Amazon and Galapagos Islands as well as in Spain. During his time in college, he met Anna (who may or may not have been dating his roommate at the time). They hit it off right away despite the fact that Anna’s high school graduating class was 15 times the size of Ryan’s.
As the end of college approached, Ryan still wasn’t sure what he wanted to do when he grew up. He was offered a job scribe in the emergency department, an experience that reinvigorated his interest in medicine. In searching for a medical school, Ryan found the rural Duluth campus of UMN where the focus was on serving rural and Native American population. This was a perfect fit for him as someone from a rural area with connections to the local Ojibwe band, which his father is a member of. Ryan spent the next four years avoiding the Twin Cities as much as possible. He worked in a rural hospital during his third year, coincidentally the same hospital where he had been born, and he spent his fourth year back in Duluth.
When the time came to look for a residency, Ryan knew he was looking for full-spectrum training with a rural focus. Ryan and Anna also felt a distinct lack of mountains in their lives up to this point and decided to look out West. Klamath Falls was the perfect fit with mountains, lakes, and an unmatched residency program. Ryan looks forward to becoming part of the Klamath Falls community over the next few years. In his limited free time, he hopes to continue current hobbies like fishing, hiking, birding, and listening to obscure country/folk music while also exploring new pursuits like mountain biking, but mostly he’ll be spending time with his wife, new daughter, and his dog, Cedar.
German Ferrer, MD
German grew up in the small, rural town of Coquille, Oregon. His path to medicine was an interesting one. While in high school, German spent his time outside of school as a drummer for local bands, surfing, and working as a wildland firefighter. Somewhere along the lines, he discovered his desire to enter the medical field. Luckily, he also found the love of his life, Becca, in the midst of it all as well. Shortly after they married, they attended Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) in Klamath Falls, Oregon together. It was here that he truly found his passion for becoming a physician. It probably began in the cadaver lab where he learned to appreciate the science, technical skills, and sensitivity of medicine as he studied, dissected, and maintained the bodies of those who donated their bodies to science. His interests also led him to attend a medical mission trip to Belize, where he translated for the physicians as they cared for patients; it was during this trip that he grew to appreciate fully the role of a physician and the patient-doctor relationship. He decided to direct his focus towards pursuing medical school, and ultimately attended Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. Prior to entering medical school, he spent a year teaching chemistry labs at OIT while his wife finished her studies. German also completed a year-long fellowship in pathology in between his second and third year at OHSU.
German’s passion for medicine has always included a desire to practice in a rural area, and while rotating through a variety of specialties, including a very influential rotation at Cascades East – he found that he desired to serve whichever rural community he would end up in as a family medicine physician. He went on to spend his last year of medical school at Cascades East as an Oregon First student, and is excited to be spending the next three years in the residency program.
German is very busy outside of residency fulfilling his many interests and hobbies including, but not limited to, mountain biking, camping, building and working on bikes, working on cars, spending time with his beloved wife and two dogs, spending time outdoors, and generally doing a variety of projects.
Amanda Kinley, MD
Pronouns: She / Her
University of Washington School of Medicine - Wyoming WWAMI
Amanda was born in the Rockies, raised at the foot of the Tetons, and is a hard-working Wyoming girl. She loves the snow, the seasons, and the satisfaction of a job well done.
Before moving to Klamath Falls, Amanda and fiancé, Eddie, traveled the WWAMI region (WA, WY, AK, MT, ID) for the full two years of clerkships. They continue to live in their travel trailer they affectionately call their GoHome.
Amanda delights in hiking, canoeing, singing and skiing, foraging, figure skating, and working outside. She advocates for preventive medicine through healthy living and looks forward to the breadth and variety that her career in rural family medicine will bring. Her wish is to encourage and bolster her patients’ healthy life choices and grow to know them so she may provide them the best of care.
Dr. Kinley loves bringing new life into the world and helping families and loved ones through the pain and joy that life brings. She strives for clear communication and understanding.
While in Klamath Falls, Amanda has enjoyed exploring the abundance of natural beauty and opportunities that Oregon has to offer. She is excited to continue to learn, grow, adventure, and teach.
Cole Puffer, MD
Cole’s love of rural places started early while growing up exploring the woods and fields of southeastern Minnesota with his three brothers. He was raised in a medical family and on his way to college in Decorah, Iowa, he vowed he would be the one to find something different to do. Decorah is a small town nestled in the bluffs and river valleys of the Driftless region, and there Cole found his attention split by his love for biology and philosophy. He found it incredible to study evolutionary genetics and human anatomy in the mornings and be debating the nature of knowledge itself and investigating the human soul in the afternoons. Slowly, he realized that medicine is largely the combination of these two disciplines, and he set his sights on medical school. At seemingly the last moment possible before the end of college, he met his future wife Devon, and a few months later they packed up to move to their next adventure in Duluth, Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior.
