About Dr. Mark Unverzagt

I am a board-certified family physician. This means that I take care of the whole family: babies, grandparents and everyone in between. I do physicals, give vaccinations, manage chronic conditions, diagnose and treat acute illnesses, sew up cuts and deal with sprains, strains and simple fractures. I do minor office procedures such as skin biopsies. Tambien, yo hablo Español.

Originally from New Orleans, I attended Tulane University where I majored in International Relations with my junior year spent abroad. I graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1989 and completed a residency in family medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 1993. I was a solo practitioner in rural New Mexico — Catron County — from 1993 to 1997. After leaving Catron County, I became a faculty member at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003. In June of 2005, I resigned my faculty position to start Medicine@Downtown.

I decided to start this practice because I wanted to see if primary care could be delivered differently. I have seen primary care change dramatically in the last two decades. It has gone from a comprehensive, coordinated delivery of essential health services to a less personal, assembly line, more corporate version of healthcare. The premium is now placed on efficiency rather than on relationships. The goal of my practice is to offer a set of services that are based on the doctor-patient relationship. I also want to be more flexible in my response to patients’ needs. One size cannot fit all in the practice of medicine. This practice is my response to a system that seems to fit so many people so poorly.

Outside of medicine, my interests include global and international health, serving on various nonprofit and arts organizations boards, writing, cooking and music. A former long-distance runner/athlete, I now exercise in ways that are less damaging to aging joints. I also try to invest a good amount of my free time with family, friends and in support of the local community.