Meet Our Faculty

Growing up in New Baltimore, Michigan, as the son of two healthcare workers—a dentist who built enduring patient relationships over 40 years and a labor and delivery nurse known for her empathy and clinical expertise—I witnessed firsthand the dedication, purpose, and humility inherent in the healthcare profession. While I was encouraged to take any career path, I was inspired to pursue a career in medicine.

I received a degree in Biology from Kalamazoo College where I ran cross country and studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador, finding great community in both. My upbringing, my education in high school encompassing service to others and ultimately my experiences at Kalamazoo College regarding human rights, social justice, and diversity solidified my desire to practice medicine as a way to contribute to community, engage in people’s lives, and impact health while treating all people with dignity, respect and compassion. I attended Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and the Rural Physicians Program in Marquette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, then St. Mark’s Family Medicine Residency and FM OB Fellowship in Salt Lake City, Utah to complete my training as a Family Physician. In Salt Lake City, I found the ideal opportunity to engage in outdoor activities in the mountains with my family and provide primary care alongside exceptional colleagues at the Community Health Centers.

While studying in a remote area of the Amazon rain forest, I suffered a medical emergency that involved medevac by canoe, jeep and finally by foot. While disoriented by fever and dehydration, I struggled to understand in my second language, Spanish, as others attended to my health and I, without a friend or family, was all alone. Memories of that moment heavily influenced by career choices and I think of them still as I see patients every day who are in a new country, far from home, with little or no family, who speak little English, and have limited financial resources including no health insurance, all while received complex medical care. I see the similarities in how, just a few short generations ago, my own grandparents immigrated to the United States from across the world in search of opportunity, education and safety for their families. In conjunction with my colleagues at the CHC, I offer these individuals culturally-relevant, language-appropriate (in Spanish or by way of interpretation services any language), high-quality, evidence-based, patient-centered primary care without imposing financial barriers. We help them navigate the healthcare system with a focus on social determinants of health. I have been fortunate to share in their lives as their families grow and to offer comfort in times of loss.

One of the great joys in my professional life is sharing the knowledge that has been shared with me in teaching medical students, advance practice clinician students and resident physicians to practice medicine in a medically-underserved community in a thoughtful, cost-effective, evidence-based and still patient-focused manner. In creating the Teaching Health Center Family Medicine Residency, I can continue to work with my exceptional colleagues at the CHC and to train new physicians to provide quality healthcare in a medically-underserved community like we do.

I grew up in New Jersey, though sadly don't have much of an accent anymore. After studying religion and biochemistry at Dartmouth College, I spent a year as an AmeriCorps volunteer in a remote town in western Alaska; the family physicians I met there kindled my own dreams of becoming a rural physician.

From Alaska, I then attended medical school at Duke University, and also spent a year studying medicine and theology at the Duke Divinity School. My wife – an obstetrician-gynecologist – and I moved to Utah for residency, drawn by the exceptional training programs, as well as the beauty of the mountain west. As a resident, the Community Health Centers (CHC) attendings who trained me inspired a passion for maternal-child health, which led me to complete a family medicine obstetrics fellowship.

After fellowship, a National Health Service Corps Scholarship led me to the Blackfeet Reservation in western Montana. This was a stimulating first job out of residency, where family physicians did everything from running codes in the emergency department, to performing Cesarean sections, to managing a busy inpatient service, all while enjoying Glacier National Park in our backyard. Yet, I missed my colleagues, friends, and patients at CHC and thus returned to Salt Lake City in 2013, where a decade of seeing patients, delivering babies, and teaching trainees passed quickly. In 2023-2024, I spent a sabbatical year in Valencia, Spain, with my wife and our twins. It was a wonderful time of trying in vain to acquire a Spanish accent; at the same time, I was excited to return to the challenges and rewards of practicing medicine.

Outside of work, you are likely to find me playing in the mountains on foot, a bike, or skis; cooking and eating with family and friends; or traveling. At work, I thrive on providing comprehensive care for families, including Cesarean sections, vasectomy, non-stress testing, and ultrasound. To me, serving a diverse patient population at a health center is an ideal job as a physician, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so.

I was born and raised in Southern California but have lived here in Salt Lake City long enough now to claim it as home. As a kid, I watched my dad practice Family Medicine, noting his passion for medicine and the enjoyment he found caring for others as a primary care physician. This had a lasting effect on me from my earliest memories. While I felt no pressure to go into medicine, it is exciting to work in the same field and discuss interesting cases, new medical advancements, as well as the frustrations of primary care. I couldn’t have asked for a better role model.

For college, I made my way to Utah where I attended Brigham Young University, ultimately earning a degree in American Studies. While I still had a strong interest in pursuing medicine as a career, this was a major that allowed me to get outside of the science-heavy pre-requirements for medical school and engage in a variety of classes and people with diverse interests in other career paths. During my college years, I had the opportunity to live in Norway for two years as a missionary for my church, learning Norwegian and getting to participate in opportunities for service among the Norwegian people. And the Northern Lights weren’t bad either!