One year after moving to Duluth he was accepted into medical school at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus, which is focused on training physicians for rural medicine. He spent his third year in Bigfork, a town of 400 in northern Minnesota, learning how important family physicians are for medical access in rural towns. The physicians there covered the emergency room, hospital, clinic, and urgent care, and inspired Cole to do the same. He first heard about Cascades East in Bigfork where a former resident is now practicing. It did not take much convincing for Cole and Devon to begin seriously considering Klamath Falls as the next stop on their adventure, and meeting the faculty and residents during the interview sealed the deal.
In his spare time Cole is often found outside running, biking, hiking, skiing, backpacking, or gardening. He and Devon also love to adventure with their five-year-old border collie, Kaiser, who is always excited to go for a R-U-N (just please don't say the word in front of him). If it is warmer than seventy degrees (Cole doesn’t do well in the heat), he’ll be inside cooking with Devon, reading, or trying to learn how to play the banjo, which he is convinced is the permanent end-state of his banjo-playing abilities. Cole and Devon are excited to be in Klamath Falls heading down new trails.
Carly Ritchie, MD
Carly was born and raised in Cloquet, MN where she fell in love with the outdoors and rural living. She went to the University of Minnesota Duluth and received a degree in Biomedical Sciences with a chemistry minor. She then continued on to medical school at the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth Campus where she cemented her love for rural family medicine. So much time in Duluth gave Lake Superior a special place in her heart. She spent her third year of medical school in the Rural Physician Associates Program (RPAP) where she was able to do her clinical rotations as the only student in a small town of 2,700, which was by far the highlight of medical school. Now, she is thrilled to be continuing her rural family medicine training in Klamath Falls where there are so many outdoor activities. Carly moved here with her partner Robert and their Australian Shepard Sadie.
Jared Schaefer, MD
Pronouns: He / Him
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Jared is from a small town in rural Oregon, the son of a Christmas tree farmer and a dental hygienist. Growing up, he spent his summers working in the Christmas tree fields alongside his siblings, cousins, and friends, and made many memories and lasting relationships. He went to Oregon State University for undergrad, during which time he was able to study abroad in Spain and learn just not quite enough Spanish, and then worked as a medical scribe before applying to medical school. During this “gap year” time, he also began his relationship with his now wife, Cassidy. They married just before moving across the country to start their next adventure in St. Louis, Missouri, where Jared attended Saint Louis University School of Medicine. As a medical student, he loved every rotation and considered a number of different specialties, but ultimately he felt that he could make the greatest impact by training to practice broad spectrum family medicine. Lucky for him, there happens to be an excellent program with that very focus in his home state, and he couldn’t be happier than to be training in Klamath Falls.
He is blessed to have two beautiful daughters, both born during medical school, alongside him and Cassidy for this journey. In his free time he enjoys running, hiking, reading, board games and spending time with his family and friends.
Logan Smestad, MD
University of Minnesota Medical School – Duluth
Logan is one of the four Minnesotan’s that made the great trek to Oregon this year. He grew up in a small farming community in Minnesota and studied at Gustavus Adolphus College thinking that medicine or teaching was going to be his future path. Instead, he switched directions became a bench researcher in plant genetics at the University of North Dakota.
The lab life became lonely and Logan missed interacting with people, so he moved back home to Minnesota. He found work as a substitute K-12 teacher and became the head coach of his former high school nordic ski team. After chasing kids with pointy things strapped to their arms and legs for a season, he decided it might not be too bad of an idea to get an EMT certification if he was to coach again the following year. He grew to love the fast-past nature on the ambulance and went on to become a paramedic working on the urban streets of North Minneapolis. It was here that he grew frustrated with the 911 system and realized the true impact that primary care could have on underserved populations. With the blessing of his wife, he applied and was accepted medical school. As a part of his third year he participated in RPAP, living in the small town of Grand Rapids, MN for nine months.
Logan comes to Klamath Falls with his wife, Danielle and their three dogs (2 GSPs and a mini-dachshund). He is excited to live near mountains and expand on his always growing list of hobbies – upland bird hunting, trail running, mountain biking, nordic skiing, rock climbing and fly fishing – to name a few.