Asheville Family Medicine Residency

I grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Emory University Medical School. I moved to Portland, Oregon for residency at Oregon Health Sciences University. Following residency, I stayed in Portland for 5 years where I was in a full spectrum private family practice with an emphasis on OB and Pediatrics. I decided to move back to the SE to be closer to my family in Atlanta and I specifically wanted to live in Asheville because of its location and the wonderful character of the town. Serendipitously, there was a faculty position available at MAHEC and I took the job in 2000. It has been the best decision I've ever made both professionally and personally. I have two beautiful daughters, Erica and Ava. Our family enjoys going to our lake cabin and hiking with our dogs Bella and Ruby. I love cooking, gardening, tending to my turn of the century house and growing orchids.

MAHEC is a wonderful place to be. The people here are committed to a set of core values of service, community focus and innovation. One of the things that I love the most about working here is that we have powerful inter-professional relationships that have allowed us to create a rich integrated care model of practice that serves the needs of our patients at a high level, is an ideal learning environment and a really fun way to practice medicine. MAHEC has always been and continues to be the kind of organization that calls me to be my best self. I am inspired by the residents, staff and my tremendous faculty to try something new, to stretch myself personally and to grow professionally.

Clinically I have special interest in osteoporosis and dermatology. As an educator I am interested in how we nurture the doctor patient relationship in a technological world and how racism, sexism and imposter syndrome can impact our development as physicians.

I grew up in Charlotte, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my undergraduate studies, and then attended Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem. I moved to Asheville to complete my residency here at MAHEC, where I served as Chief Resident and fueled my passion for caring for patients in rural areas, from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. And I have had the privilege to continue here at MAHEC as a faculty member ever since! My husband, Heath, teaches middle school, and our son, Thomas, is full of energy and eager to learn and try new things! We enjoy all of the local biking, climbing, paddling, and hiking of these Appalachian Mountains, but we also love to travel to pursue outdoor adventures in beautiful places around the world!

I truly love being a part of MAHEC Family Medicine. Having the opportunity to train here as a resident, and then continue as a faculty member, has built long-lasting relationships with my colleagues who have mentored and fostered my own growth as a family physician. I have so much respect for my fellow faculty, who demonstrate such support for our community and our teaching responsibilities for the region. I practice full spectrum care at our office in Enka/Candler, where I have established close relationships with my patients and their whole families. Here I also enjoy working with our clinical pharmacist to provide an integrated model of care and shared clinical visits for many of our complex patients to ensure the highest quality and most consolidated care.

Teaching is a big part of what I love about my job. I work closely with residents and medical students in my own office, in the residency clinic, and on our inpatient family practice service. I am the Internal Medicine curriculum director, and I enjoy working with the chiefs, IM faculty, and Mission hospitalist faculty to continue to improve our resident learning experiences. I also direct our Simulation curriculum; I believe simulation is a very rewarding way to teach high-stakes scenarios in a hands-on and low-risk environment - where mistakes are welcomed and remedied! I also enjoy taking my teaching to the regional level, where I am able to facilitate many virtual didactics and discussions among western North Carolina’s regional providers through Project ECHO at MAHEC.

I grew up in the tiny town of Steeleville, Illinois. I attended undergraduate at the University of Southern Indiana, where I received my Bachelors in Biophysics and did a year of vaccine development research at the NIAID in Bethesda, Maryland, before starting medical school at The Ohio State University College of Medicine (Go Bucks!). I interviewed at MAHEC for residency after hearing many glowing reviews from physicians I met during my clinical years and was pleased to match into the program. After residency, I moved back to Ohio where my husband was living and spent time both in private practice and also as faculty at the OSU Family Medicine Residency. The mountains were always calling and my husband and I choose to return to Asheville in 2020 with our two kids, dog, and cat in tow.

I am so happy to be back in WNC working at MAHEC. MAHEC has a culture of curiosity, innovation, and service that highlight the importance and scope of primary care for a patient and within a community, and I am happy to be a part of that once again.

I currently serve as an Assistant Program Director, which allows me to working with residents particularly in the outpatient space and help them with their transition to practice as an attending. I also work with our special projects team, through which I assist some of our most vulnerable populations’ access substance use treatment and also help train clinicians across the state about substance use and safe opioid prescribing. Not surprisingly my professional interests include medical education, innovation in primary care, preventative care, behavioral medicine, and substance use treatment.

Outside of medicine, I love watching the sunrise over the mountains with a good cup of black coffee, spending time with my family, cooking, reading, traveling, and the occasional game of volleyball or ultimate.

Hi y’all! My name is Nicole, and I am very excited to be part of the faculty here at MAHEC. I was born and raised in the wonderful, quirky little college town of Athens, GA (Go Dawgs!). I stayed in Athens to attend the University of Georgia, where I majored in Biology and Psychology and developed a passion for medicine. The summer before graduating college, I participated in a medical research program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. The highlight of this program was volunteering at Texas Children’s Hospital working with very sick children. It was this experience that confirmed my desire to pursue a career in medicine. After finishing undergrad, I spent a year doing a premedical internship with a local dermatologist, working with patients on a daily basis, getting see a variety of disease processes and assisting with surgical procedures.

