Dr. Claire Putnam
I grew up in Berkeley, California with a love for piano, helping animals and dancing! I attended the University of California, Los Angeles for my undergraduate education and received a B.A. in English Literature. During school, I worked on an ambulance as an EMT, cooked in local restaurants and rode on the cycling team (in L.A. nonetheless!) I went to the University of California, Irvine College of Medicine for my medical degree and graduated in 1999. Initially, I wanted to be a family physician, and did 2 years of a Family Medicine Residency Program in Sacramento, California. During that time, my interests became more focused on women’s health, surgery, and pulling babies out of small spaces! I left Family Practice and went back to the University of California, Irvine, to pursue Obstetrical and Gynecological training, which I completed in 2005.
After residency I moved back to Berkeley and joined Kaiser Permanent in Northern California as a full scope Obstetrician/ Gynecologist with a focus on Minimally Invasive surgery; Long term, fool-proof birth control; Patient education and cancer prevention. While I was working at Kaiser, I met and married a wonderful space physicist and was blessed with 3 wonderful boys all in the span of about 5 years (ask me how! And ask me about C/sections!)
At this point, the story might have ended as “I happily worked at Kaiser and stayed put in California.”
Not so. I left Kaiser Permanente after 10 years to pursue my passions in individualized healthcare and to rethink how to deliver the best quality care to women without a 15 minute time constraint. During this time, my husband and I and our three boys left California for Bozeman, Montana, when my husband was offered a position as a professor at MSU Bozeman. It was an easy move for us—leaving the crazy life of the Bay Area with three young children for this!
Bozeman has been a wonderful place for my husband (a native Montanan!) and I, and our 3 boys! I am excited to open my own comprehensive clinic for women here in Bozeman and to provide private, individualized women’s health care and alternative health options both locally and nationally through telehealth. I believe in one-on-one appointments, consultations, patient advocacy and value giving independent second opinions. Additionally, my dream of bringing complimentary women’s health and wellness together in a collaborative, integrated setting is coming to fruition! Currently, I have been flying back and forth to California where I have been working for Stanford health, UCSF East Bay, and as a OB hospitalist at Sutter Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley. Although I love my work and groups in the Bay Area—I am looking forward to working in my own community now and helping to provide care to Bozeman!
In my copious spare time, I raise goats, chickens and geese; I’m learning to make goat cheese; I love making culinary delights, and try to keep up with music in one way or another. I enjoy skiing, playing poker, remodeling old buildings, oil painting, and the never-ending cycle of getting in shape and falling off the wagon. I’m looking forward to helping you achieve better health and happiness in whatever way I can!
