Having finished her training in obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Carolita Heritage, originally from Marion County, is returning to practice medicine in Brookhaven.
Heritage was born to James and Marietta Yoder in Belize, Central America, where her family lived as missionaries. At a young age, she moved with her family from Belize to Kokomo, where her father established Yoder’s Heat & Air.
Heritage’s education began at her childhood home in Kokomo, where she and her five older siblings were homeschooled by her mother. After graduating from high school, she felt called to pursue medicine and began taking courses at Southwest Mississippi Community College in McComb. While at SMCC, she was introduced to the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program by her chemistry instructor and was accepted into the program. The program’s goal is to produce more homegrown physicians to counteract the health care crisis in rural Mississippi. To date, there are 64 scholars on scholarship with the program, along with 60 in their residency training.
In 2008, Heritage transferred from SMCC to Mississippi College, where she finished her Bachelor of Science degree in biology. She then completed medical school at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in 2015. Pursuing her passion for women’s health, she moved to Milwaukee, Wis., to continue her training at the Aurora Health Care Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program. Upon completion of her residency training, she moved to Brookhaven with her husband, Russell, and her puppy Milo.
Heritage is only the second physician in the rural physicians program to practice OBGYN. As of 2019, there are 41 physicians from the program providing primary care to rural Mississippi.
Heritage began working Aug. 1 at Brookhaven OBGYN Associates, providing obstetric and gynecologic care at the King’s Daughters Medical Center adjacent to her clinic.
