Boone Rural Family Medicine Residency
Molly Benedum, MD, is a board-certified family physician and directs the MAHEC Rural Family Medicine Residency Program in Boone. She provides comprehensive primary care from cradle to grave including newborn and pediatric care and inpatient hospital care. Her clinical interests include women's health, adolescent medicine, integrative medicine, and care for vulnerable and underserved people. Her research and teaching interests include evidence-based medicine and wellness and burnout in the clinical learning environment.
Molly is passionate about teaching the next generation of excellent primary care physicians to serve the Carolinas and has won several teaching awards during her career including an Outstanding Service Award from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville.
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology magna cum laude from Furman University and went on to earn her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Benedum completed her family medicine residency at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. She is a graduate of the UNC Faculty Development Fellowship and the National Institute for Program Director Development Fellowship.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she moved to Winston-Salem in grade school. In her spare time, Molly and her husband Joe enjoy playing with their rescue pup Agnes, cooking, and traveling.
David Brendle, DO, earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from the UNC Charlotte where he also ran cross country and track. It was in college that he became more interested in health and wellness. This led David to Appalachian State University where he earned a masters in exercise science. Eventually, he made his way to Baltimore, where he worked for the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at the University of Maryland. Much of the research he was involved in pertained to managing comorbidities with diet, exercise, and other lifestyle modifications. David's work there solidified his interest in pursuing a career in medicine. He decided to attend the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine because he identified with the tenets of osteopathic medicine that include treating the person, not the disease, and the understanding the body is a unit of mind, body, and spirit.
After medical school, Dr. Brendle returned to Charlotte to be closer to friends and family and to attend Carolinas Medical Center for his family medicine residency, which is where he met his wife Torre Hinnant, MD. After completing their residency, David and Torre moved to Lenoir and practiced both inpatient and outpatient medicine before moving to Boone in 2016.
Dr. Brendle's medical interests include sports medicine, osteopathic manipulation, and in-office procedures as well as managing chronic conditions. He loves working with premed and medical students and looks forward to working with MAHEC family medicine residents. Outside of the office, David enjoys outdoor activities including road biking, mountain biking, cyclocross, climbing, running, hiking, and skiing. He's also trying to improve his yoga practice—stay tuned!
I was raised in Eastern North Carolina and had the opportunity to attend Appalachian State University on a volleyball scholarship. It was during my time at App State that I fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains and the community that surrounds them. I have been blessed to call Western North Carolina home for the past seven years.
I chose family medicine because I value the relationships that develop through continuity of care. I love getting to know my patients and their families over time, understanding what matters most to them, and being there through all stages of life. I believe that building strong, trusting relationships with patients allows us to provide better care—not just treating a diagnosis, but caring for the whole person.
My clinical interests include women’s health, prenatal care, point-of-care ultrasound, pediatrics, addiction medicine, and caring for older adults. Outside of medicine, I enjoy staying active, hiking with my husband and our Goldendoodle, playing dress-up with our three-year-old daughter, and spending quality time with friends and family. I feel incredibly fortunate to live, work, and raise my family in the mountains I have come to love so much.
Hello! My name is Connor Brunson. I have spent my life in a slow loop starting in Bluff City, Tennessee, stretching down to Columbia, South Carolina, back up through Greenville, and now, thankfully, landing in Boone.
I started my career studying Public Health and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina. Upon graduation, I worked as a bagel baker, a nude art model, a middle school teacher, an EMT, and as an advocate for the creative sphere and an organizer of inclusive community spaces. Living and learning in South Carolina helped me reach a more complete understanding of racial and economic inequality, particularly in medicine, and I eventually realized that small communities, like my hometown, have a large part to play in righting the wrongs of our society.
My creative work (songwriting, short fiction, poetry) as well as my philosophic wanderings (Taoism, Stoicism, Narrative Medicine) led me to understand the tangible power of emotional healing and mindfulness. I believe that modern rural America is in great need of gentle, compassionate, full-person care, and I think that family physicians are in a unique position to provide that care. I am proud to be part of the process.
I am a dedicated family medicine physician eager to serve the High Country community. My wife, a local pharmacist, and I moved to Boone after I completed my residency at MAHEC Asheville in 2024. From the beginning of medical training, I felt a strong calling to provide primary care in rural parts of North Carolina. My journey included a Family Medicine fast track with a focus on rural healthcare, which brought me to Western North Carolina for specialized training.
Now, I am thrilled to provide comprehensive patient care through outpatient primary care, inpatient hospital medicine, and obstetrics. I have also joined Boone’s expanding rural family medicine residency program as a faculty member. My particular medical interests include addiction medicine, hepatitis C treatment, and group prenatal care. Beyond my medical practice, my Christian faith guides daily life, marriage, and a compassionate approach to patient care and community relationships. In free time, you may find me on the pickleball court or cheering on my favorite college sports teams, the Tennessee Vols and UNC Tar Heels.
Dr. Magner earned his MD in 2015 from Augusta University - University of Georgia Medical Partnership in Athens, GA. He completed his residency at Oregon Health and Sciences University - Cascades East Family Medicine, focusing on rural Family Medicine.
