Dr. Clay Kersting

Q: Tell us little bit about yourself.

A: I was raised in a small town in northern Minnesota called Cohasset about 300 people at the time. After graduating from high school, I wanted to get away from my family and a cold little town and off I went to LA to study at USC. Had a great time at USC but after 4 years in Los Angeles I knew I was really a small-town boy and liked the cold and 4 seasons more than I thought. Next stop was UC Davis for medical school and then to Seattle for my family practice residency. I met Katie in my second year of residency playing volleyball. I knew I wanted to be a rural family doctor and after marrying Katie we decided to stay in Washington to be closer to her family. I wanted to find a community that really needed a doctor and somewhere we could make a difference. Newport was that place. I joined Dr Weir and the rest is history.

Q: Do you as a doctor have any weakness or strengths?

A: My weakness has always been my inability to set self-limits and say no. Luckily Katie has helped me with that over the years. Strengths… I see myself as an old-fashioned rural physician that does comprehensive care from delivering babies to end-of-life geriatric care and everything in between. I think I’m a good listener and like to empower my patients vs dictating to them. We work as a team.

Q: Why did you choose to become a doctor?

A: On why I chose to be a doctor I really didn’t at first. I went to USC majoring in biology thinking I wanted to do research and be a professor. I loved to teach but research funds were drying up. The supervisor who I worked for in a lab pushed me towards an MD/PhD to do research on humans. However once in medical school I just loved medicine in general and working with people. I decided to cut out the research and focus on medicine. I loved every rotation I was in and becoming a family physician seemed natural. It just seemed to fall into place.

Q: What are your hobbies or interests?

A: I am competitive and love all sports; especially racquet sports. In the summer I golf and play volleyball. Winter we x-country ski and snowshoe. I love my family and try to spend as much time now with them. I also love to garden both vegetables and flowers as many of my patients know.