Dr. Singleton is overwhelmed with gratitude, honor, and joy for having been named the recipient of the Distinguished Alumna 2023 award. She extends her deepest love and thanks for all who participated in the nomination, and to all those who feel she has made a significant positive impact and has had a medical career that exemplifies the School of Medicine’s legacy of excellence.
Dr. Singleton has always said two things throughout her medical career: 1.) Being a doctor is my greatest honor and privilege, and 2.) The University of New Mexico School of Medicine made it possible for me to achieve my dream and become a doctor.
Dr. Singleton was born and raised in Farmington, NM. A baby born 10 weeks premature, Shermann Samala Singleton (aka Sugar Singleton) began life with a fight. However, with her first breath, Sugar chose life and every breath after, she’s lived life with determination, perseverance, excellence, joy, and love. When Sugar was old enough to tell the world her dreams, she set her sights on becoming a doctor.
In 1994, Sugar graduated from UNM with a BS in biology. Only one month after starting medical school, when she felt she had all of her dreams in the palm of her hand, Sugar had a life-changing conversation with her mom. Since she had just learned how to do her first Pap smear, Sugar advised her mother to get a Pap. What started out as an excited young medical student sharing her newly learned knowledge and skills with her mom, her best friend and biggest support, ended in a tragic diagnosis of an aggressive metastatic cancer. No sooner than her dream of becoming a doctor had begun, Sugar had to make the heart-breaking decision to leave medical school in order to come home to care for her mother, who was given only 2-4 months to live. Sugar was devastated to walk away from her dream and devastated by her mom’s diagnosis.
Over the next 4 years, Sugar cared for her mother, worked the family business, and gave birth to her son, Mitchell. Then one night in 1999, Sugar was awakened by a voice inside of her that said, “What about me? What about my dream of becoming a doctor?” That voice led her to the UNM campus, where the School of Medicine welcomed Sugar back with open arms. Due to the circumstances, her family remained in Farmington, and Sugar commuted back and forth to school every week. There were many factors that made the dream seem impossible, but sometimes when the dream is big enough the facts don’t matter! For seven long years, Sugar drove 3 hours each way to attend medical school. During this time, she was blessed with her second child, a daughter, Mariah. Sugar remained integral in the family business and continued to care for her mother until 2004, when her mother passed after a valiant 10-year battle with cancer. For seven years, Sugar drove back and forth and kissed her babies goodnight over the telephone as her dream of becoming a doctor and serving her community slowly but surely became a reality.
In 2003, Dr. Singleton graduated at the top of her medical school class. She is a lifetime member of the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha. She was also on the Dean’s List and part of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Given her love for her hometown, Dr. Singleton was inspired to stay in New Mexico and complete her residency in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. From 2005-2006 she served as Chief Resident of the UNM Family and Community Medicine Department.
In 2006, Dr. Singleton joined San Juan Regional Medical Center, and has spent the last 17 years serving the Farmington community and surrounding cities as a Board-Certified Family Physician. In her earlier years, she enjoyed the blessings of providing care to generations of Aztec families during her time as Medical Director and physician at San Juan Health Partners Family Medicine Aztec Clinic. For more than a decade, she has touched the lives of many as a doctor and Medical Director for San Juan Regional Medical Center Urgent Care. She continues to offer a rural outreach clinic in Aztec, where she remains the only physician to offer multiple family medicine procedures, including being the only physician in San Juan County who does rubber band ligation of hemorrhoids.
Dr. Singleton remains a board member of the UNM Community Faculty Advisory Board and a Clinical Assistant Professor of the UNM Department of Family and Community Medicine. She continues to be a dedicated and supportive preceptor for UNM medical students, residents, and BA/MD students. In 2023, Dr. Singleton served as the co-coordinator for the BA/MD San Juan County program. From 2019-2021, she was a member of UNM’s Health Careers Opportunity Program Regional Advisory Council. Dr. Singleton also supports the endeavors of San Juan Regional Medical Center through her involvement with Governance Council, the Physician Advisory Committee, the Recruitment and Retention Committee, SJRMC’s Leadership Group, the Physician Engagement Committee, SJRMC’s Ethics Committee, the Medical Staff Quality Performance Improvement Committee, the Clinic Provider Advisory Committee, and the Primary Care Clinic Design Team. Dr. Singleton is a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and has served as the Vice President and Secretary Treasurer of the NM-AAFP. Her past involvements include being a part of the School of Medicine Rural Interdisciplinary Group (2000), an Officer of the UNM Women’s Health Interest Group (2000-2001), the San Juan County Representative for UNM-HSC Community Partners Advisory Committee (2006), the Family Medicine Representative for the UNM-HSC Graduate Medical Education (2005-2006), and the Resident Representative for the New Mexico Academy of Family Physicians (2005-2006).
Over the course of her medical profession, Dr. Singleton has had the honor of touching the lives of community members, patients, loved ones, and many New Mexicans in various other ways. Dr. Singleton was a member of the Board of Directors for Las Amigas de Nuevo Mexico (2005-2008), where she also served as Secretary for the board. She’s done many medical mission trips to Africa, bringing her love and care to the tribes of the Maasai through the Olmalaika Trust, and is now serving on the advisory board of the Olmalaika Trust. In 2018, she traveled to Puerto Rico to assist the victims and recovery efforts of Hurricane Maria.
Dr. Singleton had the distinguished honor of being the Keynote Speaker for the UNM School of Medicine’s White Coat Ceremony in 2019, and the thrill of throwing the first pitch at an Albuquerque Isotopes baseball game the same year. In 2021, she was featured as the Rural Practicing Alumni in the UNM Medicine Magazine.
Dr. Singleton is world-renowned Cellular Memory Expert, international speaker, and Facilitator of Dr. Sugar’s 3 Day Cellular Memory Release Experience, a women’s retreat that has been a life-changing experience for over a thousand professional women from all around the world. She is an inspirational speaker and the author of two best-selling books.
Currently, Dr. Singleton is focusing on new and innovative ways to give back to the community. While she still spends her days seeing patients at Urgent Care or at the Aztec outreach procedure clinic, she’s now incredibly excited to announce the opening of her new Medical Spa that will be one more avenue for total wellness to those who live in the San Juan Community.
Dr. Singleton continues to be an active skier, an adventurous scuba diver, and an international traveler. She also takes joy in watching her three brilliant, kind, and loving children, Mitchell (now 24), Mariah (now 21), and Malaya (now 16) grow into impactful young adults with big goals and big dreams.
Dr. Singleton is incredibly grateful to the UNM School of Medicine as well as her mentors Dr. Martha Mcgrew, Dr. Joseph Pope, Dr. Art Kaufman, Dr. Warren Heffron, Dr. Eve Espey and Dr. Elizabeth Baca.