Christian Whittington, MD,

From a very early age, Dr. Christian Whittington was a worker. He started by tying the lawnmower to the back of his bicycle and hauling it around their neighborhood in Wichita, Kansas to mow yards. He also knew early on that he wanted to go into medicine. He was inspired by his own family doctor who encouraged the 10-year-old by allowing him to shadow him and follow him around in his medical practice. Dr. Whittington earned degrees in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Tulsa and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine. During his residency in Wichita, he knew he wanted to go into primary care. “I like surgery, but I didn’t like standing in the same spot all day long,” he said with a smile. “Everything else, I got bored. Family medicine is exciting because you never know what is coming through the door. I get to do something different every single day.”

For the last 25 years, he practiced in western Kansas, where he was the only doctor for several miles in any direction. That meant he wore a lot of hats in his community. “I did everything. I was the ER director, I admitted to the hospital, I was the EMS director, and so clinic work here is kind of a partial retirement for me.” He’s now seeing patients at CMC Primary Care Highway 90. He says his favorite part of the job is the relationships he builds with patients and getting to talk with people all day long. “The medical part of it is pretty straightforward. It’s the personal part that I enjoy. I sit and I talk. They’re not long conversations, but I get to have conversations with some very interesting people every single day.”

If his patients were to ask about his hobbies outside of work, he would quickly tell them about his number one passion. “I love to cook. I have a vertical and a horizontal smoker. I actually competed in the Kansas City BBQ Classic a couple of times. I like to smoke BBQ. I got an outdoor pizza oven for Christmas this year, so that’s going to be my new hobby, figuring out all the things I can do with that.” He and his wife have three children, ages 22, 20, and the youngest who is a high school sophomore.