5 things to know about Cincinnati's Brad Wenstrup, who helped treat fellow congressman after shooting

Cincinnati's Brad Wenstrup rushed to aid fellow congressman Steve Scalise after he had been shot on a baseball field near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning. 

Wenstrup's act of heroism came as no surprise to those who know the 58-year-old podiatrist best. 

Here are five things you should know about Wenstrup, now in his third term in Congress:

1. He's not forgotten where he's from.

Wenstrup grew up in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Hyde Park and comes from a long line of St. Xavier High School graduates in his family, including his father, Jack, and younger brother, Jay. Last year, Wenstrup hosted the St. Xavier rugby team on Capitol Hill. Wenstrup received his degree in psychology at the University of Cincinnati and went onto obtain his master's and medical degrees from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, Illinois. He then returned home to Cincinnati in the late 1980s and started his own podiatry practice in the Carew Tower Downtown. After 15 years there, Wenstrup joined Wellington Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine. He now lives in Columbia Tusculum, a Cincinnati neighborhood.

2. Wenstrup joined the military in 1998.

About a decade into his medical career, Wenstrup decided to join the U.S. Army Reserve. His sister had been diagnosed with leukemia, and Wenstrup was a match for a bone-morrow transplant. It saved her life. The experience prompted Wenstrup to do more to help people. "Time was ticking by, and I thought, 'I'm not getting any younger.' I wanted to serve, so one day I just called 1-800-USA-ARMY and joined," he once told UC's alumni magazine. 

3. The Enquirer helped make him known.

In December 2006, hit medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" was in its third season on ABC and "Dr. McDreamy" (actor Patrick Dempsey) was one of television's leading men. It prompted former Enquirer TV reporter John Kiesewetter to ask readers to submit names of local doctors who they believed was Cincinnati's version of "Dr. McDreamy." A reader submitted Wenstrup's name, propelling the then-bachelor into the public's eye for the first time. Wenstrup, who some believe bears a resemblance to actor George Clooney, got married in 2012 during his first congressional campaign.

4. Cincinnati's streetcar helped Wenstrup build a political brand, name ID.

Wenstrup took his first crack at politics in 2009, when he ran for Cincinnati mayor against well-known incumbent Mark Mallory. Then 50, Wenstrup launched his campaign in full attack mode on Mallory's streetcar proposal. Wenstrup called the proposal "hugely irresponsible and poorly planned" during his campaign launch event.  "I worry, about an unused streetcar named Debt," Wenstrup said. He made a surprisingly strong showing for an unknown candidate, losing by 9 percentage points. The race helped him build name recognition and earned him credibility with streetcar-loathing fiscal conservatives. Many of those same folks, including tea party members, backed Wenstrup in his congressional race against Jean Schmidt in 2012. By the way, the GOP hasn't had a candidate in a Cincinnati mayor's race since.

5. He worked in a notorious Iraqi prison.

Wenstrup was called to active duty in 2005, and served 14 months as the chief surgeon at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison hospital. He told The Enquirer in 2012 that witnessing the horrors of war and surviving them gave him a renewed sense of purpose. "I made it home while others didn't," Wenstrup said. "It gave me a greater appreciation of life and of freedom." He was awarded the Bronze Star and remains an active reservist as a colonel. The war influenced him to run for Congress. His close friend, 42-year-old U.S. Army Maj. John P. Pryor, was killed on Christmas Day 2008 in Iraq. Pryor was a combat medic. "He was really an inspiration for me to do more with my life," Wenstrup said in 2012. "I thought about him during the mayor's race, and I thought about him during this race."

The Enquirer archives contributed to this report.