Dr. Susan Wilhoit is a native of Louisville, Kentucky where she was born and raised. After graduating from Indiana University where she studied Human Biology, she joined AmeriCorps. For two years she served as a member of the Health Services Corps at a migrant farmworker clinic in Colorado before returning home to attend the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Some of Dr. Wilhoit’s most indelible memories of medical school are set in Ecuador. There she worked alongside an Ecuadorian non-profit agency that provided medical care to populations who otherwise did not have access to it. Influenced by both her experiences in Ecuador and AmeriCorps, she was compelled to pursue primary care.
Dr. Wilhoit was honored to attend the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency in Asheville, North Carolina. Initially she felt a particular sense of purpose in prenatal and peripartum care. However, Dr. Wilhoit soon realized that it was actually in caring for patients at the other end of life’s spectrum where she found the most meaning. She felt a unique calling to support individuals and their families as they grappled with a terminal diagnosis. Dr. Wilhoit pursued this calling by staying in Asheville after residency to complete a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
As a primary care physician, palliative medicine consultant, and a hospice clinician, Dr. Wilhoit strives to help patients feel seen and heard. She advocates for their autonomy so they can be empowered to seek the care that best aligns with their values. Dr. Wilhoit hopes that all of her patients live their lives in ways that are meaningful to them and does her best to ensure that their deaths are also full of meaning, authenticity, and peace.
