Meet The Faculty
Our faculty members have a long-term commitment to our residents and the traditions of family medicine education. We have a great mix of age, gender, and expertise (geriatrics, sports medicine, women’s health, etc.). Our new program director has been with the program for over 19 years, having been a graduate of the program and serving as faculty for the last 13 years, prior to his role as program director. Among our seven family physician faculty, we have many years of combined teaching experience.
Meet the program director
Welcome to the Family Medicine Residency at Mayo Clinic in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I believe we have one of the finest family medicine residencies in the country. Wisconsin was recently ranked as the fourth-best state in the nation in which to practice medicine by Wallethub. We are celebrating 47 years of training competent, caring family physicians. I invite you to come and visit to see for yourself. You will receive an excellent education here while enjoying life in one of the best small cities in the country. La Crosse is nestled among the bluffs of the mighty Mississippi and offers a small-town feel with most of the attractions of a bigger city. Come visit us, and you will see why many refer to this area as "God’s Country."
I want to thank you for your interest in our program, and I look forward to meeting you.
John Merfeld, M.D.
Program Director
Faculty leadership
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John Merfeld, M.D.Program Director Dr. Merfeld received his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is a 1998 graduate of the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency in La Crosse. Dr. Merfeld was in private rural practice in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Dr. Merfeld and his wife, Heather, have three children, Morgan, Brandon, and Molly. His interests include spending time with family and friends, theater, attending athletic events, basketball, and coaching youth activities. Dr. Merfeld joined the residency in 2004 and became the program director in January 2017. |
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Parivash Badar, M.D.Assistant Program Director Dr. Badar was born and raised in Pakistan where she earned her medical school degree at Ziauddin University. Shortly after, she moved to the U.S. to pursue her medical training in family medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. She has a deep interest in serving the underserved and diverse populations. Her other interests in medicine include but are not limited to hospital medicine, women’s health, academic medicine, research, teaching, and working alongside medical students and residents. When she is not at work, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking Pakistani meals for her friends and family, traveling, hiking, biking, and skiing. |
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Carmen Dargel, M.D.Assistant Program Director Dr. Dargel, a Wisconsin native, received her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is a 2006 graduate of Mayo Clinic’s Family Medicine Residency program in La Crosse and practiced at Mayo Clinic Health System in Onalaska for 16 years. |
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Carol Goulet, Ph.D.Director of Behavioral Science Dr. Goulet received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. She completed her Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship in Women’s Health through the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her special interests include spending time with her family, traveling, cooking new recipes, and walking her dog. Dr. Goulet joined the residency in 2017. |
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Edward Malone III, M.D.Associate Program Director Dr. Malone earned his medical degree from Rush Medical College in Chicago, Illinois. He is a 1995 graduate of Mayo Clinic’s Family Medicine Residency in La Crosse and has made La Crosse his home since arriving in 1992. He has group and private practice experience and served as the former program director for the UWL Mayo Gundersen Physician Assistant Program. His professional interests include hospital medicine, clinical reasoning, and physician wellness. Dr. Malone and his wife, Sheri, enjoy traveling, spending time with their five adult children and six grandchildren, community theater, bowling, and golfing. |
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Erin Morcomb, M.D.Associate Program Director Dr. Morcomb earned her medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School in the Twin Cities. She grew up locally in a small town near the La Crosse area. She is a 2016 graduate of the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency in Lacrosse. She has a broad range of interests across primary care and especially enjoys practicing full spectrum family medicine including obstetrics, newborn care/pediatrics, women’s health, outpatient, and inpatient medicine providing continuity to patients across the lifespan. She also enjoys teaching residents and advocating for the specialty of family medicine through involvement in the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians (WAFP). In her spare time outside of medicine, she enjoys spending time with her family including her husband, daughter, pets, and other extended family, reading, and playing musical instruments. |
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Kristina Schlecht, M.D.Associate Program Director Dr. Schlecht earned her medical degree from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She completed her family practice residency through the University of North Dakota in Minot, North Dakota. Prior to joining the Residency, Dr. Schlecht was the associate director at the University of North Dakota Center for Family Medicine in Minot. Dr. Schlecht is certified by the American Board of Family Practice. She is board-certified in hospice care in palliative medicine and is an instructor for advanced life support in obstetrics. Dr. Schlecht enjoys traveling the world, trying new recipes from every corner of the planet, and making quilts. |