After living in the same town for our whole lives, my husband, Tyler, and I decided to make a big change. We moved all the way to the other side of the country so I could attend medical school at Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in suburban Los Angeles. Attending an osteopathic medical school allowed me to see a holistic side of medicine and learn Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine to treat my patients. During my clinical rotations, I found myself loving every rotation, whether it was delivering babies on obstetrics or treating a heart attack patient on adult medicine. I soon realized that Family Medicine was the place for me.

I am constantly impressed by the residents and faculty, the support they have for each other, and their dedication to teaching. The hospital and clinic are amazing and the patient population is extremely diverse. And then there is all that Asheville has to offer: amazing restaurants, great local breweries, gorgeous landscape and endless outdoor activities. Contact me if you have any questions about our awesome program!

Hello! I am a late-bloomer to medicine. As a young adult, I fled to the west coast (go banana slugs!) after growing up in Charlottesville, VA. Then I spent almost five years in sub-Saharan Africa (including over two years in Togo with the Peace Corps), worked in a bagelry, and got my masters in public health at Yale. Ultimately, while managing an HIV/AIDS clinic in northwestern Kenya, I decided to become a physician. I completed med school at Brown University in Rhode Island.

For residency, I was looking for a program that offered well-rounded training to provide care either domestically or internationally, and where I could develop my interest in maternal and child health, as well as addiction medicine. Asheville is also a great fit for my entire family including my husband who enjoys gardening, brewing beer, and raising chickens (not necessarily in that order). After residency, I worked for a local hospital system in rural western North Carolina for six years, allowing me to apply the skills that I developed at MAHEC.

Now, I am so excited to return to MAHEC as a faculty member. I am thrilled to be a member of the program that was so inspiring to me as a resident. My colleagues are intelligent and thoughtful providers who continually strive to work for the betterment of our community.

Outside of medicine, I am steadily working on turning my acre-yard into a garden, in the company of our dogs, cats, and chickens. And I cook, (almost) every day.

Hi everyone! I hail from the wonderful small town of Marion, Virginia in rural Appalachia where I spent my formative years. I then went to college at the College of Wooster in Wooster OH and while I loved my liberal arts undergrad, I discovered Midwest winters and lack of mountains were not quite for me. After graduating with a degree in Neuroscience, I spent a year with Americorps building houses for Habitat for Humanity in Washington DC. I then took the trip 100 miles south to Richmond for medical school at the Medical College of VA, also known as VCU School of Medicine. I then was lucky enough to come to MAHEC for residency which got me closer to home (2 hours!) and back into the mountains. Someone told me Asheville was a black hole you will never leave and so far this has proven to be true – I met my spouse here and we now have two children, a dog, a cat, and, some years, a respectable garden. I’ve enjoyed getting involved in the soccer community here in Asheville as well as the outdoor community which is awesome.

I started my career after residency at a rural health clinic in Madison County and transitioned back to MAHEC in 2019 as faculty. I enjoyed my years in rural practice and felt well prepared for it with my training but I had a life goal of reevaluating my career after a few years and I realized I wanted to be more of a part of the “solution” for healthcare, working in an innovative place that fosters ideas and creativity as well as allowing for teaching and good camaraderie among staff. I jumped at the opportunity to join MAHEC.

I was hired as a substance abuse educator and do a lot of training and grant funded work around safe prescribing of opioids, treatment of opioid use disorder, and education about vaping and tobacco use disorders. I am also working in a collaboration with Project CARA, a division of MAHEC OB, working with women with substance use disorders in the postpartum period, helping them with their SUD as well as chronic medical problems and treatment of hepatitis C.

Please contact me if you have more questions!

I am from Connecticut and lived in the Northeast for my entire life before Asheville captured my heart and I relocated here for residency! I went to Johns Hopkins for medical school, Brown for a year of OB/GYN internship, MAHEC for Family Medicine Residency, and Brown for a Maternal Child Health Fellowship. I moved back to Asheville in 2015 for a faculty position here at MAHEC. I love baking, reading novels, doing puzzles, and tending to my houseplants (not a very outdoorsy Ashevillean)! I also play the cello and am always looking for opportunities to play music with others.

MAHEC is so important to me. I had the most wonderful faculty mentors in my years here during residency. They modeled the myriad paths your career can take as a family doctor. I jumped at the opportunity to come back here in a faculty position to work with so many fabulous faculty and residents who share the same mission- we aspire to be (and train students and residents to be) the doctor that our community needs. Our flexibility and can-do spirit allow us to change our scope of practice as community needs shift. It is inspiring and humbling to have such phenomenal colleagues.

My passions are in the reproductive health care realm. I am the director of our Obstetrics curriculum and facilitate our prenatal care program. I teach residents in our colposcopy clinic, vasectomy clinic, and reproductive health clinic, as well as on Labor and Delivery. I facilitate our residents' elective experience in abortion care at Planned Parenthood. I do point-of-care ultrasound in pregnancy. I offer medication and procedural/surgical management of miscarriage in our office. I offer gender-affirming treatments for transgender/non-binary patients. I organize simulation training sessions for residents in obstetrical emergencies and lead our annual Advanced Life Support - Obstetrics (ALSO) course.

Hey y'all! I'm from Austin, Texas and went to the University of Colorado where I fell in love with full-spectrum family medicine. I was considering doing a fellowship after I graduated residency, but couldn't decide whether to do hospice/palliative, addiction medicine, or obstetrics. I came to MAHEC because I felt like the scope of care I would experience here would not close any doors for me.

