History

What makes us the best pediatricians in Utah County?
 
The first board certified pediatrician to come to Utah County was Dr. R.H. Wakefield, who set up his practice in 1948. Soon after, Dr. Thales Smith and Dr. Lyman Olsen joined Dr. Wakefield at the Medical Center offices on North University Avenue, on the site of what is now our Provo North University office. Dr. Smith practiced into his eighties and retired in July 2002.

During the decade of the 60’s, Dr. Moreno Robins and Dr. Stuart Slingerland began practicing with the original three pediatricians. During the decade of the 70’s, four additional pediatricians came to the valley, including UVP’s Dr. Douglas Hacking and Dr. Phil Freestone, who each set up their practices in Orem.

Three of our doctors began their practices in Utah County in the early 80’s. Dr. Richard Later started practicing pediatrics in Payson. Dr. Gordon Glade established a practice in American Fork, and Dr. Richard Farnsworth transferred his practice from Salt Lake City to Provo.

The number of children in the county grew significantly during the 1990’s and so did the number of pediatricians. Between 1991 and 1994, Doctors Michael Lauret, Daniel Simmons, Mitchell Adams, and John Wynn started practicing pediatric medicine in the county. Doctors Simmons and Wynn joined Dr. Freestone and Dr. Hacking in Orem. Doctors Lauret and Adams joined Doctors Robins, Slingerland, and Farnsworth at Provo Pediatric Associates. During the same time period, Dr. Richard Later relocated his practice to the Provo Physicians Plaza building, where he is currently located.

In 1995, eleven well-established and respected pediatricians (Doctors Smith, Robins, Slingerland, Hacking, Freestone, Later, Farnsworth, Lauret, Simmons, Adams, and Wynn) joined together to form Utah Valley Pediatrics. Since then, the growth has continued as our community continues to grow. In 1996, Dr. Lynn Barlow joined Utah Valley Pediatrics, relocating from Southern California where he had practiced for 25 years.

1997 and 1998 brought an additional three physicians to Utah Valley Pediatrics. Dr. Greg Wynn, Dr. Melissa Kendall and Dr. Michael Pulsipher opened the Utah Valley Pediatrics’ Timpanogos office, located in Orem. Dr. Pulsipher later left the Timpanogos office to practice pediatric oncology at Primary Children’s Medical Center.

In August of 2000, Utah Valley Pediatrics welcomed Dr. Gordon Glade to the group. Dr. Glade was the first pediatrician in American Fork, practicing since 1980. He became the first physician in the group with an office outside Provo and Orem.

During the summer of 2001, Doctors Jennifer Geary (now Jennifer Geary Brinton) and Ryan Wilcox joined the practice. Dr. Brinton joined Doctors Wynn and Kendall at the Timpanogos office, while Dr. Wilcox began practicing with Dr. Glade in American Fork.

Dr. Jeffrey Jensen joined the physicians of the Provo North University office in July of 2002, Dr. Polly Sheffield joined the American Fork office in November of 2003, and Dr. Matthew Cornish began practicing at the Timpanogos office in July of 2004. In May of 2004, Utah Valley Pediatrics welcomed Dr. Marcie Conner, formerly with Pediatric Care in Pleasant Grove. Dr. Conner joined Doctors Glade, Wilcox, and Sheffield at the American Fork office.

After 40 years of caring for Utah Valley’s children, Doctors Slingerland and Robins of the Provo North University office retired in July of 2004. Dr. Bradley Anderson joined the practice that same month, caring for Dr. Slingerland’s patients as well as building his own practice.

Later that year, the Provo North University office moved into a brand new office built on the parking lot of the old Medical Center building and the American Fork office moved to their new office building located just north of the American Fork hospital. Also, Dr. Richard Farnsworth began a two-year leave of absence to serve a Public Affairs mission for his church, leaving his patients in the capable hands of Dr. Ernest Bailey, who joined the practice in September of 2004.

In 2005, Dr. Freestone began a three year leave of absence to serve in a leadership position for his church in Mexico. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Gregory Nielsen joined the Cherry Tree office and Dr. Scott Mumford joined the American Fork office. At the same time, Dr. Sheffield left the group to pursue her life long dream to care for the underserved in several free clinics on a part time basis.

Dr. Richard Farnsworth returned from his two year leave of absence September 2006 and resumed seeing patients at the Provo North University Office. In October of that year, Dr. Ernest Bailey relocated his practice to our newly remodeled Timpanogos Office in Orem. Dr. Brinton decided to retire in November so that she could spend more time raising her family.

For some time, we recognized a need for additional pediatricians to serve the south part of Utah County. In January 2007 we opened the Payson office with Dr. Garron Miller. The number of patients that flocked to Dr. Miller exceeded our estimates. As a result, we quickly added a partner in Payson. Dr. Jonathan Peterson joined Dr. Miller in July 2007.

In March 2008, Dr. Gregory Nielsen moved his practice from Orem to the Provo North University Office. He joined Drs. Adams, Anderson, Farnsworth, Jensen, and Lauret. After 37 years, Dr. Lynn Barlow retired from his pediatric practice in May 2008. Dr. Phil Freestone returned from his three year leave of absence in July and reopened his practice at our Orem Cherry Tree office.

Construction on our new Payson office was completed January 2009. In June 2009, Dr. Michael Fullmer joined Drs. Miller and Peterson in Payson. Dr. Fullmer relocated from Iowa where he worked as a pediatric hospitalist for 5 years.

Just as with Payson, we recognized the need to serve the growing communities in North Utah County. In October 2010, Dr. Brian C McCune relocated from Cedar City to open our Saratoga Springs office. Dr. McCune had been practicing in Cedar City for 3 years prior to joining Utah Valley Pediatrics.

In February 2011, Dr. Sarah Ashby joined our American Fork office part time to help with the growing demand in that office. She had previously practiced in California for 4 years.

Our office in Payson has continued to grow rapidly, so in October 2011, we added Dr. Benjamin Lauritzen to the office. He recently finished his residency at the University of Illinois, in Peoria, IL.

We were deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Dr. Gregory Nielsen on March 3, 2012.

Dr. Frances Liu joined our busy Provo North University office in July 2012 after working at The Children’s Hospital of Albany Medical Center.

Dr. Phil Freestone retired in September 2012 in order to serve his church as President of the Dominican Republic Missionary Training Center. Replacing Dr. Freestone, Dr. Jonathen Bartholomew joined our Cherry Tree Office. Dr. Bartholomew is an experienced pediatrician whose background includes practicing at two locations in Utah County, working as a hospitalist, directing vaccine research, and developing a medical home.

In August 2014, we were joined by Dr. Aaron W. McCoy in our Provo North University Office.

In response to growing demand, Dr. Jonathan P. Peterson relocated from Payson to open our new Spanish Fork office in January 2015. In June, he was joined by Dr. Scott L. Leifson. In August 2015, Dr. Tyson Jones joined our American Fork Office.

In May 2016, Dr. Joseph Hershkop joined our office in Saratoga Springs and in July, Dr. Kevin Nelson joined our office in Payson.

Our history of caring for the children of Utah County is long, plentiful and unparalleled. Even though the future in healthcare will be challenging, we will always be focused on the needs of children in Utah County as we grow and change to meet the challenges ahead.