Our Residents
Richard M. Dunning, DO
Medical school: Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Des Moines, Iowa
Medical interests: Rural medicine, full spectrum family medicine, addiction medicine.
Personal interests: I enjoy spending time on the lake or in the woods camping, hiking, fishing, or hunting with friends and family. I also love trivia and try to use it as an excuse to get together with friends every week.
Why St. Cloud: I was fortunate to experience the training opportunities at St. Cloud Family Medicine Residency during a clinical rotation. During that time, I contributed to the care of patients in the hospital, emergency department, clinic, and through labor and delivery! The residents I met were clearly well trained, and I knew the program would prepare me for a future in rural medicine. Central Minnesota is also a great destination for water sports, hiking, and just about anything else one would want to do outdoors!
Jennifer E. Koski, DO
Medical school: West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lewisburg, West Virginia
Medical interests: Rural medicine, procedures, community health, special needs care.
Personal interests: I enjoy spending time with my family, hiking, cross-country skiing, being at the lake, and playing sports.
Why St. Cloud: I chose the St. Cloud program due to its unopposed, broad-spectrum training with emphasis on procedures and rural health. The faculty and residents were very welcoming during interview season and the close-knit nature of the program was obvious. Additionally, coming home to Minnesota to be close to family was very important to me.
Joel A. Madson, MD
Medical school: University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Medical interests: Rural medicine
Personal interests: I enjoy spending time with my family and spending time outdoors.
Why St. Cloud: I chose the St. Cloud program for the excellent faculty, the commitment to rural medicine, and the unopposed training.
Fariha F. Qureshi, MD
Medical school: Ross University School of Medicine, Bridgetown, Barbados
Medical interests: Full spectrum family medicine, OB, Geriatrics, End of Life Care.
Personal interests: My life revolves around my family, husband, children, and dog. I love traveling, mainly to the beach. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is my favorite place to visit with my kids. I like to spend time at home but also want to eat out.
Why St. Cloud: St. Cloud serves the rural areas, and that interests me the most. It is also near Motley, MN, where my home, family, and friends are.
Deidra E. Sieck, MD
Medical school: Ross University School of Medicine, Bridgetown, Barbados
Medical interests: Full-spectrum family medicine, rural medicine, women’s health, addiction medicine, and Community Health.
Personal interests: I enjoy live theater – I am known by friends as a real musical theater enthusiast! I play the piano and saxophone. I also enjoy cooking and baking, especially my cinnamon rolls and pies. I also like to play golf.
Why St. Cloud: During application and interview season, I was looking for a program that was unopposed and would bring me back to the Midwest. I moved nine times over the course of medical school, which didn’t allow me to enjoy being near my family. During the interview the faculty and residents were down to Earth and very easy to talk to. At the end of the interview, everyone came to the conference room and introduced themselves. No other interview had the entire group so interested that they were all involved on the same interview day. It also seemed like a program that had very rich education that would give me the full spectrum training in order to practice medicine in the rural Midwest.
Sara Tarokh, MBBS
Medical school: Fatima Jinnah Medical School, Lahore, Pakistan
Medical interests: Women’s Health, OB.
Personal interests: I enjoy listening to music, reading, biking, playing badminton, and traveling.
Why St. Cloud: I chose St. Cloud because it aligned well with my future academic goals.
Yasmin S. Abdulaya, MD
Medical school: American University of Antigua College of Medicine
Medical interests: Primary care, preventative medicine, and community health.
Personal interests: I enjoy spending time with my family, playing volleyball, badminton, cooking Oromo food, and listening to music.
Why St. Cloud: When I did my family medicine Sub-I rotation at St. Cloud, I automatically fell in love with the program. The faculty, staff, and residents made me feel right at home. Everyone was very welcoming and made me feel like I was part of the team. They challenged me to set goals and helped me to achieve them. I look forward to serving the diverse community of St. Cloud and receiving full-spectrum training.
Kristina T. Chien, MD
Medical school: University of Minnesota Medical School
Medical interests: Refugee health, obstetrics, inpatient medicine, and rural health.
Personal interests: Spending time with family, canoeing, horseback riding, and running.
Why St. Cloud: The combination of exceptional faculty, diverse patient population, and learning environment could not be beat!
Jason G. Hogge, MD
Medical school: American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine
Medical interests: Full-spectrum family medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, dermatology, sports medicine, and emergency medicine.
Personal interests: Spending time with family outside, mountain biking, skiing, hiking, paddle boarding, and trying new things.
Why St. Cloud: Finding an unopposed program where I could do it all was a must for me. During interview season I noticed that the residents and faculty showed qualities of great physicians that I would be proud to be associated with.
Gregory W. Jacobs, DO
Medical school: Midwestern University – Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Medical interests: Mental health and chronic disease management.
Personal interests: I am a classically trained pianist and will frequently turn to this to de-stress and to ground myself. I also love slalom water-skiing at my family's lake cabin in Northern Minnesota, along with all of the many other lake-time activities (kayaking, canoeing, boat rides, swimming, etc.)
Why St. Cloud: I loved the diverse patient population while having a rural medicine focus. I also greatly enjoyed the overall culture of the program on my interview day. Additionally, St. Cloud is geographically close to family, which is something I was not able to enjoy during medical school.
Katrina E. Johnson, MD
Medical school: University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Medical interests: Broad-spectrum family medicine with specific interests in rural medicine, preventative care, women's health, sports medicine, geriatrics, behavioral health, and hospital medicine.
