Doctor Spotlight: Dr. Sara Ramquist

Dr. Sara Ramquist’s path to medicine has been a series of faith leaps and gut feelings.

She grew up moving around a lot as her father’s job took their family to multiple states, so she got good at adapting from a young age. She has lived in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.

Playing “doctor” to her stuffed animals and dolls was a favorite pastime when she was young. A real-life Doc McStuffins, fixing up her friends after they had accidents.

She took that passion for helping to school in the Northwest where she completed her undergraduate degree in pre-medicine (biology and chemistry) at Seattle Pacific University.

After graduation and before fully committing to medical school, she decided to take some time off to be with family during a stressful time. She strongly believes timing was everything. Four years later she was in a place to fully commit to medical school.

She went back to the NW and obtained her D.O. degree from Pacific Northwest University- College of Osteopathic Medicine in Yakima, WA.

During her medical rotations she was pretty set on Obstetrics and Gynecology…until she came to Dayton, Ohio to rotate with the Neurology program through Grandview Medical Center run by the doctors at DCND.

“It was my very last day on the rotation that I changed my mind and decided to apply to the neurology residency program. It was just a gut feeling. I had no reason to change but I did! It was just a sense of where I was supposed to be.”

That leap of faith brought her to the neurology residency program where she fell even more in love with diagnosing and treating issues that impact the brain and nervous system.

“I like being able to walk through very complicated and difficult scenarios with patients. The human aspect of medicine is a big drive for me,” said Dr. Ramquist.

Neurology allows her to put the pieces together and gives her a sense of satisfaction. Like many doctors at DCND, Dr. Ramquist is a D.O. which means she is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Their training puts a greater emphasis on holistic medicine such as manipulation. Dr. Ramquist uses this quite a bit in her practice.

“When traditional medicine just doesn’t make sense, let’s look beyond that. OMM allows me to look at the structure and functional part of medicine. It’s a mix of chiropractic manipulation, physical therapy, and massage therapy.”

Dr. Ramquist has a deep dedication to her patients, so she chose to stay with DCND after she finished her residency.

“A lot of stuff gets in the way of patient care. To be a part of a practice where the patient is the focus is what I love.”

In her free time, Dr. Ramquist loves to paint, hang out with her dog, Humphry, draw and design flowers! In fact, she has arranged the flowers for several of her friends’ weddings!