When I was a third year resident here at MAHEC I worked with our local Medicaid payor to develop a pilot clinic focused on primary care consults for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I was so lucky to get hired on as faculty and have the opportunity to expand these needed services. Since the start of COVID I have also been serving as the medical director of our Acute Care Clinic, which was the first clinic in WNC to have resources to regularly test and treat COVID-19.

I really feel like I get to live my professional dream here at MAHEC, where my colleagues are just as focused as I am on meeting our community's changing needs. When I was an intern we were not regularly prescribing medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, gender-affirming hormone therapy, or curing hepatitis C, but these are now regular parts of my day-to-day patient care. I also appreciate the opportunity to teach, both residents, UNC medical students, and pre-professional students. I am also on faculty for our Transitional Year residency that started in 2021.

My favorite part of being a family doctor is getting to stick with my patients through all of life's transitions. In addition to IDD care, my special interests include pediatric care, women's health including prenatal care, procedures, addiction medicine, genetic disorders, and working with patients to develop goals of care.

In my free time I enjoy hiking, maintaining my garden, cooking, and most of all spending time with my Asheville-local husband and adorable son.

I grew up in Iowa and attended Grinnell College and then medical school at the University of Iowa before completing residency in Family Medicine here at MAHEC. I am so happy to be living in Asheville with my husband, who works for the US Forest Service, and our two really fun kids. I love enjoying great local restaurants and running through my wooded neighborhood. My daughter LOVES seeing bears dig through our garbage, the rest of us are less enthusiastic.

After residency I stayed at MAHEC to open our Newbridge clinic north of Asheville. I wanted to continue working with underserved populations and particularly have enjoyed lots of women’s health, pediatric care and working with Latinx populations. I adore teaching and mentoring residents and students. MAHEC is family; the people here are amazingly supportive. MAHEC continuously helps me grow as a physician. I believe that MAHEC is an exceptional place for residents to learn because it balances support and independence for our learners.

As a Lifestyle Medicine Certified physician I have enjoyed helping to develop our pediatric Healthy Living Group visits and our adult Healthy Living Clinic. I enjoy running, reading, and spending time with my family as wellness practices. I enjoy helping patients focus on comprehensive wellness through guidance on nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, and social connection.

I help to keep the gears turning and work with our team to help the clinics run well so that we can all be our best in patient care. I want all of our providers and staff to feel supported so that we can all grow together. Continuity is the foundation of family medicine and I have cherished knowing my patients for over a decade.

Please reach out to anyone who sparks an interest as we are all really excited to answer your questions and we would love to be part of your medical education!

Originally from Annapolis, Maryland, Amy received her undergraduate degree from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. Before going to medical school she worked in Washington, DC doing environmental policy work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and also worked on Capitol Hill for the House of Representatives doing fisheries policy work. Dr. Santin attended medical school at UNC Chapel Hill and completed her residency at MAHEC in Asheville in 2010. Most recently, she worked at Blue Ridge Community Health Services, a federally funded community health center in Hendersonville. Amy speaks Spanish and practices full spectrum family practice including prenatal care and obstetrics.

Dr. Santin and her husband have two sons (ages 10 and 12) and a dog.They get out into the mountains of WNC whenever they can - hiking, backpacking and canoeing. Amy also enjoys trail running, mountain biking, gardening and reading.

Mary Lynn Barrett, LCSW, MPH, has dual master’s degrees in social work and public health from the University of Washington. She is the former Director of Behavioral Medicine in the Family Practice Residency Program at MAHEC’s Family Health Centers. Her current position as faculty in the program involves both teaching physicians to manage the mental and behavioral health aspects of primary care and treating patients who experience these challenges to their overall well being.

Mary Lynn has always been very interested in the relationship between stress, trauma and chronic disease and is passionate about disseminating information about the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study along with resiliency tools so that individuals, agencies and systems can become more trauma and resiliency informed and promote well-being for all.

Mary Lynn is part of the leadership team of resiliency trainers who started the local non-profit agency, Resources for Resiliency, and the curriculum Reconnect for Resilience. She has taught about resiliency for many years locally in North Carolina, nationally, and internationally, having trained people in resiliency skills in Honduras, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Offers shorter-term counseling for Family Health Center patients referred by their physicians as part of the Integrated Care Model.

I am one of the new members of the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency Program faculty, but I am no stranger to this program or our community. I graduated from this residency program almost forty years ago.

I began my medical career in public health and for the last 35 years, I have been working in a private family medicine practice in Asheville. My medical career has also included work in community and hospital nutrition, medical staff leadership, medical administration, practice management, and teaching. I have also participated in several international medical programs.

A career-capping experience came in 2011 when I received a Duke Endowment grant to assist primary care medical practices throughout Western North Carolina achieve their designation as Patient-Centered Medical Homes.

As my professional career is winding down, I have found great satisfaction working in our community with those who are experiencing homelessness and sometimes caught in the web of mental illness and substance use. My work with MAHEC will focus on working with and teaching this population.

I am a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I am a fitness junky (hiking, biking, martial arts, weight training, some running… something every day), a gardener, a woodworker, a traveler, and a part-time in-home cook and sometimes baker.

Hello!  I’m originally from Northwest Ohio, and joined the MAHEC family at the end of 2020.  I completed my undergraduate at Kent State, and my MPH at the Ohio State University.  (Go Bucks!)  I completed my preclinical years of medical school at Howard University and my clinical training at the University of Toledo.  I completed residency at Flower Hospital, which was also in Northwest Ohio.

