CCO Campus Ministry

J. Todd Wahrenberger, M.D.

Todd Wahrenberger serves as the Medical Director for the North Side Christian Health Center, which he founded in 1995 with two fellow physicians and college friends, Mark Guy and Dan Holt. Both as an undergraduate at Gannon University 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.

Todd’s desire to start a Christian health care center in a medically under-served 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. As a medical student, Todd was mentored by a CCO staff member who connected him with Dr. David Hall. Seeing Dr. 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.
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 given to him by the CCO 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.

Transformed Lives