Dr. Magner has experience practicing in rural/resource-limited settings internationally in Guatemala, Peru, Ghana, and in the Pacific Northwest and Southeastern United States. His clinical work has been focused in the emergency department, inpatient service, and outpatient clinic. In addition to clinical practice, he has a passion for teaching and has been faculty at both undergraduate and graduate levels of medical education. As core faculty at App Family Medicine/Elk River Medical Associates, he is excited to help educate the next generation of full-spectrum rural Family Medicine doctors.
In his free time, Dr. Magner loves spending time with his wife and two children, exploring roads/trails on bikes, snowboarding, playing old time tunes, film, and photography.
I am a family medicine physician trained in full-spectrum patient care. I have a passion for teaching and hospital medicine, which is why I am excited to be inpatient faculty for AppFamily. I believe in whole patient care and a collaborative approach to medicine. Outside of work, you can find me enjoying time with family, gardening, and enjoying all the outdoor activities Boone has to offer.
My name is Caleb Smith and I am excited to be practicing in the high country! I grew up at the foot of the mountains in rural Stokes County. I moved to Asheville for undergraduate studies in chemistry and to participate in cross country and track. I met my wonderful wife there and we then moved to Chapel Hill for medical school and residency. I am excited to be back in the mountains with my wife and son.
My clinical interests include maternal-child health, procedural care, addiction medicine, and point-of-care ultrasound. I look forward to providing prenatal care, pediatric care, and preventative care to a rural community similar to the one I grew up in. When I am not working, I enjoy long-distance running and hiking with my family as well as cooking and traveling whenever I get the chance.
Charles Baker, MD, has been a full-scope family physician for more than 40 years, delivering more than 2,000 babies in the High Country of Avery County.
He earned his undergraduate degree at Davidson College and then attended medical school at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Baker interrupted his residency training for three years, spending two on the Sioux Indian reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota and another year in an inner-city clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Those three years earned him the distinction of being the last of the “grandfathers” - fully certified family physicians who had not finished their residency. Dr. Baker completed his residency in pediatrics at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital in 1979 and then opened a solo practice in the High Hountry where he was double-boarded in pediatrics and family practice. He and his wife Ann raised their three children here and helped them launch careers all over the world in veterinary medicine, international development, and counseling.
Dr. Baker loves mentoring medical students, and teaching has been a meaningful part of his career. His Linville practice has been a full-time teaching site for UNC medical students for more than 30 years and is one of only five sites in North Carolina designated as a gold teaching practice. He has trained students during all four years of their medical school experience and has precepted MAHEC residents for many years. Dr. Baker is thrilled to support the new MAHEC Rural Family Medicine Residency in Boone as he moves into retirement from private practice. He looks forward to teaching residents the importance of delivering “hands on” care and remembering to stop and smell the roses.
Dr. Chris Bullers grew up in Hickory, North Carolina. He attended Catawba College as an undergraduate, and after working for several years in the pharmaceutical industry, completed medical school at The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. After finishing his family medicine residency at Wake Forest University, he capped his medical training with a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
He then returned to Wake Forest University to become part of the family medicine clinical faculty and Winston Salem State team physician. During this time, he was also the principal investigator of the Winston Salem State arm of the NCAA-Department of Defense Concussion, Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium nationwide project to further define the clinical and neurobiological natural history of concussive injury and recovery. He has been included in several publications stemming from this ongoing research.
In 2017, Dr. Bullers climbed the mountain to join the AppOrtho team of the Appalachian Regional Medical System (ARHS) in Boone, NC. At that time, he was part of the vision to build a new academic center to educate future primary care and sports medicine physicians. After helping to start the family medicine residency at ARHS, he continues regular didactics with the residents as well as directing their orthopedic clinical experience. He currently serves as medical director and team physician for Appalachian State University athletics and helps to provide for the sports medicine needs of Watauga and Avery counties. This includes varied youth activities ranging from all sanctioned school sports to skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, dance and the many other unique opportunities that the mountains provide. Several mass events are overseen yearly including 2 large (80+ team) weekend soccer tournaments hosted by High Country Soccer, and Heart of a Pioneer, a mass preparticipation physical event including EKG and concussion screening for the county middle and high school athletes.
Professionally, Dr. Bullers’ interests include nonsurgical musculoskeletal care, injury prevention, concussion management, nonsurgical procedures including biologics and tenotomy, diagnostic and interventional ultrasound, and overuse injuries.
Dr. Bullers enjoys all outdoor activities especially when they involve his wife and two boys. They are constantly exploring all the high country has to offer and finding new fun every weekend they can. He tries to “practice what he preaches” when it comes to exercise and leading a healthy lifestyle.
Dr. Hondros completed his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended medical school at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine on a full Academic Scholarship. He completed residency training at the former Carolinas Medical Center (now Atrium) Family Medicine Residency Program, where he served as chief resident. For the past 20+ years, he has practiced Family Medicine in Matthews, NC. He has also been a state family medicine leader under the NC Academy of Family Physicians, where he served as their 2022 state President.
Dr. Hondros continues to regularly precept both medical students and residents at the MAHEC Boone Rural Family Medicine Residency Program. His passions include student initiatives, student/resident engagement, and growing future mentors/preceptors in the area. His free time involves spending time with his wife and three children, hiking, fishing, and volunteering at a local free clinic.
