Courtesy photo Dr. Cassandra LaMarche, a 2013 Gladstone High School graduate and U.P. native, poses with some of the awards she recently received.

EAST LANSING — Dr. Cassandra LaMarche, a 2013 Gladstone High School graduate and U.P. native, is a 2025 graduate of the Henry Ford Providence Family Medicine Residency program in Southfield, Mich. LaMarche received several awards for her excellence as a physician including the 2025 Michigan Academy of Family Physician Resident of the Year award, which is given to only one resident physician in Michigan. She also received two awards from her residency program for her exemplary contributions to Advocacy and Scholarship.

LaMarche received the Advocacy Award for her volunteerism and advocacy work. She has volunteered with several free health clinics and food banks. LaMarche also volunteered her time educating middle schoolers about the dangers of tobacco use and educating pregnant people on pregnancy and lactation. In addition, LaMarche volunteered her time to train fellow medical professionals in advanced life support for obstetrics as an instructor and in several women’s health procedures. LaMarche advocates for her patients and her specialty through participation in committees at both the hospital and state levels and lobbying at the Michigan legislature.

LaMarche received the scholarship award for her contributions to research including working on three research projects and one quality improvement project, publishing a research paper as second author, and presenting her research at a conference.

LaMarche graduated from Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine in 2022 with her medical degree. LaMarche was accepted into medical school through the Early Assurance Opportunity, a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative aimed to improve healthcare disparities by providing deserving students from rural and disadvantaged areas a chance to enter medical school. Research shows that physicians who grow up in rural and underserved communities are much more likely to return to those communities and that patients prefer physicians who come from a similar background to their own. The program ensures that the medical field has a diverse group of doctors who come from a variety of backgrounds and aims to help alleviate healthcare disparities faced by both rural and urban communities.

LaMarche is continuing her education by pursuing a Family Medicine Obstetrics Fellowship in Tacoma, Wash. She will learn to perform C-sections and manage the medical needs of high-risk pregnancies and deliveries in anticipation of serving the needs of medically underserved areas.

LaMarche is the granddaughter of Soo Hill residents Richard and Diane LaMarche and former long-time Escanaba residents Lois Boydston and the late Jim Boydston. She is the daughter of former Gladstone residents Gary and Laura LaMarche. She is married to Blake Reynolds of Novi, Michigan.