Tanner John, MD
Medical School:
University of Arizona College of Medicine
Undergrad:
B.A. Religious Studies, University of Arizona Tucson
B.S. Molecular Biology, University of Arizona Tucson
I am grateful to be a member of the combined program! The mission and heart of this program, particularly its being rooted at Father Joe’s is why I am so blessed to be in this residency. I grew up in Douglas, Arizona which is a small town on the U.S, Mexico border. Living on the border exposed me to issues of immigration and poverty at a very young age. After high school, I moved to Tucson, Arizona where I studied Religious Studies and Molecular Biology at the University of Arizona.
Faith and Spirituality has been a very important to me, and I decided to work in ministry full time after graduating from University of Arizona, so I became a campus minister at the UofA Catholic Newman Center. It was here where my passion for caring for those experiencing homelessness grew. Part of my responsibilities in ministry was education and formation for justice as well as exposing students to realities of injustice.
From this experience in ministry, I committed to living in a community very near to those on the streets whose primary responsibility was providing advocacy for and direct service to those on the streets; the community was called Catholic Worker community. Here at the Catholic Worker community I witnessed the daily grind of those on the streets and paid particular attention to their psychiatric and medical problems, which inspired me to go to medical school with the goal of caring for those experiencing homelessness.
In medical school, at U of A I was fortunate enough to complete an MPH that focused on creating a medical respite facility for those experiencing homelessness in Tucson and my goal is to continue provide either street medicine/psychiatry or provide direct psychiatric. /medical care to those on the streets. I am so fortunate that this program exists and am inspired by my co residents and particularly by all of the staff at Father Joe’s. I am so grateful to be married to my beautiful wife who shares in my vision for care for the underserved, constantly inspiring me with her compassion and kindness. Finally, I am lucky to have a beautiful and feisty daughter, Rose.
