Todd Spencer left a secure Department of Defense career to help his physician wife and young family build a life in Grand Rapids. Years later, he made the family-first choice again—and found a new career in real estate. Todd joins Zoe Taylor to talk physician-spouse identity, burnout, community, and what medical families should really consider before choosing where to live.
Todd Spencer spent roughly 15 years in the Department of Defense before medicine changed the trajectory of his own career. He met his wife, Amy, while she was in general surgery residency at Detroit Medical Center. Through seven years of residency and research, a surgical ICU fellowship, young children, Q3 call, daycare illnesses, and two demanding careers, Todd often became the parent whose work had to flex when medicine could not.
In 2014, the family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Amy became an attending general surgeon and burn surgeon. Todd left the security and benefits of federal employment to prioritize their children and family life—a move that also forced him to rethink his professional identity. He later returned to remote defense work, but when the job required a return to Detroit, he chose Grand Rapids and his family again. That second pivot eventually led him into real estate.
Todd and Zoe unpack what physician-family relocation really looks like when the spouse is also sacrificing a career, why community doesn't automatically appear after a move, and how stress from medicine can spill into the home. Todd shares what helped his family recognize and respond when Amy's stress began manifesting physically, including listening without trying to fix everything, creating space to decompress, movement, mindfulness, reading, and time with colleagues.
They also get practical about Grand Rapids: the flexibility to live in a walkable neighborhood or a rural setting while maintaining a manageable hospital commute, the draw of East Grand Rapids and Reeds Lake, easy access to Lake Michigan, and why medical families should be honest about the lifestyle they want before narrowing their home search.
Todd Spencer is a licensed real estate agent with Paul Bunce Real Estate in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Before entering real estate, Todd studied engineering and spent years working in the Department of Defense. He is married to Amy, an attending general surgeon and burn surgeon, and has experienced the physician-family journey firsthand—from residency and fellowship to raising young children, relocation, career sacrifice, attending life, and building community in a new city.
After relocating from Metro Detroit to Grand Rapids in 2014, Todd stepped away from federal service to prioritize his family. Today, he brings that lived experience and an engineer’s detail-oriented mindset to helping families make housing decisions that fit the life they actually want to build.
The Moving Medicine Podcast is a space for physicians and physician spouses navigating relocation—not as a transaction, but as a life transition. Hosted by Zoe Taylor, founder of Moving Medicine Partners, the show centers the human side of medical moves and offers clarity, grounding, and shared understanding for families at every stage of the journey.
Zoe Taylor is the founder of Moving Medicine Partners and a real estate agent based in St. Louis who has sat at that kitchen table herself. Through her work supporting medical families across the country, Zoe has seen the unseen labor of relocation up close—and built this podcast to make sure no one has to navigate it feeling invisible, rushed, or alone.