Alexis Wagner

Her practice was founded on a simple philosophy: Patients are people, and their care comes first.

Alexis Wagner and her family moved to Hamilton in 1986. She was fresh out of Stanford medical school with two degrees, licensed as a family nurse practitioner and physician’s assistant. She worked in the various medical institutions for 18 years before opening her first solo practice (One Life, 2004). By then she had established a sterling reputation in the Bitterroot Valley as a capable, personable health care provider who put her patients needs and feelings first. For many she was a breath of fresh air in the sometimes cold and distant bureaucratic environment of corporate medicine.

Too often, Alexis had found her hands tied by unnecessary regulations, insurance roadblocks, and policies intended to maximize profits by getting the patients in and out of the office as fast as possible. She wanted to do things in a different way.
In 2013, she opened a new practice, one which would later become the Alexis Wagner Memorial Clinic. During this time she touched and healed countless hearts and lives throughout the Bitterroot Valley. Her passion for medicine and love for the community manifested in multiple ways, not least of which was the undivided attention she offered anyone who walked into her office.

Alexis was dedicated to providing the time and personal attention necessary for healing. She believed the doctor/patient interaction was as important as the prescription. By understanding that every person’s health tells its own unique story, she rejected out-of-the-box solutions and tailored her approach to each individual patient experience.
She gave her whole heart to her patients. In many ways, she was more old country doctor than clinician.

For Alexis, helping others didn’t end at the office. She spent time working with impoverished communities in Honduras and Costa Rica. She was a healer through and through. From the day her husband Steve was diagnosed with Carcinoid Cancer, her life became a crusade to understand this obscure illness, not only to find the best treatments for Steve, but to support the broader community of those who suffered alongside him.
She had long devoted herself to the mysteries of the natural world. Raising her son, she never tired of taking him on long walks into the hills, along the coasts and tide pools and rocky beaches to interact with the overflowing wonders of life. Though rational and scientific, She also realized science is never a closed book. Medicine was always evolving and exploring new solutions. Her approach was holistic, but never recklessly experimental. It was grounded in experience but open to new ideas. She was both scientist and poet. First and foremost she valued compassion, kindness, and respect.