Caitlin Downing

Dr. Caitlin Downing is a family medicine physician at New River Family Wellness in Jefferson. She grew up in Southbury, Connecticut, the daughter of a family physician. She spent afternoons and summers at her mother's practice watching firsthand what a lasting relationship with a community doctor could mean, an experience that convinced her early on that family medicine was the path for her.

After an all-girls high school, where she discovered a passion for music and the outdoors, Downing took a year off before college to live in the backcountry of the Rocky Mountains with the National Outdoor Leadership School. She then traveled to East Africa to climb Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro. She earned her bachelor's degree in music at Colorado College before returning home to Connecticut for medical school at the University of Connecticut, where she took part in the Urban Service Track and built a deep commitment to primary care.