Family medicine with obstetrics physician Kaitlyn Hite, M.D., joins Oaklawn

MARSHALL — One day when Kaitlyn Hite was 6 years old, she drew a picture of herself as a doctor. That youthful artistic exercise turned out to have been insightful — even prophetic.

Today Hite is a physician, focusing on family medicine with obstetrics. In that role, she has joined the Oaklawn Medical Group, and is working at Oaklawn Medical Group-Marshall Primary Care as well as at Oaklawn Medical Group-Tekonsha. 

Marshall Primary Care is based in Suite 1E of the Wright Medical Building at 215 E. Mansion St. Appointments there may be made by calling (269) 781-3938. The Tekonsha office is at 2218 Old US 27 North. Appointments there may be made by calling (517) 767-4038

Hite admitted that her early interest in medicine must have come as something out of the blue as she grew up in rural Birmingham, Alabama.

“No one in my family was in medicine, and I really didn’t think about going to medical school until about halfway through college, but I always wanted to go into a field with a caring capacity to it. In fact, in high school I thought I would become a veterinarian or a medical examiner.”

While studying biology and chemistry in college, Hite’s long-standing interest in science and corresponding drive to help people led her to volunteer at a community hospital in rural Florida. There, she saw firsthand the widespread need for professionalism in health care.

“There never were enough clinicians for the number of people sitting in the emergency room,” she said. “I just thought that I wanted to help fill that void.”

Once she’d made up her mind, Hite got plenty of encouragement from her father, an information-technology specialist, and her mother, a financial planner.

“They’ve always been my cheerleaders,” she said.

Hite earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from Saint Leo University in St. Leo, Florida, in 2015. She received her degree as a doctor of medicine from the Orlando-based University of Central Florida College of Medicine in 2019.

In 2016, Hite also participated in a medical student mission to Myanmar with a team of 20-member team. There, the group provided medical care at three clinic locations in Yangon and the Chin Hills.

Earlier this year, Hite completed St. Michael Medical Center’s residency program in family medicine in Bremerton, Washington. Hite is certified in basic life support, advanced cardiac life support, pediatric advanced life support and neonatal resuscitation.

During her studies, Hite settled on family medicine as her specialty because “that gives you the best platform in medicine.”

The goal of that approach is “to care for a whole family holistically, considering the patient’s socio-economic situation and interactions at home,” she said. “Family medicine gives you a chance to look at all those components to better care for people.”

As a physician, Hite’s focus on obstetrics is another reason why Marshall’s Oaklawn Medical Group was attractive to her.

“It’s not something that’s done everywhere,” she said. “I was very impressed by the staff, and I felt that I would be supported well as a new provider coming out of residency.”

In her spare time, Hite — a former competitive swimmer — enjoys scuba diving and camping. She is proficient in playing the oboe and enjoys gardening, reading “anything and everything” including the Harry Potter books and other works of fantasy,

Hite is engaged to be married to Mac Lowry of Ann Arbor, who has other family in Michigan. The couple now are living in Marshall with her female cat, Ted.

“I like living in a small town,” Hite said. “I see us being here for quite some time. While we were being taken around the town during a visit, three people on Main Street waved at us for no reason. That struck me as very friendly. I’m excited to meet more of the people.”