Jeremy Kenter, DO

Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine

I was born and raised in Plano, Texas, brainwashed to love the Dallas Cowboys from a young age, and learned to fear school roll call, when everyone would find out my real name was Maurice Jerome Kenter III.  As a kid I played almost every sport imaginable, broke a new bone each summer and mastered the art of swimming with my arm in a cast while wrapped in a plastic bag.  I somehow survived childhood, became an EMT-Basic, graduated high school at Plano East Senior High and spent the next years at Baylor University.

I had a wonderful time at Baylor, where I obtained my degree in Biology, met my wife in French class and made some life-long friends.  After graduating, I took a year off before medical school and decided to become a professional poker player as well as travel around Europe with my wife.  We loved spending our days paying to use the toilet, getting lost on public transportation and running from the bulls in Pamplona.  After sitting at a poker table for more time than I would like to admit, my year of adventure was finally up and I went to medical school at the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine where I experienced all Arizona had to offer and eventually became captivated with practicing Emergency Medicine.

The Corpus Christi Emergency Medicine Residency is an extremely unique program.  It has a more intimate class size, lack of competition from other residencies and the faculty/residents are enthusiastic about teaching.  For the next three years I am looking forward meeting and working with some great people in the ED, learning as much as possible about practicing emergency medicine, and spending my free time playing basketball, sand volleyball, golf and anything else I might find enjoyable by the beach!

Daniel Leverenz, DO

University of North Texas - TCOM

I was born in an old Quaker village in northern Virginia and grew up on hilltop acreage, surrounded by gardens and creeks and the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I was raised to love the earth, go to the mountains, read avidly, and to maintain a degree of curiosity that toys with the boundaries of insatiability.  Though my family moved to the sprawling asphalt pannus of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex while I was in middle school, my love for green and open spaces simply never left, and I have spent the rest of my life in a perpetual state of quiet revolt against concrete and dirty air.  I am a man for the mountains, and there are few things that bring me more peace and purpose than to fill my pack and disappear for a week or two into wilderness.

I studied at Baylor University, where I meandered and wandered through a variety of interesting academic thickets before settling on Biology.  If it were feasible, I’d still be in college studying anything and everything from Ecology and Forestry to Horticulture, Engineering, and Literature.  Even though I went straight to medical school after graduating from Baylor, I’ve been blessed to have lived a life crammed with beautiful experiences, including attaching myself to medical service teams that traveled to rural Kenya, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, as well as studying and traveling extensively in Europe.  Along the way, I hobbied and worked pseudo-professionally as a coffee-pourer and an audio engineer, slowly putting together a humble but functional little home studio.

As I’m sure anyone reading this understands, medical school has occupied an enormous amount of my time over the past four years.  But like crowded forest floors still make room for beautiful new green and colored things in spring, I’ve found plenty of space for the clamoring passions of my life.  I married my beautiful wife Katie nearly two years ago, and – as of this writing – we’re ecstatically awaiting the arrival of our first baby!  Every time I put my hands on her blooming belly, I am amazed at how much I already love our new son (or daughter), even though I haven’t met the little one yet. 

I garden with giddy captivation, read voraciously, and go outside every time the opportunity presents itself.  Other passions include rock climbing, jogging, back packing, kayaking, and now SURFING!  Intellectually, I’m consumed these days by topics like ecology and biotechnology (particularly the mind-bending field of biomimicry), as well as the writings of John Muir and other wilderness poets and fellow “men of the beard” like Thorough and Whitman.

As a man obsessed with mountains, you may find it surprising that I wound up down in Corpus Christi, which may be about as far from the mountains you can get in this country.  Upon the recommendation of a dear mentor, I spent a month with the EM program here on an elective rotation early in my fourth year, and immediately found myself in the midst of some of the most enthusiastic, friendly, and brilliant educators I had yet encountered in my studies.  Additionally, the program is unique in that it is nested in a hospital that is not bloated and overgrown, like so many training institutions are.  The ED here sees a remarkable amount of fascinating pathology, a perfect mix between trauma and intellectually stimulating medical cases, and moves at a pace that is neither frenetic and chaotic nor lethargic and slow. 