Personal interests: Hiking, camping, backpacking, days on the lake, athletics, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Why St. Cloud: I first became interested in medicine through experiences at CentraCare and surrounding facilities in St. Cloud as a high school student. The faculty were always welcoming and enjoyed sharing their knowledge. Throughout my residency interview process, St. Cloud stood out to me as a strong program where faculty enjoyed teaching. I knew I would get a solid foundation of medical knowledge both at the clinic and with several months of hospital training each year in the St. Cloud Hospital, a tertiary care medical center for central Minnesota. I liked that residents have access to consult a wide variety of subspecialists for care of complex patients while maintaining the role of primary provider in the hospital. Everything about the culture of this program made it feel right to come back to St. Cloud for residency. I am excited to join this team of enthusiastic providers in caring for a diverse patient population!
Luke J. McFarland, DO
Medical school: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine
Medical interests: Full-spectrum family medicine, OMT, and sports medicine.
Personal interests: Board games, video games, a good book, anything involving the outdoors (fishing, hiking, camping, kayaking, hunting), and any sort of competitive sporting activity.
Why St. Cloud: Upon graduating, I wanted to come back to the Midwest to be closer to my family. I knew I wanted to eventually practice full-spectrum family medicine, and St. Cloud provided all I needed to fulfill these requirements. This is due to their unopposed residency, strong focus on procedures, opportunities to practice OMT, and much more. I instantly felt welcomed by the residents and faculty during my interview, which led me to love the program that much more. Minnesota having plenty of outdoor recreational opportunities was a big plus as well.
Palistha Amatya, MBBS
Medical school: Tianjin Medical School
Medical interests: Full-spectrum family medicine with focus on mental health as well as cultural diversity.
Personal interests: Rock-climbing, running, cooking food from different regions, singing, reading, and traveling to experience new cultures and food. Most importantly, spending time with my husband and our two beautiful fur babies.
Why St. Cloud: Throughout my interview, I felt so much at ease at St. Cloud. It never felt like an interview to begin with. Every person I met made me feel like I belonged here. The focus on Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) definitely helped seal the deal for me because I truly believe this is the dawn of a new norm in modern medicine.
Nicholas A. Cook-Rostie, MD
Medical school: University of Minnesota Medical School
Medical interests: Full-spectrum family medicine, behavioral health, sports medicine, community health engagement, POCUS, and emergency medicine.
Personal interests: Anything outdoors or fitness-related, including mountaineering, biking, hiking running on trails, lifting weights, yoga, camping, bonfires, listening to podcasts, and exploring new places.
Why St. Cloud: St. Cloud is an unopposed program that provides robust training and will give me the skills and knowledge to prepare me to practice full-spectrum family medicine. During my interview, everyone from the support staff to residents and faculty were warm and welcoming, which sealed the deal for me. I am looking forward to being a part of this diverse community and providing excellent care to the community of St. Cloud.
Megan A. Krotzer, MD
Medical school: University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Medical interests: Broad-spectrum rural family medicine, women's health, and obstetrics.
Personal interests: I love to practice yoga, garden, and try out new recipes. Travelling was one of my biggest hobbies pre-pandemic, and I hope to return to this soon. I also enjoy spending time with my husband and our newborn baby!
Why St. Cloud: I am originally from a small town near St. Cloud and knew I wanted to return to the area. Everyone at the virtual residency dinner and interview were incredibly friendly and welcoming to me, and I knew the program would be able to provide the broad-spectrum training that I need to go into rural practice someday.
Leif W. Olson, MD
Medical school: University of Minnesota Medical School
Medical interests: Rural family medicine and behavioral health.
Personal interests: Sailing and skiing.
Why St. Cloud: Strong full-scope training in Minnesota with highly capable and skilled faculty and residents, many valuable resources for patients, and the opportunity to work with a diverse patient population.
Alex J. Shaykevich, DO
Medical school: Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
Medical interests: Full-spectrum family medicine, including primary care, pediatrics, emergency medicine, preventative and community medicine, behavioral medicine, and OMT – exploring options in endoscopy and sleep medicine.
Personal interests: Playing hockey, hiking, driving, grilling during beautiful Minnesota summers, and any time spent with family and friends is time well spent!
Why St. Cloud: I grew up in the Twin Cities and was looking forward to making my move back to Minnesota from New York City. At my interview, everyone was very welcoming, making me feel at home immediately in this supportive and unopposed family medicine program. St. Cloud also provides a unique opportunity for the mixture of urban/suburban and nearby rural living and healthcare.
Adam J. Sommers, DO
Medical school: Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Medical interests: Full-spectrum family medicine, rural medicine, and OMT.
Personal interests: Hiking, running, watersports, and spending time with my wife and family.
Why St. Cloud: One would be challenged to find more compassionate faculty and welcoming residents than those found here at St. Cloud. Being an unopposed family medicine program at a regional tertiary care center, I am confident that the training here will provide the opportunity to become the best physician one could be.
After graduation, where do our residents go and what do they do?
- 80% practice in Minnesota
- 50% practice in Central Minnesota
- More than 50% practice in rural communities of less than 20,000 people
- 60% include inpatient medicine in their practice
- 40% practice maternity care
Below are our recent CentraCare St. Cloud Family Medicine Residency Program graduates:
2023Abdikafar Yusuf, MD; Seth Nelson, MD; Jennifer Tarpenning, MD; Sadia Mohamed, MD; Svetlana Adusheva, MD; Bashir Moallin, MBBS 
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2022John Evenocheck, MD; Christopher Mullet, DO; Gamaliel Jesse Ferrer, MD; Prakhya Bhatnagar, MD; Oluwatobi Falade, MBBS; Anthony Hacker, MD  |
2021Blake Chapman, DO; Tyler Lewandowski, MD; Paola Terán, MD; Michael Symanietz, MD; John Anderson, DO; Eric Christensen, MD  |
2020Marlen Midthune, MD; Dan O’Connor, MD; Siri Shaqra, DO; Adei Shaqra, DO; Zareen Zaka, MBBS  |