By Raquel Daisy

 
Photos courtesy of Dr. Stuart Pickell

Fort Worth, Texas (August 18, 2011) – From the early years of his childhood, NTSP physician Dr. Stuart Pickell knew he would minister to others. The road to finding out how he would minister has led him down different paths with the current stop being medicine.

As a child growing up in the Washington, D.C. area, Dr. Pickell told his family he wanted to be a minister, doctor and firefighter. He wasn’t far off – he has tried each of these professions with medicine being the career he ultimately chose.

Like many young boys, Pickell wanted to be like his father who was a minister. So, Pickell went to Princeton Theological Seminary and after completing his studies, he accepted a call to be an associate minister at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth. After five years, he had a sense that his call wasn’t complete, that his ministry was to serve others outside of the church walls. This realization led him to medical school at UT Southwestern. “I see medicine not just as applied science but as ‘practical theology’,” said Dr. Pickell. “Medicine allows me to serve God by ministering to others, to help heal people both spiritually and physically. The two are often related.”

Leaving his role at First Presbyterian wasn’t a clean break from the ministry. Dr. Pickell still preaches and teaches at different churches in the area. Life has taken this physician on many journeys including mission work in Haiti and trekking through the Himalayas. He hopes to one day return to Haiti to help people who have limited access to doctors.

Dr. Pickell is board-certified in internal medicine and pediatrics. His private practice in Fort Worth allows him to treat people from all walks of life. “I enjoy working with patients from multiple generations, “said Dr. Pickell. “It’s a joy to follow members of the same family from ‘cradle to grave’.” When he is not busy serving on the boards of various community and professional organizations and meeting with his patients, Dr. Pickell enjoys spending time with his family, walking, watching movies and baseball games. He also finds some time to pick up the guitar, play the piano, write music and keep up with photography in his down time.

Dr. Pickell has been with NTSP since 2001 and is a participating physician in the Care N’ Care Medicare health plans. For more information about NTSP, visit www.ntsp.com.