Relationship building and assisting in the process of another person’s growth is something I appreciate.  Coming to MAHEC I quickly realized the people here have a similar mindset, and had as much of a vested interest in me as I did in them. Coming to MAHEC has been a wonderful opportunity and has allowed me to focus on my special interests of both coaching as well as equity, diversity, and inclusion.  My clinical interests include health promotion and wellness.

Beyond that, who doesn’t want to wake up every day in an amazingly beautiful place?!  Consider it icing on the cake.

Anne “Andy” Warren grew up in rural South Boston, Virginia and received her undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in Animal and Poultry Sciences. She finished her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in 2015. She completed an ASHP accredited PGY-1 residency with Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Virginia and moved back to NC to complete her PGY-2 ASHP accredited residency in academia and ambulatory care at MAHEC. During her PGY-2, she had the opportunity to create her own practice sites with Mission Health and developed a passion for Team-Based Care. She currently serves as an Inpatient Clinical Pharmacist where she splits her time between the inpatient Family Practice Service at Mission and in clinic at the MAHEC Family Health Center. Her areas of interest include transitions of care, collaborative interdisciplinary practice, diabetes management, and population health. Her involvement in academia includes responsibilities for teaching of medical and pharmacy learners as well as precepting pharmacy students and PGY1 pharmacy residents. Outside of work, Dr. Carrington enjoys riding her horse, Triple Down, spending time with family/friends, travel, running/hiking, and anything Disney!

Greetings! I am excited to be on the MAHEC team as it is a privileged place to be indeed - surrounded by hard-working, intelligent, fun, and committed physicians with supportive staff in the midst of an excellent medical community. Combine that with the cultural and outdoor opportunities of our progressive mountain town, Asheville can’t be beat.

I am originally a westerner (from southern California), turned northerner, (undergraduate degree in anthropology and psychology at Rutgers University), now southerner, (medical school at the University of Virginia and residency here in Asheville). My wife and I have traveled the planet and have decided we love living, working, and raising our family in this beautiful corner of the world.

My interests outside of medicine include trail running, camping, mountain biking, traveling, music, beekeeping, gardening, yoga, and aikido. My professional interests include full-spectrum care, primary care procedures including vasectomy, integrative medicine, and work-life balance.

I am from Missouri and still a big Cardinals baseball fan. I went to undergraduate school at the University of Missouri at Columbia and spent the coldest winter of my life in Chicago for a year before starting medical school in Nashville, Tennessee. I completed my residency at MAHEC in 2001 and have been on the faculty ever since.

What brought me to the residency, and what keeps me here as faculty are the people at MAHEC. The faculty are very committed to helping the underserved and teaching residents and students. The Asheville area made the choice to stay here a lot easier.

I love mountain biking and trail running, and the hiking around here isn’t bad either. I hope you get to visit us and see what a great city Asheville is, see the great outdoor activities available here, and the high quality residents and faculty.

This place rocks!

Hey there! I’m Carriedelle Fusco and I’m a Family Nurse Practitioner. I grew up in Wilmington, NC on the coast but was lucky enough to spend part of the summer in Montreat just outside of Asheville. I attended undergrad in Raleigh and spent some time in Wyoming and Southern Sudan before returning to nursing school. The mountains have always had a piece of my heart and I moved here in 2006. I worked as an ER nurse for several years before attending graduate school at Vanderbilt. My husband Matt and I have two cattle dogs. We enjoy being outside as much as possible and traveling in our camper for biking, hiking, and other adventures.

I joined MAHEC in 2012 as part of a grant focused on appropriately and safely prescribing opioids. That work led me to work with a team to launch a clinic for treating opioid use disorder at MAHEC Family medicine. This work expanded to training healthcare providers about safe opioid prescribing and treating substance use disorders. I was the first advanced practice provider approved to teach the buprenorphine waiver training in the US. In 2018 we launched a Substance Use Disorders elective through the UNC-SOM and in 2020 we started an Addiction Medicine Fellowship. I’ve also worked with WCU to train FNP students since 2016. I absolutely love working with an organization that is always ready to respond to the needs of our community and I’m excited for what our future holds!

I came to MAHEC in the fall of 2012 after 33 years of practicing full spectrum family medicine in Madisonville, a small town in East Tennessee. My wife, Barbara Levin – also a family doctor – and I settled there immediately after residency at the University fo Missouri. We raised our four children there and are now proud grandparents….feel free to ask me about the grandkids any time! Thirty-three years of small town medicine have left me with some firm convictions. I can’t imagine a more satisfying life than primary care and I believe integrated and holistic care is the best care. We have to do more as a society to look after all our members. American needs to be a healthier place for our kids to grow up and we in family medicine can make a difference; and they are all our kids.

What brought me to MAHEC was my sense of a shared idealism with the faculty and the residents. I have not been disappointed. I could not imagine a brighter and more committed group, working together to learn and improve our community of Western North Carolina, our country, and beyond. Since coming here, I’ve continued full spectrum practice, and have been involved with projects around a diverse set of interests including community engagement, behavioral pediatrics, ACEs and resiliency, behavioral teaching in family medicine, intellectual/developmental disability, and geriatrics.

When not practicing medicine I enjoy hiking and reading. I am depply engaged in Torah reading, and believe that chant is an ancient art form designed to breathe life into the words of Scripture. Oh, and did I mention my grandkids?

