When Carla Carlson, M.D., joined Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic Health System–Red Cedar in Menomonie, she greeted her new colleagues like old friends.
Because they are.
Boyceville native, Dr. Carlson works alongside family medicine physician James Walker, M.D., who delivered her as a baby, and surgeon Derek Scammell, M.D., who fixed her ruptured appendix when she was in middle school.
As a Boyceville High School basketball player, Carlson tore her ACL twice — as a freshman in 1999 and after her senior season in 2002, which found the team on its first trip to the state tournament — and both times, orthopedic surgeon Paul McNally, D.O., repaired her knee.
As a college student sick with mononucleosis, Dr. Carlson was treated by internal medicine physician Jacqueline D’Souza, M.D., who encouraged her to consider becoming a physician. The next year, Carlson started studying for her MCAT — the Medical College Admission Test.
People are also reading…
“I’m so appreciative of my colleagues who have been caregivers and mentors to me my entire life,” Carlson says. “I grew up in Boyceville on my parents’ century-old family farm and always have wanted to come back and practice in the area. When I was young, I had several hospitalizations and surgeries in Menomonie. I want to try to give back.”
Carlson received her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed her residency at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse.
She is a member of the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians. Carlson’s special interests include palliative care, mental health and preventive medicine.
In her free time, Dr. Carlson enjoys running marathons and half-marathons, hiking with her fiancé and dog, camping, ice fishing, reading, gardening and supporting any UW Badgers sports team, especially football.
To make an appointment with Dr. Carlson, call 715-233-7777.
