Kaia was born in downtown Chicago then spent most of her childhood in suburbia. Moving to Colorado in middle school enabled her to nurture a love for wandering through mountains, which she then disregarded when she moved to Minnesota to attend Macalester College. Kaia became a Minnesotan at heart, proud of the beautiful lakes and bike trails of her adopted home, as well as a long tradition of progressive politics and movements for social justice. She graduated from the University of Minnesota medical school after developing a passion for social medicine and cultivating interests in community-oriented primary care and, well, just about everything about family medicine. Along the way, Kaia has maintained a love of travel and adventure which took her to Estonia and East Africa, and which is now propelling her to Alaska. It should also be mentioned that Kaia was a huge Northern Exposure fan once upon a time and that played not a small role in her journey to AKFMR. North to the future!