Lezlie Painovich

Painovich specifically helps students with skin care. She performs suture repairs, skin lesion removals, abscess drains, and toenail removals. However, with current experience as a family medical doctor, Painovich treats students with a wide variety of medical problems.

Since October of 2014, Painovich has been working at UHS as a primary care college health physician, as well as the coordinator of training for medical services. As the coordinator of training, Painovich teaches medical students and residents within the UHS department.

Painovich supervises medical students and residents nearly every day, but she also sees her own patients on a daily basis. “I love patient education,” Painovich says. Her training takes up about 25% of the work she does at UHS.

“Students are amazing to work with because, for the most part, they’re in the upswing of their lives, so it’s very positive. It feels like we’re all moving forwards,” Painovich says.

Painovich says she enjoys working in college health because she can teach students how to take care of themselves, and to teach them to be good consumers of health care.

She believes at UW-Madison, specifically, the health care system is phenomenal thanks to the work of UHS employees and all who have made an impact at UHS. Painovich explains that because of UHS’s reputation, based on multiple awards along with recognition as the number one college health service from 2016-2018 from the Princeton Review, she felt encouraged to apply for the position.

“The breadth of services we offer here is really unprecedented. I’m really proud of that,” Painovich said.

Painovich has worked in traditional family health since 1997. She is a part of the American Academy of Osteopathy, the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, and the American Osteopathic Association. Painovich is also a member of the Quality Management and Improvement Committee and UHS, and a family medicine representative for the medical Executive Committee at the Stoughton Hospital. In addition to working at UHS, she also works at St. Mary’s Dean Ventures in Evansville Dean Clinic, and enjoys both jobs thoroughly.

From working in family health, Painovich knows what happens when diseases go untreated, and she understands the importance of treating them as soon as possible. With so many departments, Painovich is sure all students will get treated.

She really stands for UHS’s model of care that restrict payments from students by including most UHS fees in student segregated fees. She says without having a co-pay she believes students are more likely to come in for help.

Because of the segregated fees, students don’t have to worry about paying for most services, which Painovich appreciates because it means she can continue to see patients.

Painovich stresses the importance of using just one primary care doctor per issue because that doctor can work with a student throughout their treatment, and that doctor will be able to see how the patient has changed over time.