03/24/2026
👨🏻⚕️Story time👨🏻⚕️
Family ties: How four brothers all became Intermountain physicians
Four of the six Johnson brothers share a unique bond — they are physicians for Intermountain Health, and outside of work, they share a passion for adventure sports.
Mike Johnson, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon at Intermountain Alta View Hospital/TOSH; Matthew Johnson, MD, is an anesthesiologist at LDS Hospital/TOSH; Dan Johnson, MD, is a radiologist at Intermountain Medical Center/LDS Hospital; and Ben Johnson, MD, is an anesthesiologist at LDS Hospital/TOSH.
The Johnson boys’ ties to Intermountain started early. After Mike, the eldest, was born in Boston, the others were born at Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital and LDS Hospital. They grew up in the Avenues in Salt Lake City. Mike, Matthew, Dan, and Ben all attended the University of Utah. Mike, Matthew, and Ben stayed at the U for medical school, while Dan went to Duke. (Two other brothers, Dave and Pete, went into business).
Practicing in the Salt Lake area as they do, the four brothers occasionally get to work together.
“I actually did the first case of my career with one of my brothers a year ago,” Dan said. “I think I was putting in a chest tube in at LDS Hospital, and Matt did the sedation.”
Ben recalled working with Matt once, but noted that since both are anesthesiologists, “If we are working a case together, someone is in big trouble.” As a surgeon, Mike regularly works with Ben or Matt at TOSH, where they sometimes have patients in common.
“I like when I work with Mike at TOSH,” Ben said. “The surgeon will see the patient first, and then I walk in an introduce myself and they do a double-take and kind of look at me like, ‘Are you guys …?’ Yeah, we’re brothers. It’s always cool when it hits them.”
“It’s kind of fun that we’re all in the same community,” Mike added. “Patients think it’s the coolest thing to have brothers taking care of them. It’s always fun to say, “And now my brother will be in to talk to you.”
The four all cite the same inspiration for going into medicine: Grandpa Newel. Newel Daines, their mother’s father, was a family practice doctor in Preston, Idaho, and spent two years as an Army doctor before going to anesthesia school in the 1950s. He practiced medicine in Logan for decades before retiring and serving as the mayor of Logan.
“Grandpa Newel inspired our interest in medicine and he was hard driving,” Ben said. “That laid the groundwork on both fronts, for us going hard on activities and for us going into medicine.”
Growing up, the Johnsons all skied and played football, basketball and baseball. Over the years, their interests shifted to endurance sports. While Mike focuses on cycling during the summer, Ben, Matt, and Dan all enjoy ultra running and compete in races like the Wasatch 100.
Outside of racing, they run in places like the Wind Rivers, the Teton Crest trail, and the Grand Canyon. Mike his ridden Point to Point in Park City multiple times, subjecting himself to a 75-mile mountain bike course with some 10,000 vertical feet of climbing.
During these adventures, their medical skills can come in handy. After Ben and Dan finished the Powderkeg skimo race at Brighton Ski Resort one year, they heard someone call for help in the parking lot. A crowd had gathered around another racer who was on the ground.
“He was essentially dead from cardiac arrest,” Dan said. “His heart wasn’t pumping.”
Ben cleared space and started CPR, resuscitating the man.
“We got him into an ambulance, and now he’s doing great,” Ben said. “He even raced Powderkeg again a few years later.”
“It was really cool to see my brother save that guy’s life,” Dan said.
That moment may represent the perfect blend of the Johnson brothers’ lifelong interests in medicine and adventure.
“My mom found an old writing assignment of mine from first grade,” Ben said. “It reads, ‘When I grow up I want to be an anesthesiologist at LDS Hospital.”