Afton McNierney-Moore, DO

Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine

I was born and raised in Wyoming and will always be a Pokes fan at heart!  I attended the University of Wyoming studying Zoology, Physiology and Spanish.  I was lucky enough to marry my high school sweet heart and we eventually moved to Phoenix so I could attend medical school at Midwestern University, AZCOM.  For fun you will find me spending time with my hubby, running races with my sister, hanging out with my family, playing with my two nieces, enjoying a delicious wheat beer or dancing to good music. 

Michael Menowsky, MD

Howard University College of Medicine

I was born and raised in the Washington, DC area; but as many people that visit Texas find out it’s a hard place to get away from.  I worked in McAllen, TX for a few years and decided I can take the heat better than the snow in DC.  Although I won’t miss the traffic, police sirens, shootings and robberies; the multitude of culture, culinary and educational events in the DC area will be worth visiting.

I had an unusual pathway to becoming a physician.  After graduating high school I entered the U.S. Air Force and was trained as an Air Frame mechanic, but because of the ongoing conflicts I received additional training as an EMT.  The military allowed me the opportunity to travel to England, Japan and the Middle East.  You can get a much better appreciation for culture and people when given the opportunity to spend a few months among them. Upon my discharge I continued my training to become an EMT-Paramedic at the Baltimore Co. Fire and Rescue Academy.  Though I enjoyed the streets and the challenge of rapidly assessing and treating patients I felt I needed to do more.  This led me to continue my education at Howard University College of Nursing.  I completed an accelerated Bachelors degree in nursing graduating Summa Cum Laude.  After graduating I relocated to McAllen, TX and worked in the Emergency Department.  Emergency Nursing was awesome- it’s one of the few environments where the health care team truly works together and nursing judgment is valued.  It’s because of this and the mentorship I received from many of the EM doctors I worked with that I chose to go to medical school.  I returned to Howard University for my medical education because I knew the area and made many connections at Howard during my nursing education.

I’ve learned to try and balance work and relaxation.  So outside of medicine I enjoy spending time with family, going to the gym, riding my motorcycle and practicing Jow Ga Kung Fu (though med school has slowed me down a little).  Kung Fu allowed me the opportunity to compete in international martial arts competitions and I hope to continue my training in Corpus.  I also volunteered as an ACLS instructor and taught frequently during the year- I believe teaching forces you to stay on top of current trends in medicine.

Andy Russell, DO

University of North Texas - TCOM

I grew up on a ranch in Breckenridge, Texas, which is a very small town near Abilene.  My role models included the likes of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Captains Gus McCrea and Woodrow Call.  Naturally, I played football, and my hobbies included things like fishing, golf, and archery hunting.

I went to college at Angelo State University, the real ASU, and majored in physics.  During college, I got a job as an ER tech, which is what first introduced me to the exciting world of Emergency Medicine.  From the first day, I was hooked by the excitement and diversity of illnesses that came into the department.  The emergency physicians were like the cowboys of medicine, sort of the medical field’s equivalent of my former role models growing up. Those early experiences were what ultimately led me to go to medical school.

I try to spend as much of my free time as I can with family. I enjoy traveling with my wife and daughter, and I still love to hunt, fish, and play golf.  My vice is sports, and my teams are the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, and San Antonio Spurs.

I chose to come to Corpus Christi for residency after I finished a rotation here.  The pathology and trauma are great; it’s unopposed for procedures; and the residents and faculty are among the best.  The faculty have diverse interests which offer plenty of opportunities to find a niche.  Some of the things that impressed me most were how family-oriented the program was and how invested the hospital is in their graduate medical education, as evidenced by their ever-improving sim lab.  

 Tom Xu, DO

Texas Tech University School of Medicine

I grew up in southwestern China and attended undergraduate and graduate schools studying banking and finance in a city called Chengdu that is famous for its cuisine.  I then studied health economics and econometrics at UNC Chapel Hill for 4 years.  After graduation, I decided to become a Chinese cowboy in West Texas and found a research job in the heart of the Red Raiders land.  As my fate unfolded, I did not turn into a cowboy but Lubbock made me a proud Texan.

I love national parks.  My lifetime goal is to visit all national parks in the US.  So far, I have visited most parks on the Pacific coast, around the Rockies and Southwest, and some on the Atlantic coast.  I also enjoy hiking, fishing, exercise, and all sorts of music.  I like to try different things, especially food.  I used to cook a lot and was good at it.  Then medical school happened…  I plan to attend a culinary school when I retire.  I have never lived by the ocean before but hey, if you don’t try it, you would never know.  I am ready to trade my boots for a surfboard and see what happens.