Texas Roots, Global Travels Lead to Wisconsin Opportunity
Nicole Bussiere, MD, and Cyril, her French-scientist husband, recently relocated from Texas to Shawano, Wisconsin, with their two-year-old son Ami. Bussiere is the newest family doctor to join ThedaCare Physicians-Shawano, and she is embracing this new part of the world the same way she has embraced her many global travels. “My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved a lot,” she said, as she also recounted her recent medical service trips to Nepal and Kenya, the latter where she worked in a labor and delivery ward.
Her passion for full spectrum family medicine, when doctors care for pregnant women and help deliver babies in addition to customary family practice responsibilities, was a key reason she came to Shawano. “In my entire job search, ThedaCare offered a unique and progressive opportunity for me.” She also has the flexibility to travel and practice international medicine in the future based on a time-share agreement with ThedaCare designed to attract doctors to rural service areas.
Dr. Bussiere first considered a career in medicine at age 14 when she had surgery on her jaw. “That surgery was a success and it made a huge impact on my life,” she said, her vision for her future career beginning to take shape. She would go on to receive a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from the University of Texas at Austin and her medical degree from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock.
Dr. Bussiere spent summers with her grandparents in Minnesota as a young girl, but admits she has not yet experienced a Midwest winter. However, her recruiting visit to Shawano in October couldn’t have been better timed. “The trees were changing color and the weather was so nice and cool,” she said. “I have never seen colors like that. It was breathtaking,” adding the idea of four seasons after so many years of hot weather in Texas is “quite spectacular.” She and Cyril, whom she met while they were both graduate students in Texas, already bought a farmhouse outside of town and have plans to take on some remodeling projects. Cyril has his Ph.D. in microbiology, and his immediate plans are to care for Ami and manage the family’s new household.
Dr. Bussiere brings with her from Texas a few pairs of cowboy boots, a mean chili recipe, and some beef barbeque tips from her father, a family-elected BBQ pitmaster. Outside of work, she likes sewing, quilting, and tailoring, brewing beer, camping, hiking and just plain tinkering. “Shawano is a perfect small town. It has everything we need, and a larger city is not far away. It’s beautiful here.”
Nicole Bussiere, MD, recently joined ThedaCare Physicians-Shawano as a family practice physician.
For more than 100 years, ThedaCare® has been committed to finding a better way to deliver serious and complex healthcare to patients throughout Northeast Wisconsin. The organization serves over 200,000 patients annually and employs more than 6,700 healthcare professionals throughout the region. ThedaCare has seven hospitals located in Appleton, Neenah, Berlin, Waupaca, Shawano, New London and Wild Rose as well as 31 clinics in nine counties. ThedaCare is the first in Wisconsin to be a Mayo Clinic Care Network Member, giving specialists the ability to consult with Mayo Clinic experts on a patient’s care. ThedaCare is a nonprofit healthcare organization with a level II trauma center, comprehensive cancer treatment, and stroke, orthopedic and cardiac programs, as well as a foundation dedicated to community service. For more information, visit www.thedacare.org or follow ThedaCare on Facebook and Twitter.
