Dr. Pierson’s essence is captured in her personal motto, “teaching  health to others."  Some call her Florence Nightingale because she is a passionate and caring person, always seeking ways to improve the health of others. From the tender age of 5 she knew she wanted to become a doctor. She loved helping people. By the time she was 15 she was working in a country doctor's practice.  After graduating from nursing school, she was back at the doctor’s working but quickly decided to return to school to become a physician.

Dr. Pierson loved children and decided that pediatrics was her true calling.  About ten years into her medical career she began to notice more and more children with increased weight and type 2 diabetes. By 1995, she heard an inner alarm ringing. After extensive research and study, Dr. Pierson came to understand that the increase in children’s weight was the emerging health crisis of the 21st century. 

Following several years of careful planning, she opened the first privately held pediatric weight loss practice in Kansas and Missouri: Fit Kids-Fit Families. Her advanced approach to childhood obesity included a pediatric fitness center in her medical practice. As she watched her own patients struggling with weight problems, there was no doubt in her mind that better treatment options needed to exist. Emerging research was also pointing to the gravity of the situation.

In  2000, Dr. Pierson began clinical trial work with obese adults who have type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and dyslipidemia; since that time she has included adults in her bariatric practice.

Dr. Pierson loves life, children and the practice of medicine. Her passion is contagious and everyone around her is inspired to look for ways to promote health. Spend just a few minutes with her and you’ll be repeating, “Eat your 5 a day…drink your water…take the steps!”

Claudia Darnell, EdD

Working in the health field was not something Dr. Darnell saw in her future.  As a long time public school official, her relationship with the medical world was limited to making sure students had a doctor’s note to excuse an absence. That changed abruptly when a mutual friend introduced her to Dr. Pierson.

The years spent in academia proved to be a solid groundwork for her new career. In the medical world, she wears many of the same hats: teaching, facilitating, nurturing and promoting decision-making. The solutions are readlly available, but coming to terms with the cold hard facts isn’t always easy.

"The joy, smiles and renewed spirit that emerges when kids and adults begin to move into a healthy lifestyle are my reward. It’s the incremental changes patients make that let us know that we make a difference."

Dr. Darnell knows first-hand that obesity issues can be difficult for patients to confront. She regularly discusses obesity, lifestyle changes and healthy behaviors with family members in a friendly, honest and respectful way. Although many of her own family are obese, Dr. Darnell is not. It is her resolve to lead by example and believes this helps the patients better understand something as simple—and complicated—as living a healthy lifestyle.

There is nothing else she would rather do than leading the charge to healthy living by fighting obesity. Giving children and adults new hope for a healthier life improves self-esteem and promotes better health and increased opportunities for brighter futures. The essence of teaching is to give, to promote growth and to instill awareness and self-reflection. Dr. Darnell lives these values every day.