My name is Benjamin Gilmer. Originally a native of rural TN, I moved to North Carolina to attend Davidson College and have now been a Tarheel for 3 decades! I first studied medicine at the Sorbonne in Paris, France and later at East Carolina. Inspired by a fellowship experience in West Africa at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital, I have committed my career to Global Health and have the great fortune to lead MAHEC’s global health program in Honduras. I was a student, resident and Global Health fellow at MAHEC and plan to be a “lifer” here. MAHEC enables me the perfect opportunity to pursue many of my academic passions, including serving a rural community, teaching and practicing full spectrum family medicine. Some of my other passions in medicine include point of care ultrasound, and team-based care. As the clinical director of our Rural Health Initiative and MAHEC’s Rural Fellowship, I am passionate about advocating for rural medicine and finding jobs for all of our residents! More recently, I have embarked on a mission to learn and promote social justice in medicine, focusing on the humane treatment of mental illness in the prison system. I recently published my first book, “The Other Dr. Gilmer” speaking to this injustice. My lovely wife’s name is Deirdre and our two proudest accomplishments are Kai and Luya. Together, we love to travel and explore the wonders of Western North Carolina and the world.

I grew up in small community in Western North Carolina, and graduated with my undergraduate and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Go Heels! I love the mountains and culture of WNC, so I was happy to be able to complete many of my student rotations and residency here at MAHEC. Fortunately, I was able to stay on as faculty. The inter-professional collaboration here at MAHEC is second to none! All team members are valued which leads to highly innovative and collaborative care. My clinical interests include rural health, medication access, underserved populations, and Hepatitis C. Outside of work, I enjoy anything outdoors, traveling, and cooking.

I am a true product of the MAHEC program, having completed my FM residency here in 1987, then joining the faculty in late summer of that same year. I have stayed here due to the fine caliber of the faculty, residents, and staff I have the privilege to work alongside every day.

I did take a one year LOA in the early 1990’s, to spend some time pursuing interests in outpatient care of HIV/AIDs. There I worked with the Family Medicine Department and the ID Department at East Carolina University School of Medicine. I learned a lot, but boy was I ready to return to the cool beauty of these WNC Mountains!

I was born in the Mid South- in Arkansas; and spent my “growing up” years in Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri. As the daughter of a preacher and a teacher, I learned the value of education and service, lessons that led both my brother and me into vocations of medicine. After attending college at Arkansas (now Lyon’s) College, I graduated from Medical School at University of Missouri, Columbia, MO., as did my older brother. My brother is now a physician in Chattanooga, TN.

It is a privilege to live and work in this progressive southern community, with a fine medical community that embraces education. We enjoy working for MAHEC and living close by on our “urban farm” where we have a few chickens, a bunny, dogs, and get to experience the joys of being able to walk to good food and fun activities. Outside of work we enjoy traveling, cooking, working in our local church’s community garden and trying to stay fit and healthy. We rejoice in watching our 2 adult children blossom and find their way in the world!

Within MAHEC and Medicine, I find great joy in caring for patients I have now known for MANY years, seeing families grow up into their own families, providing family maternity care, doing and teaching gynecologic procedures, and helping residents and students learn and find their passion in Family Medicine. I am excited by our increased ability to provide international experiences, and our local commitment to providing care to the underserved, through our office and through our community volunteer efforts.

Bill Hitch is the Director of Pharmacotherapy at MAHEC in Asheville, NC and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Education at the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy. He received his PharmD degree from the University Of North Carolina Eshelmen School of Pharmacy and completed a specialty residency in Ambulatory Care through Mission Hospitals and MAHEC. Dr. Hitch serves as the Assistant Director of the Pharmacy Practice Residency Program at Mission Hospital practiced in the Ambulatory Care setting and serves as a preceptor for pharmacy students as well as PGY1 and PGY2 residents. His practice is in inpatient family medicine where he rounds with physicians on the Family Practice Service at Mission Hospitals. He is a Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner at MAHEC Family Health Center, which has been recognized as a Level III Patient Centered Medical Home. Areas of interest include interdisciplinary education, transitions of care, infectious disease, and global health.

I was born and raised in New York City and, through a series of fortunate events, have had the privilege of living in Western North Carolina for most of the past two decades. My wife, Tina, and I met in Philadelphia where I completed medical school and Family Medicine residency training at Jefferson Medical College and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. With our baby daughter, Rachel, we moved to an Apache Indian reservation in San Carlos, Arizona in 1984 for two of the most exciting years of our lives, in the Indian Health Service. The environment was wonderful for professional and personal growth and recreation. In 1986 we loaded up our expanding family, now including the twins, Ben and Emily, and transferred to Cherokee Indian Hospital. The following year I joined the faculty of the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency Program, focused on Maternity Care, Children’s Health, and curriculum planning. I was honored with the opportunity to become the Residency Program Director in 1993, and the Division Director from 2008-2021.

My family has now grown up in Asheville. All the kids have attended the University of NC - Chapel Hill and are looking for the next great thing to do with their lives. We all still spend a lot of time together cooking, mountain biking, hiking, and playing tennis. Though New York was a great part of my history, I can’t imagine a more lovely environment, full of opportunities for my family and my career, than Western NC.

