Hometown: Miami, FL
Education: Lee University (B.S.), University of Miami Miller School of Medicine (MD), University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health (MPH, International Health)
Favorite Sports Team: Miami Hurricanes (The “U”)
Favorite Movie: Chariots of Fire, Star Wars, James Bond 007, Out of Africa
Favorite Music: 80’s Rock, Chicago, The Eagles; Piano Guys; Lauren Daigle, Sarah Groves, Jars of Clay
Favorite/Most Influential Books: The Bible; All Things New and Journey of Desire (Eldredge); Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Metaxas); Radical (Platt); Insanity of God (Ripken); Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis); Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
I grew up in Miami, Florida which I consider to be my foundational cross-cultural life experience. Little did I realize how much being raised in such diversity would inform the rest of my life. I always wanted to be a doctor, but the calling to medicine was solidified after almost losing my life in an accident at age 19. In medical school at the University of Miami (The U, Go Canes!), I found Family Medicine challenging and incredibly satisfying with its ongoing relationships and whole person focus. After graduation, I pursued residency training at Medical Center East in Birmingham, one of the most rewarding, maturing, and joyful times of my life. Being the daughter of two lifetime educators made the decision to move toward medical education inevitable. I joined the faculty at my residency alma mater, eventually serving as the Associate Program Director and Inpatient Medicine Coordinator for 25 years.
Three months after graduating from residency, I went to Romania on my first medical mission trip. There, God revealed my real purpose in medicine: to be used by Him through serving, teaching, healing, and mentoring young physicians both in the US and overseas. Fifty countries and thirty years later, my passion and calling for serving God in this way has never wavered. In 2009-2010, I moved to Central Asia to become a faculty member at a FM Residency program. During that time, I also participated in starting a second FM training site. I was frequently tasked with running the entire adult inpatient service as well as the small intensive care unit at the hospital. The opportunity and experience in this war-torn country was daunting, amazing, overwhelming, beautiful, and gut-wrenching, all at the same time. It was the most significant decision in my life; leaving everything and everyone to live out a calling much greater than my abilities. I have been forever changed by that time, the people I met, the sorrows I observed and many I ultimately faced myself. In all such struggles, joy and grief are interwoven and cannot be uncoupled without devaluing the process.
In 2020, I embarked upon a new calling, becoming the Founding Program Director at GRMC Family Medicine Residency. It was an unsought prospect, an awesome privilege and now a welcome challenge. Having the opportunity to lead, learn, serve, and guide the next generation of physicians is immensely fulfilling. The lifelong relationships I have built with former residents, now outstanding young physicians throughout the nation, are my greatest reward. Now, at GRMC FMR alongside a stellar group of faculty physicians and staff, I am incredibly blessed to be directing this effort. Truly, I am the product of all the outstanding physician mentors, partners, and friends I have worked with over my career and a gracious, loving God who has walked with me all the way. Over these years, being a small part of His process remains both priceless and humbling.