Our Team

I was born in Vancouver, BC, and spent most of my formative years among the wheat fields of Eastern Washington — with two six-month stays in Krems, Austria, where I attended a Bundesgymnasium, learned the local culture, and gained an affinity for and some skill playing football (what Americans call soccer). Growing up with some international exposure taught me early that humans don't all think alike — the way we approach the world is powerfully shaped by the people around us. In the words of the great Mark Twain: “Training- training is everything; training is all there is to a person. We speak of nature; it is folly; there is no such thing as nature; what we call by that misleading name is merely heredity and training. We have no thoughts of our own, no opinions of our own; they are transmitted to us, trained into us.”

After high school, I went to Vassar College, where I studied English literature and philosophy, fell in love with writing, played varsity soccer, and swam on the varsity swim team for two seasons. After graduating, I spent the next six years in New York City writing short stories, two novels, poetry, and essays — working in bars and restaurants to pay the bills. During that time, I met some remarkable doctors and some inspiring unhoused individuals who helped me realize that medicine was the right path for me.

I went back to school and ultimately landed at Boston University School of Medicine, which is attached to Boston Medical Center — an extraordinary teaching hospital where my passion for caring for underserved communities only grew. I earned both an MD and an MPH in Social and Behavioral Science there, which set me up to care for patients holistically: as individuals and as members of their communities.

Throughout all of this, running kept me grounded. I'd fallen in love with the sport in New York City as a member of North Brooklyn Runners (NBR), a free community running group in Brooklyn that showed me the power of building community through exercise. Once I arrived in Boston for medical school, inspired by what NBR had meant to me, I founded Forest Hills Runners (FHR) in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood in 2010. Sixteen years later, that group is still going strong. During those years I won a number of 5Ks and 10Ks in Boston and finished 100th overall at the Boston Marathon in 2014.

Through running — and through recovering from injuries in the pool — I also found my way into triathlon, competing at a high level from 2012 to 2018, racing the Ironman World Championships in 2014 and the Half-Ironman World Championships in 2018. My experience as both a varsity college athlete and a competitive adult endurance athlete has given me a strong foundation for helping patients live active, healthy lives — one of the most important things any of us can do for our long-term health.

After residency at the Group Health Cooperative/Kaiser Permanente Washington Family Medicine program in Seattle, I joined Kaiser Permanente Washington (KPWA) at their Kent, WA clinic, where I spent eight years focusing on underserved populations: individuals living with HIV, transgender and non-binary patients, and people navigating addiction. I also developed deep expertise in dermatology and sports medicine, serving as KPWA's South King County Dermatology champion and becoming a go-to provider for sports injury second opinions.

After 11 years with Kaiser Permanente, I found myself increasingly frustrated by a system that required seeing too many patients in too little time, with too little support. I knew there was a better way — one where patients had enough time to tell their stories and be seen as whole people, not just as a list of symptoms. That's what led me to Direct Primary Care (DPC). DPC allows me to spend 30–60 minutes with patients, offer same- and next-day appointments when needed, and — by removing insurance from the equation — help patients access medications, labs, and imaging at significantly lower costs. It's the kind of medicine I always wanted to practice.