Though originally from the Washington DC area, I am most recently from New England, via Ohio and Japan. I come from a family of teachers and was myself a professor of East Asian literatures before switching to a career in medicine. While this may seem like a drastic change of discipline, primary care offers me a perfect blend of the humanities and the sciences.
After deciding to pursue a medical career, I took a 2-year detour to study nutrition, with a view to becoming a doctor knowledgeable about both nutritional and pharmacological treatment modalities. My coursework in life cycle nutrition and community nutrition helped me to realize that I would like to serve both individual patients and entire communities, to build long-term relationships with patients of all ages, and to treat the doctor-patient relationship as a partnership. These notions, in turn, led me to identify family medicine as the perfect fit. In the past year, I have also worked as a certified nurse assistant (CNA) in a nursing home in order to learn more about older adults, an age group that I have a special interest in.
I am grateful for the chance to make connections in the Charlottesville community, develop mentoring relationships with students and faculty, and learn more about the important issues in primary care through the GSP. Some of my favorite topics include: health literacy, interprofessional team-based models of care, continuity of care, healthy aging, motivational interviewing, community outreach, nutrition, and preventive care.