DR . WHO
DR . WHO
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT DR . KLAUS BOEL
AUTHOR Kathryn Vance
Dr . Klaus Boel is no stranger to adapting to change and starting over . He was born in Hamburg , Germany to parents who worked in the wood veneer business . By the age of 6 , business moved the family of four to Brazil , in a city just North of Rio de Janeiro called Vitoria . The city was ripe with good raw materials for making wood veneers for things like furniture and doors . The family stayed put for a little while , but by the time he was 14 they packed up to go back to Germany , just in time for Dr . Boel to start high school . But they wouldn ’ t be there long . Just two years later , the family found themselves settling in a place known for copious amounts of walnut , oak and other woods : Louisville , Kentucky . At that point , Dr . Boel decided he ’ d had enough moving for a lifetime and decided to set up shop here , considering Louisville his new home .
Throughout school , Dr . Boel always enjoyed science , specifically biology , which he attributes to a high school teacher who opened his eyes to the exciting , interesting parts of science . When his parents moved here , they acquired horses and as a teen was involved in riding and showing them . What came next for Dr . Boel seemed like a natural outgrowth of his love for science and the equine industry : veterinary school . He went to the University of Kentucky for pre-vet undergrad courses for a few years , then ran into obstacles . “ When you ’ re young , you think it ’ s one thing , but then I realized that wasn ’ t quite what I wanted ,” he said . “ Then I also found out that I was allergic to cats , which made that really unpleasant for me .” A friend suggested he try out medical school so he could still tap into his scientific , helpful nature . He soon enrolled in the University of Louisville as a pre-med student and graduated in 1989 . During clinical rotations in medical school , he found his passion and by the summer of 1993 , he had his degree and was well on his way to becoming a doctor .
“ My pediatric rotation was my very first clinical rotation in my third year and nothing else quite lived up to it after . I really liked working with healthy people and there ’ s just something about pediatrics ,” he said . “ It ’ s a population that has such variation , from newborn to adult , with such a tremendous variation as far as what their needs are , and what the disease processes are .” After graduating , he completed an internship and residency in pediatrics with the University of Louisville at then-Kosair Children ’ s Hospital . While still a resident , he met Dr . Jeb Teichman who had a practice in Southern Indiana called Jeffersonville Pediatrics . The two worked on a few cases in the hospital together during his residency and formed a bond that led to Dr . Teichman recruiting Dr . Boel right out of training in 1996 . After just one year employed at the practice , he became a partner .
Soon after he began practicing , Dr . Boel found there were many patients in the community who had little access to medical care due to a language barrier . Living in Brazil had taught him Portuguese ; he leveraged that into teaching himself Spanish , allowing him to reach a much larger population in Southern Indiana . Also early in practice , Dr . Boel found the overwhelming need to advocate for his patients against pediatric obesity . “ There was a need for us to address this more deliberately - sensitively , but deliberately at the same time ,” he said . “ Unfortunately , I grew up as a physician in a time when some of our nutritional choices started deteriorating in this country . In pediatrics , we have to focus on laying the groundwork for someone to be a healthy person for 70 or 80 years after they leave our practice . You can ’ t just kick the can down the road , you have to address it and make sure they ’ re going to be a healthy person long after I ’ m gone .”
As both his experience and his practice grew , and they became employed by Clark Memorial Hospital in 2008 , he found interest
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