It wasn’t Cupid’s arrow that made Ryan Weir lovestruck when he first met Autumn Smith during a Scholars in Health program for college undergraduates who plan to become doctors in Kansas.

It was a reflex hammer.

“She tapped her reflex hammer on my knee, and it was love at first sight,” said Ryan, laughing. At the time, Ryan was studying biology at Pittsburg State University, while Autumn was studying cellular biology at the University of Kansas. They had been paired up during a physical exam activity within the program.

Having grown up in small Kansas towns, both chose the rural track of the Scholars in Health program, which guarantees admission to KU School of Medicine-Wichita once participants finish their undergraduate degrees. Autumn grew up near Garfield and Kinsley in southwestern Kansas and Ryan in Iola in southeastern Kansas. The program also has an underserved urban track.

After finishing medical school in Wichita in 2018, Autumn and Ryan packed several major life milestones into just a few whirlwind weeks. They graduated one weekend, got married the next, spent the following weekend on their honeymoon and then closed on their first home together in Salina.

In Salina, they trained in the Smoky Hill Family Medicine Residency program, one of three KU School of Medicine-Wichita Department of Family & Community Medicine residency programs.

“The medical school and Smoky Hill prepared us for anything, whether that be a rural emergency or delivering a baby or managing chronic wounds or diabetes. I'm really thankful for that experience,” Ryan said.

Autumn echoed his sentiments: “I feel very privileged that we were able to map that out perfectly and get the exact training that we needed. That’s the whole point of what we wanted when we chose a rural family med residency.”

Now, their medical journey will once again be on a shared path, thanks to Ryan making a cold call to the CEO of a western Kansas healthcare system.

Having gained experience in separate rural practices since finishing their residencies in 2021 — Autumn at Hillsboro Community Hospital and Ryan at St. Luke Hospital and Clinic in Marion — they recently were both hired by Minneola Healthcare.

Dodge City doctors and the Weirs’ close friends since their med school days Codi Ehrlich Jimenez, M.D., and Riley Stair, M.D., had recommended that the Weirs look for positions near them.

The leadership at Minneola Healthcare was the first to respond to Ryan’s calls to rural Kansas practices.

“They were like, ‘heck, yeah, we’ll take two physicians,’” he said.

The positive response the Weirs received isn’t unusual or unique when it comes to graduates of KU School of Medicine-Wichita or its residency programs.

“To date, we have placed 94% of our graduates in rural communities, with some serving as the only physician in their community,” said Krista Galvan, the Smoky Hill residency program manager. “This is something we take great pride in, as our mission has always been to truly serve rural Kansas.”

“Our graduates currently serve 69% of Kansas counties and we have more than 50% of graduates from all three residency programs practicing in Kansas,” said Gretchen Irwin, M.D., MBA, chair of the KU School of Medicine-Wichita Department of Family & Community Medicine. “In terms of rural care, whether they work in Kansas or not, 45% of our graduates work in rural areas.”

Ryan started seeing patients April 8 at the Minneola Community Clinic and is also serving patients in a swing-bed facility. He has a particular interest in providing preventive and geriatric care and in addiction medicine.

When she joins the practice in August, Autumn will provide both primary and inpatient care, along with serving as a backup emergency department doctor. She also focuses on wound care and women’s health.

“For me, small towns are a really special place,” Autumn said. “In medicine, you don't just practice family medicine, which is broad and wonderful in its own sense, but you also get to practice community-based medicine. When you talk about preventive health and practicing in the community that you're a part of, it's really kind of a special thing.”

Ryan said he saw that kind of community-based medicine growing up, as his whole family was cared for by a sole family physician in Iola, Kansas.

“He took care of everybody in my family, and that showed me what family medicine could be: taking care of babies all the way until death. It really is a cradle-to-grave job,” he said.

The physician population won’t be the only thing going up when the Weirs fully move into the community; the pet and poultry numbers will also increase. The couple has found a country home to accommodate their three dogs, one cat and nine chickens who lay just about every color egg there is, according to Autumn.

“And they all have names,” she said.