After graduating from BYU, I chose to attend medical school and earn my medical degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. As an American Studies major, I was in my element and enjoyed the rich history of the early United States of America. The motto at Georgetown Medicine is Cura Personalis, a Latin phrase meaning "care for the person.” In more detail, it encompasses having concern and care for the personal development of the whole person and implies a dedication to promoting human dignity and care for the mind, body, and spirit of the person. This impacted me and influenced my residency choice, ultimately leading me to make my way back to Utah for residency in Family Medicine at the University of Utah. As my third year of residency started, I was fatefully approached by two of my mentors during residency about considering the FM Obstetrics Fellowship. I was flattered to even be considered, mainly for my respect for the Community Health Center (CHC) providers and the great cost-effective, evidence-informed medicine they practice and their dedication to caring for the underserved. Little did I know that this decision would change the course of my life, becoming a Utahan (no small feat for a Southern California boy), joining the CHC, as well as becoming the director for the very fellowship from which I graduated. Now, 15 years later, I am still working with CHC and still the director for the best FM OB fellowship in the west (perhaps I am a bit biased)!

Outside of medicine and enjoying the work I am involved in at CHC and the University of Utah, the bulk of my time is spent with my family. My wife, Charelle, and I have 3 awesome kiddos: Tallinn, Rowyn, and Soren. We spend a lot of our time running to kids’ activities and I am proudly known as a Dance Dad for a large portion of it—a world I never thought I would know so much about! We also spend a lot of time outdoors, skiing/snowboarding, paddle boarding, hiking and exploring the amazing outdoors that Utah has to offer—and it can’t be beat, in variety or ease of access! Salt Lake also offers a rich food, music, and sports milieu that we enjoy. As I was told when moving to Salt Lake years ago, it has all the amenities of a big city with a small-town feel. Come join us! I know you won’t be disappointed.

I grew up in Shanghai, China, and moved to the suburbs of Los Angeles at the end of elementary school. After studying molecular and cell biology with a neurobiology emphasis at UC Berkeley, I traveled and volunteered in a clinic in Bolivia before working for the VA in San Francisco. In Bolivia, I expanded my Spanish language skills and met an endocrinologist who focused her practice on treating diabetes in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Cochabamba. Working with her solidified my desire to focus on health care for vulnerable populations.

I attended Oregon Health and Science University for their MD/MPH program, studying biostatistics and epidemiology with a focus on primary care research in rural areas. My love for the Andean mountains and desire to keep up my Spanish led me to spend a summer doing research on pediatric malnutrition in Arequipa, Peru. Tired of the grizzly gray and rain, I came to the University of Utah Family Medicine Residency in Salt Lake City. Having rotated through a federally qualified health center and farm workers’ clinic during medical school, I was drawn to the program as it offered the opportunity to work with Community Health Centers (CHC) in an ideal sunny mountain setting.

After residency, I was excited to continue working for CHC at the Midvale location. It’s an ideal job for me where I get to practice full-spectrum family medicine, including deliveries, provide quality care to an underserved population, work with residents and students, and speak different languages daily. Outside of work, I’m enjoying the mountains and desert landscapes of Utah with my partner and two toddlers, mostly on bikes and skis. I also love traveling, more so with bikes than kids.

I grew up around the rolling grass covered hills of Lexington, KY before heading down to Collegedale, TN to attend Southern Adventist University. Then I made it west of the Mississippi when I moved to the lovely Inland Empire to get a medical degree from Loma Linda University. There I experienced things like mobile homeless clinics and free, first-come-first serve access clinics so when I eventually made it to Utah for Family Medicine Residency at the University of Utah I sought out the CHC hoping to add more experience like that to my training.

I didn't stray too far Salt Lake City proper after finishing residency, now working in West Valley City. Sometimes people put their professional interests in a bio like this; to borrow an unsourced quote that really captured my imagination while a med student: A family medicine physician is whatever the community needs. Which means my professional interests are obstetrics, care of young children, and diabetes management. My personal interests are bikes and skis. Not running.

I grew up in one of Colorado's ski towns. Ski towns of the 1980's were close knit rural communities where few extended families existed, yet everyone was family. The family medicine doctor who delivered me cared for the majority of the town and ultimately became a dear friend, mentor and inspiration to become a family medicine physician myself.

I left Colorado after high school. I studied and received my BA in Spanish from Williams College in Massachusetts. I then traveled and lived in Ohio and then Montana after undergrad before returning to school and ultimately receiving my medical degree from the University of Illinois.
For residency I returned to Colorado and completed my training with Swedish Family Medicine Residency in Denver, CO.

I have had a passion for speaking Spanish and Hispanic cultures. This, in addition to a National Health Service Corp Scholarship commitment guided me into work in Federally Qualified Health Centers. I worked for a year for Denver Health in their family medicine clinics as well as in the Denver County Jail. Ultimately, my husband's Emergency Medicine career brought us to Salt Lake City, and I continued my health center work with CHC.

I am very grateful for the mentors, patients and colleagues that I have had and continue to have thus far in my career. The opportunity to continually serve, teach and learn keeps me motivated and excited to work for Community Health Centers and CHC Family Medicine Residency.