"Ever since I was little, I have loved medicine,” said Emma Lutz, Ritter Center Family Nurse Practitioner. “Even in high school, I would read the diagnosis column in the NY Times. I was fascinated with the mystery of medicine. There was always something new happening in the field, and I knew I wanted to go into healthcare.”
Emma was pre-med in college with a plan to attend medical school, but at a certain point in college, she entered an exploratory phase. Working in physical therapy as an aide and volunteering at the Women’s Free Clinic in SF, she began to envision a new future.
Over time, Emma’s volunteer role at the Women’s Free Clinic evolved; from the first point of contact and coordination with Medi-Cal to the medical assistant and street outreach team.
“This is how I got inspired for my career. I was not yet a nurse at that point, but I truly fell in love with the work and the practitioners I worked with. It was just what I had been looking for – that missing combination. I love medicine and getting to know people through their bodies. It is the humanistic side of it that resonates with me. It is also the support I can offer another human being. It might be based on a harm reduction model and include safe sex supplies, basic hygiene, or food,” reflected Emma.
It was then that Emma realized she wanted to become a nurse practitioner. A woman in the clinic became her mentor and helped her through the process. She attended UCSF for school.
Now, in her role at Ritter Center, it is a full circle moment for Emma. She has come back to the same type of work that inspired her to become a nurse practitioner in the first place.