UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 09 | May 10, 2001

Doctor flies through school with the greatest of ease

Questions of balance come naturally to acrobatic doctor

Kristin Wingfield always wanted to be a doctor but first she had to run away and join the circus.

Wingfield, who graduates with a doctor of medicine degree, is also an aerial acrobat who performed full-time with the Cirque de Soleil gymnast troupe before entering UBC's medical school.

No sooner had she decided to defer her medical education in favour of life as an acrobat when she tore a knee ligament and was almost fired.

She recovered, however, and spent two years with the troupe in Las Vegas and continues to work as a contract performer.

"I get to fly," says Wingfield, who performs with a bungee trapeze and also choreographs routines. "I love performing, to convey the joy and freedom I experience."

The diversity of the performers she meets is one of the best parts of being in the circus, she adds.

A gymnast since the age of seven, Wingfield was on Canada's gymnastics team in high school and was also a national-level springboard diver throughout university. But being a sports medicine doctor was never far from her mind.

After obtaining her undergraduate degree in honours Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario, Wingfield returned home to Vancouver to enter UBC's medical school because she understood the sports doctors here are some of the best in the world.

A one-month elective at the Sydney 2000 Olympics working with the Canadian medical team in the Olympic village was "a dream come true."

Wingfield continues to perform and is challenged to combine school and training schedules.

The bilingual student recently completed an emergency medicine elective in Montreal while rehearsing for a performance in Quebec City.

She will complete a family practice residency at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital after graduation and pursue a fellowship in sports medicine.

As an athlete, performer and doctor, Kristin Wingfield continues to fly high.