Gavin Ferguson, PA-C

Please share any educational background, life, or work experiences that relate to your current role and work with VEN:

I’ve spent the last seven years working at a community mental health and substance use treatment clinic in Northern Arizona, and my prior career was as a Field Engineer in commercial construction. I feel that my diverse life experience allows me to connect with my patients to build that trust that is so often lacking in underserved communities.

What inspired you to pursue your current career path?

I made the change to pursue medicine when my oldest was born and she was quite ill. I remember vividly, the feeling of being scared and helpless and not knowing what to do for my sick child, so I started this current life path. My start in mental health and substance use treatment was happenstance and entirely not planned, but I very soon learned that I love working with this demographic. VEN allows me to work with similar groups of people as I did before, and provide a different facet of their care.

What is your favorite part about working with VEN Centers?

Working with the underserved, and sometimes entirely unseen, communities in Arizona is the best part of VEN. With so many community partners working on shared goals, a real change is being made in the fight against HCV. Very often in medicine we only manage conditions, but with the work that VEN Centers does, as a Team, we have the ability to cure people of their HCV and make a meaningful improvement in their health and their lives.