As a recent MAHEC Family Medicine Residency graduate, I am delighted to join the MAHEC faculty and continue working and learning in this stimulating community. After growing up in Tanzania, China, Washington D.C., Canada, and India, I attended Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania with my heart set on medical school. While in my sophomore year, I read Paul Farmer’s book Mountains Beyond Mountains and shifted my perspective on health, health care, and international development. Instead of heading straight to medical school, I studied global disease epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and then spent two years as a community health volunteer in Peru with the Peace Corps. After returning to the U.S., I attended medical school at the University of Virginia and participated in a primary care track where I learned about the breadth and versatility of family medicine. I was delighted to match at MAHEC not only because of the vibrant cultural and outdoorsy community of Asheville, but also because of the depth of the training at this residency program, and the kindness of its people.

My interests in medicine include global health, women’s health, and caring for Spanish-speaking patients. Outside of work, I love hiking, jogging, reading, bicycling, cooking and eating plant-based foods, and am starting to try my hand at pottery.

I grew up in Erie, PA in a tight knit family. I started my training as an undergrad at Penn State Behrend where I was inducted into the college’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014 for my achievements as a long-distance runner that included being named Female Athlete of the Year twice among other awards. Then continued to stay in my home town and went to Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine for her medical training. While in medical school, I served as head coach for high school and middle school cross country and track teams. Then I decide it was time to get out of the snow belt and trained in Wilmington, NC for family medicine and then completed a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Connecticut. After my fellowship, I worked as core faculty at Tufts Family Medicine Residency and spent several years teaching the physical exam courses at Tufts School of Medicine and Harvard School of Medicine. We decided to move out of the city in 2018 to be closer to friends and family, leave the snow, and enjoy the mountains! Since moving we have had our daughter Jane whose pics grace my presentations.

MAHEC has been a great organization to move to. We have made friends within the department and community. Teaching learners is absolutely my favorite part of my job and energizes me. I appreciate how willing MAHEC has been to embrace change culture.

I am very interested in research and over the past few years earned the Young investigator’s Research Grant Award and Humanitarian Award from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. I serve as the national subcommittee chair for Faculty Development American Society of Sports Medicine and completed the North American Primary Care Research Group Research Fellowship. My work focuses on female athletes and disordered eating, body image issues, the female athlete triad (energy deficiency, menstrual disturbances, and bone loss), the benefits of sports participation for young girls, group visits to encourage pediatric patients to get moving, health equity, and managing change.

I grew up in rural Southern Illinois and was attracted to North Carolina by the beautiful climate, great cities and ample opportunities for outdoor recreation. I took a bit of a roundabout path to medicine by completing engineering graduate school at NCSU and then working in the 3D printing field for 7 years before changing course into medicine.

I came to MAHEC for residency in 2015 after completing medical school at UNC Chapel Hill that same year. Upon graduation I was fortunate to be offered a faculty position at MAHEC.

My wife (who is an OB/Gyn at MAHEC) and I love living, working and playing in the amazing and vibrant city of Asheville. We now consider this our long term home. We love being part of the community and raising our two lovely children here.

MAHEC offers me the opportunity to see a very broad range of patients in my clinic on a daily basis. It's not uncommon for me to go from seeing a young child with a complex social situation, to homeless patients struggling with a substance use disorder, to a retired executive all in the same morning. Faculty at MAHEC Family Medicine both practice and teach all aspects of family medicine and we take pride in the fact that the medical students and residents that we work with leave here more than ready to take on the next stage in their medical journey.

Hello and welcome to the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency website! We are glad you may be considering our residency program!

I have been at MAHEC as a Behavioral Medicine Faculty member since 2008. I have lived in Asheville for many years and worked in the Charlotte area behavioral health system prior to the move to Asheville. My experience working in the MAHEC Program has been a wonderful blend of ongoing learning, in a stimulating environment, alongside incredible colleagues. The concept of team-based care is woven into all aspects of the MAHEC philosophy and I greatly appreciate the atmosphere of teamwork and comradery. I am grateful to be a part of the residency experience and feel honored to collaborate each day with so many dedicated and caring people.

Our program utilizes an Integrated Behavioral Health model which means that behavioral health services are available in the clinic and offered in tandem with medical care. This not only offers patients easier, more immediate access to care, but also provides multiple opportunities for our residents and behavioral health faculty to collaborate in caring for patients. I am especially passionate about being able to offer behavioral health services to patients who have experienced trauma and who may not have had prior access to therapy. Being able to provide trauma informed care to patients in a primary care setting is especially rewarding and meaningful.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you would like to chat more about MAHEC or our Integrated Care Model.

Best of luck on the interview trail!

Offers shorter-term counseling for Family Health Center patients referred by their physicians as part of the Integrated Care Model.

I was born here in Asheville and after a number of years away, I am thrilled to be coming back to serve the community in which I grew up. Since leaving Asheville after high school, I’ve been lucky to get out, see a little bit of the world, and realize how good we have it in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina.

My early indoctrination as a Cavalier led me to the University of Virginia for a degree in History. While in Charlottesville, I grew interested in the larger systems in which physicians work, an interest that led me to New York City to work for the Medicare Rights Center—a non-profit that works with patients who have problems with their Medicare coverage.

At UVA, I was also lucky enough to meet my wife, Caroline, the woman I have to thank for getting me to where I am today. She went straight to UNC law school after graduating, and after my time in NYC and an interlude in Asheville, I joined her in Chapel Hill. There, I was fortunately and gratefully admitted to the UNC School of Medicine.

