College of Medicine

My wife Rebecca and I grew up in Kenya and have enjoyed the most fulfilling and exciting journey during over 24 years of marriage. We are blessed with two (now adult!) daughters, Sheena and Shalom. I deeply enjoy reading, travelling with my family, and running. My daily personal mission is to become a better version of myself in my faith, my work and as a husband and father. I have served as family medicine faculty since 2006, and been with our program since its inception in 2012. We have an excellent team of faculty, residents and clinic staff who serve our patients with dedication. It is my honor to serve and to achieve our mission of developing world class family physicians.

I am a native South Floridian, and as such I am allergic to snow and ice. In addition to the unbeatable SW Florida sunshine and palm trees, I chose to join FSU Family Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health as a founding faculty member because I value the mission to train well rounded family physicians who care for and care about the community in which we live. Our program’s greatest asset is the amazing residents we train here, who embody that mission. Fort Myers has been a great home to raise my family. My favorite weekends are relaxing at the beach or pool with my husband and son, caring for our 3 dogs, chickens, and other animals, and exploring new restaurants (or music festivals, art walk, and shows). We have a standing date night taking ballroom dance lessons and I have decreased my number of left feet from 3 to 2 in Argentine Tango, East Coast Swing, and Bachata.

When I was deciding where to do my residency I chose this program because it was a unique unopposed program with all the resources of Florida State University and an incredible faculty who were genuinely excited to train residents. After my 3 years here I truly felt that this residency program gave me an excellent foundation and prepared me for my Fellowship in Global Health where I spent time in Honduras, Nicaragua and Papua New Guinea working at hospitals and clinics. I had no idea when I first came here that I would come to love the program and Fort Myers so much that I would call this my home and join the faculty myself, but I couldn’t imagine somewhere else I’d rather be. My wife Kelsey and I are the proud parents to our two sons Leo and Houston, our daughter Sunday and our dog Rocket. We love living in Fort Myers, there are lots of young families and things to do all year round. We enjoy volunteering at our church and exploring all the things that Fort Myers and the surrounding area has to offer.

I was born and raised in Miami, FL. I am a proud alumna of Florida State University where I attended undergraduate and medical school. I attended FSU College of Medicine because of its dedication to training primary care physicians to serve the underserved in the state of Florida. I am ecstatic to be doing just that in Southwest Florida and even more elated that I get to do so while also serving as a faculty member of the institution that I love so dearly. In my free time, I enjoy beating my husband in video games, all things Harry Potter, going to Disney World, and spending time with our two young children. I am also a babywearing educator and an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

I was drawn to family medicine by its focus on the whole person and its ability to impact communities. My practice experience spans rural community health centers, multispecialty practice and direct primary care, as well as academic practice since 2007. I am committed to helping residents in considering various practice models as they search for the best fit for their future practice. When not working, I enjoy directing my creative energies in acrylic paint and in writing, plying the backwaters of SW Florida waterways in my kayak, and beachcombing with my wife and our two daughters.

I love to travel throughout the US and abroad and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity of living in varied areas of the country over the years. My husband and I completed medical school in Bradenton, FL, and after some exploring, we decided that there’s no place like Florida. I signed on as a faculty physician at the FSU Family Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health in 2017, and I consider it an honor to have an integral role in training and leading resident physicians while serving a diverse patient population. I particularly enjoy helping residents recognize and develop their personal strengths and am grateful to be a part of each resident’s professional journey. Our residents are amazing! Our program has recently been developing a Lifestyle Medicine track, which I find to be an exciting and inspiring re-focus on overall health and wellness. While striving to live each day to the fullest, I especially enjoy outdoor adventures, yoga, cooking/discovering/eating delectable foods, music, and fun adventures with my husband, son, and daughter.

I was born in Lima, Peru and lived in Miami, FL since I was 14 years old. I joined the program on October 2017 and my role is to provide clinical services working side-by-side with residents and faculty. I completed post-graduate training in health and primary care psychology. I chose to join FSU Family Medicine Program at Lee Health as I am excited about the future of integrated care and bridging gaps in behavioral medicine for underserved populations. I am passionate about multicultural issues and health disparities. I enjoy spending time with my family at the beach like a good Floridian! I also enjoy concerts, live music and painting. Fort Myers has opportunities for many activities and has been a great place to call home.

It has been a wonderful journey in my career to be part of creating the FSU Family Medicine Residency at Lee Health from the beginning. Our program is dedicated to our residents and holds training as our priority. Throughout my training and career I have been committed to working with underserved communities, providing culturally appropriate/responsive healthcare, addressing health disparities/inequities, and multicultural psychology. Working with our residents in developing these perspectives into patient care has been the most exciting experience. While always a New Yorker at heart, I love the Florida weather and lifestyle. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, traveling, dancing, working out, and supporting my NY sports team; when not going to the gym.

I am very passionate about medical education. It is truly a pleasure to see bright young minds trained to become great caring physicians. I realized very early in my career that I could treat only a limited number of patients, but by training many physicians they will go on to treat many many more patients. Being born in a developing country (Sri Lanka), it was providence that I was able to get into medical school and the best I could do in return is to serve others. After living and practicing in the state of connecticut for 45 years, my wife and I have chosen Fort Myers for the weather, very friendly people and of course the opportunity to continue my teaching at the Family Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health. With the help of my friends I manage a charity to help the developing countries with health care infrastructure development, education and community development.

Although I was born and raised in a suburb outside Atlanta, I have always been drawn to the ocean. The ebb and flow of the waves is a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. My husband and I made SW Florida our home in 2009 and I joined the Family Medicine Residency Program at Lee Health exclusively in 2017 (after 3 years of dividing my time between the Lee Health Pharmacy Department and the Residency Program). Being part of such a worldclass program has been an awesome privilege, not only providing me with inpatient, outpatient, and teaching opportunities, but also the honor of working with a fantastic group of co-workers! My husband, Greg, and our 2 daughters, enjoy spending our free time on the boat and frequenting the fantastic beachside resorts in the area.

Although I was born in Venezuela, I grew up in Oklahoma before moving to the great state of Minnesota, where I completed my residency in Family Medicine. While there, I explored my budding interest in global health and decided to move to Florida to complete a Global Health Fellowship here at FSU/Lee Health. One could say I traded tornadoes for cold winters and cold winters for humidity and hurricanes. My education and training has afforded me the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua, Japan, Nepal, and Honduras, for which I am eternally grateful. Global Health is such a broad and wonderful field that truly encapsulates my passion for working with underserved and immigrant populations, teaching, traveling, and eating new and interesting food. In addition to working as a family doc, I enjoy reading broadly, running, eating various foods, yoga/meditation, spending quality time with my loved ones, and unstructured dilly dally time.