Who is Dr. Daniel Bell?

Dan Bell was born and grew up in Ruidoso, a small resort town in New Mexico.

Bell joined the United States Navy when he was 19 years old and spent four and a half years on a guided missile destroyer based out of San Diego in the United States and the Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippine Islands.

After receiving an honorable discharge from the United States Navy, Bell began university training at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Early university courses included electron microscopy and tissue fixation techniques allowing Bell to get a job in the Anatomy Department at the University of New Mexico Medical School to help pay for his university training.

Attending university part time and working part time Bell co-authored six research articles published in scientific journals.

"I was 31 years old by the time I received my Bachelor of Science Degree. I had spent a lot of time with the doctors and professors at the medical school and the teaching hospital which was the Bernalillo County Trauma Center."

" I wanted to perform surgery but I was not excited about the lifestyle of the surgeons I knew. They had little private time to devote to family. If you are having a particularly bad day as a surgeon and you make the wrong call it can cost someone their life."

"At 31 years old I had matured enough to realize I didn't want that kind of responsibility. Podiatry appealed to me because podiatrists are primary care physicians that can perform major surgical procedures but the pressure of being the doctor in charge of a life or death situation is not in my job description. I like that."

From Albuquerque Bell moved to Des Moines, Iowa to begin post-graduate training in podiatry at the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery. After receiving his doctorate degree in podiatric medicine Dr. Bell moved back to Albuquerque, New Mexico to begin a podiatric surgical residency at the Veterans Administration Medical Center.

This residency included rotations and surgery at the Bernalillo County Medical Center in Albuquerque which is the only level one trauma center in the state. After successfully completing his surgical residency Dr. Bell responded to an ad for a podiatry practice offered for sale in Kamloops.

"Kamloops just looked like more of New Mexico to me. I was looking for forests, mountains, lakes, streams, rugged terrain. Prince George turned out to be the place I was looking for."

"I have looked at pictures of beautiful British Columbia since I was a small boy. Now that I live here I can say without hesitation that British Columbia has the most beautiful land in North America."

"People often ask me how I was able to deal with the drastic change in climate from New Mexico to Prince George. Although my home town of Ruidoso is only about 90 miles north of the Mexican border we have the southernmost major ski resort in the United States."

"Ski Apache is a major resort that reaches an elevation of 11,500 feet above sea level. The average snowfall is 183 inches per season. During the years I've been in Prince George they have gotten more snow in Ruidoso than we have gotten here."

"Do I get back home very often? My father lives in Arkansas, my mother lives in central Mexico, my brother lives in Oklahoma, and my daughter is in her second year of training at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I have no family remaining in the small town where I grew up. Prince George is home for me now."

Please contact Dan at 564-2992