I had the privilege of running into a couple of outstanding family doctors over the years and had a gut feeling that I wanted to follow in their footsteps. In medical school, I tried to keep an open mind, but the combination of getting to know my patients over long periods of time, the diversity and complexity of the illnesses we’d be treating, and the opportunity to improve our nation’s healthcare system through family medicine was too much to pass up.

One of the best parts of deciding to do family medicine was the fact that in MAHEC, I found a residency that shares and values those same interests that brought me to this specialty. Not only did I receive terrific, full-scope training, but I was also in an environment where we are working towards innovative, systems-based solutions to challenges in healthcare. PCHM’s, ACO’s, new practice models—they are all happening here in the mountains. Above all, at MAHEC, I received quality support from faculty members and fellow residents that enabled me to be the best physician I can be.

Like most good Asheville-ians, I love getting outside in my spare time, whether it be through hiking, gardening, or the occasional sail. Cooking, keeping up with the news, a good novel, travel, and time with my wife also keep me happy.

Born in Bronx, NY to Jamaican immigrants I have traveled all along the East Coast becoming the woman I am today. I completed my undergraduate studies at Kean University in New Jersey receiving a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology with dreams of becoming a Doctor. I traveled further south to the beautiful island of Cuba where I was fortunate to study medicine, learn a second language (Spanish), meet my amazing husband and grow as a person. Now that is efficiency. I completed my residency at MAHEC Hendersonville Rural Family Medicine and I am continuing my journey as Community Faculty at MAHEC Asheville Family Medicine. My understanding of being on the other side of the doctor’s table whether for personal or familial reasons, fuels my passion to continue to provide compassionate care to my patients. My interest includes patient education and empowerment, prenatal care and women’s health. When I am not doing medicine I love to sing, dance and be nerdy with video games, board games, anime and documentaries about astronomy. Life has humbled me to realize that we are always learning, growing and changing. I am excited to see where the wind takes me next.

Hi! I grew up in Gainesville, Florida (Go Gators!) as a first-generation Sri Lankan Tamil. I then had a chance to experience the northeast and completed my undergraduate degree at Wellesley College in neuroscience and music, followed by medical school at Columbia University School of Physicians and Surgeons. For training, I split the geographic difference and completed my family medicine residency at University of North Carolina as part of the Underserved Track, where I had the amazing experience caring for patients in a rural federally qualified health center (FQHC). After completing a Career Development Fellowship in reproductive health and advocacy through UNC Family Medicine, I provided full-scope rural outpatient care at an FQHC in Chatham County, NC. I had the wonderful opportunity to become the medical director of the Chatham County Health Department and have also provided abortion care in the region.

My experiences in rural community health, public health, abortion care, and working with immigrant and uninsured and underinsured patients deepened my belief in the importance not just of equitable access to healthcare for all, but in the importance of community, equity, education, and basic resources to live a healthy life. I believe equity, social justice, and advocacy are integral to my role as a family physician and educator. In addition to providing outpatient and inpatient family medicine at MAHEC, I also provide colposcopy, miscarriage management, substance use disorder treatment, and am involved in equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. My clinic interests are broad, but include comprehensive reproductive health, social determinants of health, substance use disorder treatment, and refugee health as well as medical student and resident mentoring and teaching.

My spouse and I are proud parents to 2 great kiddos, a fabulous dog, and an ornery cat. We love the beauty of Asheville and the mountains as well as the amazing people we are surrounded by. I enjoy cross-stitching, quilting, baking with my kid, and attempting to keep plants alive.

Ginger Poulton, MD, MSEd, DipABLM, is board certified in Family Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. She is a former educator for Teach for America and a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. Ginger completed her family medicine residency at the Mountain Area Health Education Center in Asheville and joined MAHEC’s faculty in 2013, and has enjoyed working in a variety of roles at MAHEC since then.

Currently she is the Assistant Program Director for the Transitional Year Residency Program, the lead physician for the Community Health Worker Project at MAHEC and the Family Medicine Clerkship Director for the UNC School of Medicine for the Asheville campus. Additionally, she is the Program Director for the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum which is offered to all MAHEC residents.

Outside of work Ginger is an active runner, cyclist and sports enthusiast. She loves adventuring outdoors with her husband and sons in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina.

I joined the MAHEC team in April of 2013 after living in Colorado for 17 years. I initially completed my undergraduate degree at Emory University in Atlanta, then received my Medical Degree at ECU School of Medicine in Greenville N.C. I completed my residency in Colorado at University of Colorado’s Community Health Center residency tract at Clinica Campesina.

I worked at Clinica for 17 years and served in a leadership role for 13 of those years. As the organizations medical director, I led a team of 80 medical providers and 10 behavioral health professionals who care for 42,000 low income, uninsured people in the Denver metropolitan area. As an organizational leader in clinical quality improvement, I was involved in initiatives to implement advanced access and team based care through office redesign. For over ten years I have been fortunate to be able to provide care for my patients in groups. I am experienced in CenteringPregnancy, CenteringParenting, as well as group care for patients with chronic conditions.

