It’s been a whirlwind finish to medical school for Elizabeth Garcia Creighton and Nick Felan, both students at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine’s Fort Collins Regional Medical Campus.
One week before learning the couple matched into residency programs at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, they welcomed their first baby, Nico. The couple, who married last year after meeting 10 years ago, carried Nico across the stage at last month's Match Day as graduating students announced where they’re headed next for training.
“We’re so excited for residency,” says Felan, who will spend the next several years honing his orthopedics skills while Garcia embarks on the final stretch of her journey of becoming a dermatologist. “And we’re excited to watch Nico grow up and to be near family again.”
As graduation approaches, the couple is reflecting on their journey and what they hope is in store as they continue toward their ultimate professional goals of becoming physicians.
Nick Felan, left, and Lizzie Garcia Creighton posing for a photo at their White Coat Ceremony in 2022. Photos courtesy of Lizzie Garcia Creighton.
‘The best years of my life’
Felan and Garcia met in 2015 while attending Lawrence University in Wisconsin. Both were winter athletes and had to be on campus during breaks when most other students went home or took vacations.
“Never would we have ever guessed this is where we would be 10 years later,” Garcia says. “I get goosebumps just thinking about it.”
However, both had a keen interest in pursuing medicine.
Garcia’s connection to medicine came in the form of her youngest sister, who has autism spectrum disorder, and with her own experience with Behçet's syndrome, a rare autoimmune vasculitis that can affect the skin.
“Having gone through that experience really did make me want to practice dermatology—there are so many conditions that dermatologists treat,” she says. “In addition to treating common conditions such as acne and eczema, there’s an opportunity to treat rare conditions. Being a patient and knowing what it’s like to experience that shaped my desire to help others in similar situations.”
“Training at Mayo will be a full-circle moment,” she adds. It was there that a rheumatologist finally diagnosed her with Behçet's after years of struggling with flare-ups during college.
For Felan, the journey started with sports. A lifelong athlete, he had his share of injuries, and so did his teammates and friends. In medical school and through his volunteer work, he fell in love with orthopedics.
“It started with managing my own injuries and then morphed into so much more,” he says.
Lizzie Garcia Creighton, left, and Nick Felan, right, in the operating room with a mentor while on rotation.
After undergrad, the two took a year off and worked and volunteered in health care clinics in Texas. It wasn’t guaranteed that they’d be admitted to the same medical school, but the couple hoped they’d end up at least a few hours from each other.
It felt like the universe was on their side when they both received calls that they had a place at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine.
Stars kept aligning throughout their four years of medical school and they’ve been able to share some of their biggest moments together, even scrubbing into a surgical case and working alongside each other.
“Having each other has been the best thing ever,” Felan says. “You have somebody who you can bounce ideas off, you can learn from, study with, and understands that sometimes you get stuck at the hospital for extra-long hours.”
In 2023, the couple got engaged on what was supposed to be a quiet mountain getaway to Telluride. Felan, however, had planned for several of their friends from school to be waiting at the restaurant after the proposal. When Felan and Garcia wed in Garcia’s hometown of Barcelona, Spain, in 2025, several made the journey to celebrate them.
“Medical school has really been some of the best years of my life,” Garcia says.
Medical school friends made the journey to Barcelona to celebrate the wedding of Nick Felan and Lizzie Garcia Creighton.
Lessons in parenthood
In some ways, medical school has prepared Garcia and Felan for parenthood.
The two agree that their training in the pediatric clinic taught them a lot, and they gained confidence about health issues to look out for. But even as extensive as their schooling has been, “There are still so many anxieties of being a parent that nothing can prepare you for,” Felan says.
Garcia also sees parenthood as a learning opportunity for her life in medicine.
“You come to truly realize what parents are feeling when they bring their baby in for medical care,” she says. “One of the things I’ve realized in the past few months is how much misinformation and fearmongering exists for new parents, especially regarding health. Now, having that experience myself, I feel like I’m better prepared to console and counsel parents in the future.”
Preparing for what’s next
In the coming months, the young family will move to Minnesota, where they’ll be close to family who can help take care of Nico while the duo dives into training — which they expect to be challenging, yet rewarding. Just as the past four years have been.
Luckily, Garcia and Felan say they consider themselves optimists, a helpful personality trait the two share, especially amid stressful schooling, starting a family, and preparing for residency.
“There are so many different stress tests along the way, like applying to medical school amid the pandemic, rigorous medical rotations, and board exams. Now, couples matching to residency,” Felan says.
“It’s all a journey, but we’ve been together for more than 10 years now, and that foundation makes a lot of things easier—like parenting. It’s genuinely fun. We try to make the best of every day and are beyond excited for our next adventure to start.”
