ALTUS - Maria Gove, M.D., has always been fascinated by the science of medicine and enjoys the human interaction of the physician-patient relationship. Her mother and brother are physicians, so she was exposed to medicine at an early age. As she grew older, she decided to make it her career.

Gove was raised in Phoenix and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. She attended medical school at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and completed her residency in both internal medicine and pediatrics at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Arizona. After graduation, Gove accepted a position as a hospitalist in Maryland, where she took care of patients in the hospital. In February she moved to Altus and joined the team of primary care physicians at Integris Altus Medical Clinic.

Helping people that otherwise wouldn't have been able to receive the care of a physician is one of the things that Gove likes most about being a physician. She's been on multiple mission trips to Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua and New Zealand where she provided health screenings and treatments for adults and children. “I love to combine travel and medicine,” Gove says. Most recently she went on a mission trip with a group from Altus to Rio Bravo, Mexico, in July 2006 where she saw patients in a free health clinic.

Gove married her husband Rob in January 2006. Rob is active duty Air Force and was recently stationed at Altus Air Force Base. Gove and her husband