At age three, Megan Prue, M.D.‘22, told her parents she wanted to be a doctor. Now, after completing medical school at the Larner College of Medicine and her pediatric residency at UVM Children’s Hospital (now Golisano Children’s Hospital at UVM Health), she has returned to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, to the pediatric clinic where she once was a patient.

“This was my dream, but I never thought it would be possible,” Dr. Prue says of her new role at North Country Pediatrics, formerly known as Newport Pediatrics, in Newport, Vermont. Prue’s path shows how following one’s passion, combined with academic and community support, can help address a health care provider shortage that affects rural communities nationwide. 

Growing up in Derby, a small town in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Prue discovered her love of science early on. In middle school and high school, she gravitated toward biology and nurtured a deep desire to help others—particularly children. Her passion took shape when she participated in a summer program called MedQuest, run by the Area Health Education Centers at Larner. This hands-on experience introduced her to a range of health care settings, from ambulance services to outpatient clinics, and lit the spark that confirmed her calling: using her scientific curiosity to improve people’s lives. 

A high school teacher connected Prue with Newport Pediatrics, Prue’s childhood medical home, for a shadowing opportunity. At that time, Newport Pediatrics was a private practice founded and owned by Thomas “Mike” Moseley III, M.D.’79. 

“As a high school student, Megan took on extra responsibilities and figured things out,” Dr. Moseley recalls. “She’s a person who always saw the possibilities of what she could do and not the barriers.” 

Following the shadowing experience, Moseley offered Prue a job scanning paper medical records to help the practice transition to an electronic record system. Prue continued working there for four years during high school and college breaks, learning the many aspects of running a medical office. “I began to understand the different roles, including receptionist, nurse, medical assistant, physician, billing specialist. I also learned a lot more about medicine and was always pulled into a room when something interesting happened. I was fascinated and knew that I wanted to learn more about anatomy and physiology, sparking my interest in becoming a doctor,” Prue recalls. “They all joked, ‘you’re going to come back someday!’

Studying Medicine in Vermont

After completing her undergraduate studies at University of New England in Maine, Prue returned to Vermont for medical school. She chose Larner College of Medicine both to be closer to family and because of Larner’s strong connection to the greater community. Growing up in “a place where everybody knows everybody helped me learn the value of leaning on each other in hard times,” she says. 

“I was pleased to learn that we medical students could engage in a service opportunity.” 

She volunteered at Lund, a center for pregnant people, adoptive parents, and vulnerable families. She joined Larner Here to Help, a medical student interest group that collaborates with community members to provide free meals, clothing, toiletries, haircuts and access to showers for Burlington’s unhoused community. 

Prue’s third year clinical rotations included a clerkship with a community pediatrician, Joseph Nasca, M.D., in Georgia, Vermont. During clerkships, medical students work under a preceptor’s guidance to practice history taking, doing physical exams, and establish diagnoses. 

“It was a very small office with paper charts still, and Dr. Nasca was the only pediatrician. He was there for guidance and assistance but truly valued what I had to say, and I was able to get the one-onone learning that I needed,” Prue says. “After the first day in that office, I went home exhausted but with a smile on my face. Later, when talking about specialties with my partner, he seemed shocked that I would pick anything other than pediatrics. That helped seal the deal on my career path.”

Looking Back Fondly 

One of Prue’s favorite memories from medical school was doing patient rounds with Lewis First, M.D., chair of pediatrics at the University of Vermont, whom she knew of from his many public appearances and weekly health tips column. Dr. First wrote Prue’s letter of recommendation for residency and critiqued her personal statement. He recalls Prue’s early dedication to helping young patients. 

“Even as a medical student, I recognized Megan’s skills, knowledge, and commitment to making a difference in the lives of the patients she cared for. I really hoped she would choose our pediatric residency program to further her training in pediatrics, and when she did, it was clear what an outstanding pediatrician she truly is,” First says, adding that her choice to bring her education and talents back to the town she grew up in is “a win-win-win—for Megan, for Vermont, and most importantly for the infants, children, and adolescents fortunate to have her as their pediatrician.” 

For Prue, residency training at University of Vermont Medical Center “was amazing. I fell in love with the collaborative nature that an academic center allows, with attendings, residents and medical students all coming together on plans for patients,” she says. She especially enjoyed working with Larner medical students as a clinical instructor, helping them synthesize the information they were learning in coursework into a framework for thinking about illnesses. Pediatric grand rounds with medical students felt like full-circle moments, reminding her of what she enjoyed most about medical school. 

