Christine Zender, DO

About Christine

Dr. Zender is a board-certified Occupational and Environmental Medicine physician with experience as part of a Disaster Medical Assistance Team. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s executive pathway Occupational and Environmental Medicine residency program and has taught medical students as both clinical and academic faculty at Touro College of Montana.

Her path to medicine began with her own experience as a patient.
“I had open heart surgery for a congenital valve defect,” Dr. Zender said. “My life was saved by my heart surgeon, and that inspired me to help others through medicine.”

That experience continues to shape the way she cares for patients today. Dr. Zender understands that people often come to healthcare when they are hurting, worried, or unsure of what comes next. She believes a major part of healing is helping patients understand what is happening in their bodies and giving them the tools they need to recover.

“Patients are the ones that heal,” she said. “I just give them tools to heal.”
Dr. Zender is especially passionate about preventing illness and injuries among workers and the population as a whole. Her areas of interest include disaster medicine and planning, toxicological investigations, and osteopathic medicine for injured workers.

For people who may not be familiar with Occupational Health, Dr. Zender explains that it is a broad field focused on employee and community wellness, workplace safety, injury and illness prevention, rehabilitation services, health promotion, and industrial hygiene.

Occupational Medicine is the in-depth clinical side of that work. It includes prevention, urgent care, hazard investigations, and the diagnosis and management of work-related injuries and exposures.
Dr. Zender said she was drawn to Gillette because of the people, the peaceful environment, and the beauty of Wyoming.

“Gillette is peaceful, and the people are wonderful,” she said. “The views are picturesque, and Wyoming is a place one can immediately call home.”
She chose Campbell County Health because the organization’s vision aligned with her own passion for prevention, worker safety, and protecting the health of the community.

“The vision of CEO Matt Shahan and the rest of the chief executive team was completely in line with mine regarding prevention of injuries and protecting the Campbell County and Wyoming population,” Dr. Zender said. “The level of compassion and care at CCH was evident from the first day.”

Dr. Zender said she is excited to join CCH’s Occupational Health team because of the shared commitment to understanding workers, keeping them safe and healthy, and helping them prevent occupational injury and illness.

“What doesn’t excite me?” she said. “The entire collaboration regarding protecting workers and caring for the population as a whole is the most thrilling part.”

Through her work at CCH, Dr. Zender hopes to augment worker safety and injury prevention for the Gillette community and surrounding region.
“I want to help the worker population,” she said. “I want to make sure they are safe, and if they are injured, to ensure that their healing is a more seamless process.”

Dr. Zender looks forward to serving local employees, employers, and the broader community through compassionate care, clear communication, prevention, and practical support.