That Ann Merkow, medical director of QuadMed, would make her mark in the field of health care shouldn’t come as a surprise. Her father, whose family emigrated from Slovakia to Milwaukee, was a beloved internal medicine physician at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, and her mother worked as a nurse.

Like her father, Merkow went to medical school, specializing in internal medicine. “I like that I can solve mysteries about people’s health, but I also value that my job allows me to build relationships,” Merkow says. “I get to be someone people can depend on when they have a problem.” She eventually took over her father’s practice in Waukesha, but as Merkow and her husband, Steven, began to grow their family, it was clear she needed to find a job that allowed her to prioritize motherhood alongside patient care.

In 1996, before having her fourth child, Merkow reached a crossroads. Quad, the printing and marketing company that owns Milwaukee Magazine, had begun its own health care network for employees, and Betty Quadracci’s brother-in-law Len Quadracci was launching the first QuadMed clinic in West Allis. He offered Merkow a more flexible job, and she has been providing health care at Quad ever since. “It was really innovative to say, ‘We want to take care of our employees and offer them quality care right here on site,’” Merkow says. In her nearly three-decade tenure, she’s cared for thousands of Quad employees and their families, including Betty Quadracci herself.

In her current role, Merkow oversees over 800 employees across the country. Yet she remains just as passionate about hands-on care as when she started. She still regularly sees patients at the West Allis clinic. Many of her patients are Quad retirees who are discouraged about the care they receive through Medicare. “They’ll tell me, ‘I know I can count on you to cover all the bases for me,’” she says.

Merkow also makes time to give back in her community beyond health care, serving on the boards of The Women’s Center in Waukesha and Waukesha County Community Foundation. “My parents taught me we all live in communities that help teach and guide us, and I see it as my job to give back to mine,” she says.

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