“One of my favorite activities was presenting a case while rounding with medical students on Baird 5 (inpatient pediatrics),” Prue says. “The team caring for an individual patient would be in the patient’s room, and everyone else would be in the hallway waiting. I would go through what the patients presented with and have students ask history and exam questions and work through their differential diagnoses and then decide what we should do next. They would all chime in and work together to figure out what was happening with the patient. It was so much fun!”

Another memory that stands out for Prue involved a fourth-year medical student who was doing their acting internship in pediatrics, using notes they had taken during their third-year clerkship sessions with Prue. “This student went down to the emergency room to see a patient, then came back upstairs to tell me about them before presenting to the attending,” Prue says. “We talked through what might be happening, and then they pulled out some notes they had jotted down during hallway teaching with me months prior. I thought it was so cool to see that I had made an impact on them!” 

Rooted in Rural 

During residency, Prue participated in a rural medicine concentration, rotating through several different community hospitals, some affiliated with UVM Health and others not. 

Delving into medical care in varied rural settings allowed Prue to practice a broad range of medical care and “see a little bit of everything within pediatrics,” she says. “I was able to see firsthand what it is like to be called to a delivery in the middle of seeing patients in a busy clinic, resuscitating newborns and transferring them to the UVM neonatal intensive care unit, determining whether to admit children to a small hospital versus having to call a tertiary care center, and so much more.” 

Prue worked closely with Stanley Weinberger, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and division chief for pediatric primary care at Golisano Children’s Hospital at UVM Health. They met on Mondays for continuity clinics, where residents hone their skills in clinical care, observation, patient and family communication, problem solving, and decision making. Dr. Weinberger recalls Prue’s sensible approach and relatable personality. 

“Megan exuded great down-to-earth competence. She had such a clear vision of the kind of pediatrician she wanted to embody—rooted to her community, connected with families over time as their kids grew, all the while being there for her own family,” Weinberger says. 

Her rural rotations included the pediatrics practice in Newport, where the practitioners and some patients remembered Prue. She was invited to join the practice following her training. 

“The whispers of me returning home had been happening for months while I was still finishing up my residency at UVM. Word gets around fast in this small town,” says Prue, who joined the practice as an employee last September. 

“I am so glad she found her place back at her childhood practice and she will be such an asset to that community,” says Weinberger. “And I am so glad she’s remaining here in Vermont as a friend and colleague.”

Investing in the Next Generation of Country Doctors

Prue embraces her continued relationships with UVM colleagues and the assurance it provides. “A teaching hospital provides extra layers of protection within it, with other people to ‘check your work,’” she says. “I realize that those people are only a phone call away. I can call with questions for the specialists when needed, and this shared expertise is invaluable.” 

Throughout his 45-year career in rural practice, Moseley collaborated with colleagues at UVM, from attending grand rounds to seeking advice in patient consultations. “Primary care practice is not a solo act,” he says. “I had many experiences where I was able to take care of people without sending them out of Orleans county,” because of the support from faculty at UVM. 

To bolster careers in rural pediatric primary care and ensure that doctors-in-training engage with academic medicine colleagues, Moseley and his wife, the Reverend Christine Moseley, R.N., created the Moseley Family Pediatric Rural Health Endowment within the Pediatrics Residency Program at UVM Medical Center. Established in 2025, the endowment aims to increase pediatric residents’ exposure to rural medicine to help inspire and attract talented early career pediatricians to settle and practice in rural Vermont. For this endowment, ‘rural’ is defined as any Vermont county except Chittenden. 

“I would be thrilled if there were more people like Megan who choose to locate in these communities as a result of the connection between UVM and rural practices,” Moseley says. 

After trying to recruit an individual successor to purchase the practice, Moseley sold Newport Pediatrics to North Country Hospital in 2017, and he retired in 2019. Renamed North Country Pediatrics, the practice continues to offer well and acute care for patients from birth to young adulthood and provide resources to support young people’s physical, emotional, and mental health. Practitioners also work closely with local schools, social workers, and agencies serving gender diverse youth. 

Coming back to the community that helped shape her feels personal and vital, Prue says. “Working at North Country Pediatrics feels like coming home. The area is the same but now the parents of my patients are people I grew up with, and it is truly an honor to be able to care for their kids.”