Dr. David Zielke

Originally from Massachusetts, Dr. Zielke moved to Anchorage in 2020 after graduating fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine the same year. Prior to his medical training, he was interested in the humanities having studied English literature and poetry in college. He became motivated to pursue medicine and went on to complete a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at City College in New York, and later enrolled in medical school in upstate New York. He completed an internal medicine residency in Richmond, Virginia. Due to a robust critical care curriculum during residency, he became passionate about educating and counseling critically ill patients and their families. He completed a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in Lebanon, New Hampshire where he became experienced in navigating the particularities of coordinating the transfer of critically ill patients in a large rural area. He saw many corollaries toward the care of the critically ill in Alaska and began working at Alaska Native Medical Center in 2020 arriving at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a fellow, he taught pulmonary physiology to medical students as an adjunct educator and is eager to continue his passion for medical education in the Denali College. He enjoys reading, live music, watching basketball, skiing, backpacking and would like to cross an ocean on a sailboat someday.