J. Todd Wahrenberger, M.D.
Todd Wahrenberger graduated from Gannon University in 1986 and subsequently attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Today, he serves as the Medical Director for the North Side Christian Health Center, which he founded with two fellow physicians and college friends, Dan Holt and Mark Guy. Both as an undergraduate at Gannon and as a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh, Todd was mentored by CCO staff workers.
While a student at Gannon, Todd knew he wanted to help people; he knew he wanted to be a doctor. CCO staff members helped him think through a foundation and framework for his life and for why he wanted to “do good.” He began to understand his vocation as a call to something bigger than himself and his needs. As he formulated a framework to look at life, he went on service trips to Appalachia, served on the leadership team of the college fellowship group, led peer Bible studies, lived in the Kirk House Christian student community, and was fully involved in campus and Christian fellowship activities.
Todd’s desire to start a Christian health care center in a medically underserved urban area of Pittsburgh was fueled by a variety of experiences he had as an undergrad and as a medical student. The Jubilee conference was extremely formative during Todd’s undergraduate years. Through the conference, he rubbed shoulders with other pre-med students with whom he was able to share his vision. He also met medical students, residents, and doctors who made real his career path and practiced medicine the way he envisioned. Today, he provides that same encouragement to pre-med and med students who attend Jubilee.
As a medical student, Todd was mentored by a CCO staff member who connected him with Dr. David Hall. Todd thought the only way he could live out his vision of helping others as a doctor was by being a Third World missionary. Seeing David Hall’s medical center in East Liberty helped re-direct Todd’s goal of serving the poor. He realized that he could serve the poor right in his backyard, in Pittsburgh.
In 1995, Todd, along with two college friends and fellow Kirk House residents, Dr. Mark Guy and Dr. Dan Holt, opened the North Side Christian Health Care Center. They treat people with cancer, addictions and mental illness, people who have been raped, people just out of prison looking for employment, and so on.
Todd knows he could practice medicine elsewhere, where he would make a lot more money and receive much more recognition. If he didn’t have the framework set for why he wants to help people as a doctor, he would be asking himself, “Why am I doing this?” He would have given up by now.
But he continues because he knows why he’s doing this work in this place. By God’s grace, he is not burned out by the needs and the situations he sees. And he is doing what he always hoped to do: helping people.