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Stephen Stacey, D.O.Associate Program Director Dr. Stacey graduated from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri. He completed his residency in osteopathic family medicine at the Peak Vista Residency Program in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was active duty in the U.S. Army where he was an airborne paratrooper in Vicenza, Italy, and a flight surgeon for an Apache helicopter battalion in the 4th Combat Aviation Brigade. He is the father of five energetic children. He loves board games, cooking, podcasts, Star Wars, and all kinds of outdoor adventures, especially trail running in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. |
Adjunct faculty
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Lauren Baker, M.D.Board-certified in child psychology and works in our clinic once a week Dr. Baker is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse who spends a half day per week precepting in the resident clinic for mental health-related cases. She is originally from the Twin Cities. She completed medical school at the University of Minnesota and then lived in Richmond, Virginia, for five years while completing her general psychiatry residency and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship. She has been in La Crosse since 2021. When not working she is usually with her family spending time outside, checking out new food spots in town, or traveling. |
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Nancy Erickson, M.D.Board-certified in family medicine who works in our clinic once a month Dr. Erickson grew up a short distance from La Crosse. She received her undergraduate and medical degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She completed her residency at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency in Lacrosse in 2002. After residency, she started her practice at Mayo Clinic Health System in Onalaska and has been there ever since. |
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Alecia Gende, D.O.Dr. Alecia Gende served as a nurse corps officer in the U.S. Navy prior to entering medical school. She practices emergency medicine and sports medicine at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse. Dr. Gende completed her emergency medicine training at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She remained at the University of Iowa for her sports medicine fellowship and has worked as a team physician for football, women's basketball, field hockey, and wrestling squads at the NCAA Division I level. She is currently the head team physician for Saint Mary's University in Winona and serves as a team physician for U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Sports Medicine. She enjoys weightlifting, CrossFit, running, hunting, working on her farm, and spending time with her family.
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Mark McEleney, M.D.Board-certified in family medicine and sports medicine Dr. Goulet received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. She completed her Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship in Women’s Health through the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her special interests include spending time with her family, traveling, cooking new recipes, and walking her dog. Dr. Goulet joined the residency in 2017.
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David Rushlow, M.D.Dr. Rushlow is a board-certified family physician and currently serves as chair of family medicine for Mayo Clinic Midwest. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1986, Medical School at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 1990, and residency training at the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency in Lacrosse in 1993. After residency, he practiced family medicine in Shawano, Wisconsin, until 1997. He then returned to La Crosse to serve as a faculty physician for the Family Medicine Residency. In 2012, he became the chief medical officer for Mayo Clinic Health System, Southwest Wisconsin Region, until his transition to the family medicine department chair role. He is married to Kial and has three adult children. |
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Sasha Schrunk, D.O., Ph.D.Board-certified in family medicine and osteopathic medicine Dr. Schrunk graduated from Des Moines University of College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her Family Medicine residency through the University of Minnesota in Mankato. She then completed a fellowship in neuromusculoskeletal/osteopathic medicine in Pikeville, Kentucky. After training with several Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine mentors who were passionate about osteopathic medicine, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to share their knowledge and techniques.
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Jenna Sebranek, M.D.Board-certified in family medicine who works in our clinic once a month Dr. Sebranek received her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. After graduating from the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency in Lacrosse, she returned to her hometown of Richland Center, Wisconsin, with her husband, to practice family medicine at a private practice. She loves living in her small hometown, coaching soccer, running, and spending time with her many nieces and nephews. She enjoys teaching residents to think like a small-town doctor.
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Daniel Small, M.D.Board-certified in rheumatology who works in our clinic once a month Dr. Small is a member of the first graduating class of the Brown University Alpert Medical School where he also obtained his master’s in medical science and his internal medicine training. He trained in rheumatology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation and practiced rheumatology for 44 years, last at Mayo Clinic Healthcare System as chair of rheumatology before joining the Family Medicine Residency program. He serves on the medical and scientific board of the Sjogren’s Foundation and is a voluntary editor for Clinical Rheumatology.
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Derrick Woodward, M.D.Board-certified in family medicine who works in our clinic once a month Dr. Woodward is a 2012 graduate of the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine Residency in Lacrosse. He practices at Mayo Clinic Health System in Sparta where he is chief of staff of the Sparta hospital and TCU Director. In his practice, he enjoys outpatient, inpatient, and prenatal care. In his spare time, he enjoys time with his family, particularly camping, grilling, and all things Disney. |
