By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – Dr. Megan V. Bullard counts it a privilege to know many of her patients before they walk through the doors of Columbiana Clinic.

Bullard, 30, grew up in Columbiana and recently accepted an opportunity to come back and practice family medicine in her close-knit hometown.

“I absolutely love taking care of people I know,” Bullard said in a March 17 interview. “It’s been very rewarding to me just reconnecting with everyone. I’m very thankful that I could come back here.”

Bullard joined the clinic in September to practice alongside Dr. J. Scott Davidson (family medicine), Dr. Anthony P. Ciulla (family practice) and Dr. Rhonda L. Carter (internal medicine).

Bullard treats patients of all ages but has a special place in her heart for children.

“I love seeing kids,” she said. “I also have special interest in breastfeeding medicine. I love that as well.”

Bullard said two of her relatives are physicians, and one sparked her curiosity about rural and family medicine.

She then participated in Rural Health Scholars in high school, and said, “That made me more interested in doing primary care in a rural setting.”

Also, Bullard’s father, Dana Vansant, was a physical therapist in Columbiana.

Bullard graduated from Shelby County High School in 2003. She graduated from the University of Alabama in 2007, where she majored in chemistry and completed the Rural Medical Scholars program.

Bullard attended medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with an interest in practicing medicine in a rural area from the outset.

She finished her residency in Tuscaloosa in 2011 and started practicing in Muscle Shoals.

“That was a great opportunity,” Bullard said.

Nonetheless, Bullard felt a pull to return home. She called Columbiana Clinic, and a staff opening allowed her to join the practice in September 2015.

Bullard was a welcome addition to the clinic as a doctor who can treat patients from the time they are babies to their elderly years, Davidson said.

“Having another female in the group, it’s a good balance between males and females,” Davidson said. “It’s nice to have a hometown girl in the mix. She’s an asset to our practice.”

Bullard and her husband Matt, along with their daughters, Stella and Kate, live in Chelsea.