Volunteer Spotlight: Brad Kuehn

By Megan Maynard

We are proud to announce this month’s Volunteer Spotlight article nominee: Brad Kuehn. It may come as no surprise that he has a passion for wildlife; he was born and raised on a farm in Oklahoma. His grandparents owned a ranch with many animals, including a herd of buffalo. He fondly says it was like having his own personal petting zoo.

Having nurtured his love of animals and nature during his childhood, these qualities have transferred into his adult life. In his spare time, he cares for adopted dogs with special needs and senior rescue dogs. Currently, he has three but has had as many as four at a time. He also is collaborating with his neighbors at the moment, creating what they call “plumeria row” between their two homes.

So where, you may ask, did Brad hear about STPS? He is an anesthesiologist, and one day at work a nurse who had previously volunteered with STPS brought up the group. Brad first studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Oklahoma State University before going to medical school at the University of Oklahoma.

At the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, he completed a year of general surgery training before completing his anesthesia residency at Emory in Atlanta, GA. Brad went on to serve in the USAF and was once deployed as the physician on a Critical Care Air Transport Team (aka flying ICUs on C17s). While in Germany, he was an anesthesiologist on the USAF Mobile Field Surgical Team.

Brad is currently involved with the STPS summer night walks and the Saturday morning nest survey team. For now, he is on autopilot. Once he retires, he plans on continuing his work with STPS and caring for his rescue dogs. He says to anyone interested in STPS: join; it is fun and rewarding. When you have your first experience with the sea turtles, you will be forever changed.