Joining MAHEC has given me the opportunity to be a part of an amazing team of faculty, residents and staff in a growing, innovative organization. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to teach residents and share my experience with practice management, community health and group care. My husband and I both grew up in rural North Carolina, so it has been wonderful to return to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Josh joined the MAHEC faculty in December 2014. He has worked in adult mental health since 1999 and adult/child mental health since 2007. Before coming to MAHEC Josh helped established walk-in counseling and assessment services for adults and children in an outpatient community mental health setting . Additionally, he regularly consulted with DSS on complex cases in Rutherford and Polk County. Prior to this, Josh worked in an adult substance use program and partial hospitalization programs.

Josh completed his undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts and Master's in Social Work at the University of Georgia. He works with patients to build on their strengths and resiliency, while working to connect them with resources in their own community. Josh believes strongly in matching interventions with patients’ readiness to change and having the relationship as the focal point for the change agent.

Offers shorter-term counseling for Family Health Center patients referred by their physicians as part of the Integrated Care Model.

Hey there! I was born and raised in New Orleans, where I did my undergrad and medical school and public health school at Tulane. Hurricane Katrina hit 2 weeks into my first year of med school, so that very much influenced my understanding of how race, place, socioeconomics, history, and health are all intertwined. It also set me on a path of pursuing social justice through the practice of medicine. I was so fortunate to develop skills to pursue this path at Montefiore family medicine residency in the Bronx, and also focus on underserved care, HIV primary care, Hepatitis C treatment, transgender health, substance use disorder, Spanish-speaking communities, un-documented communities… all of my favorite things! I also met my partner in NYC and we stayed for years until our family expanded. The prospect of childcare in NYC inspired us to head to Asheville, where my partner was born and raised, and we have been here since 2017. I’m so blessed to be able to do the things I love at MAHEC since starting here in 2019!

MAHEC has shown me how much of an impact you can make in a rural region compared to an urban one. The clinical issues I worked on in NYC are just as pertinent in Western North Carolina, except there are even scarcer resources, and so MAHEC’s work seems ever more relevant. The scale of WNC combined with MAHEC leadership and clinical excellence allows for innovation to quickly develop initiatives to address a host of issues: doula-care for people of color, opioid addiction treatment for recently incarcerated persons, Hepatitis C curative treatment for the uninsured, COVID testing for remote populations… it’s been amazing to see how my colleagues and residents meet new challenges with brilliance and determination! And the collaborative spirit with UNC School of Medicine, UNC school of Public Health, local/regional/state government, area non-profits, community members… it’s really been inspiring for me!

Currently, my professional focus is on substance use disorder: treatment, training, capacity building, equity, criminal justice reform. We have an amazing team here working on this in family medicine but also OBGYN and psychiatry! I also work on Hepatitis C and HIV initiatives, and contribute to public health initiatives.

I joined MAHEC Family Medicine in December of 2021, amidst the COVID pandemic. I am originally from Missouri, completed my medical school at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), then spent almost 10 years in the lovely state of Colorado for residency, fellowship, and my early faculty years. In January of 2021, my wife and I welcomed our daughter into our family, and very quickly found ourselves juggling two careers and two young children without any family support in Colorado. Thus, I started to look at other opportunities and found a wonderful professional fit with MAHEC that also landed us near my family.

My professional interests are focused in primary care research, particularly dissemination and implementation science. I am passionate about studying the best ways to implement evidence-based interventions and programs in primary care and community settings with a focus on health equity. My work has been focused in various clinical conditions, including opioid use disorder, sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease prevention, cancer prevention, and vaccination. I provide outpatient primary care to patient of all ages, including pregnant patients, and have a special focus on the treatment of opioid use disorder and gender affirming care including hormone therapy. Within MAHEC, I have found a place where I am not only allowed to, but strongly encouraged to pursue my passions.

Outside of work, my main interests include cycling of all disciplines and coffee. I previously was the co-owner a bike shop, and still enjoy building, fixing, and tuning up bikes.

I was born and raised in Sevierville, TN and grew up camping, hiking, and fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I went to the College of Charleston in SC. While it was an amazing four years, I got my fill of the sand and heat and missed my mountains. So I came back to TN for medical school at ETSU. I met my wife, Dawn, in Charleston and we got married in my second year of medical school. We had fallen in love with Asheville and so were thrilled to match at MAHEC for residency. After residency, I was given the amazing opportunity to open the MAHEC Family Health Center at Enka/Candler and have been the associate medical director there ever since!

MAHEC has allowed me to practice full-spectrum family medicine, including prenatal and in-patient hospital care, just as I envisioned in medical school. MAHEC also not only allows, but encourages expanding opportunities for family medicine physicians to treat the patient and community with innovative and practice changing initiatives. It is a pleasure working for an organization so forward thinking and it’s invigorating to have colleagues as excited about full spectrum family medicine and with hearts focused on the health of the community!

My particular interests include rural health and creating access to care for families in our community outside of Asheville proper. I particularly enjoy prenatal care and pediatric care, expanding treatment in our region of Hepatitis C, and lifestyle and pharmacologic treatment of diabetes!

I am originally from New York City. I have lived in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Maryland and North Carolina. I received my Bachelor Degree in Biological Sciences from Binghamton University. My first career was in secondary education. I spent 10 years as a high school science teacher in NYC during which time I earned my Master’s Degree in Education from Queens College. I also had a brief career in the photography industry during a hiatus from teaching.

I moved to Asheville with my wife and two daughters in 2004. In 2007, I returned to school to study Nutrition and Dietetics. I earned my credentials as a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Nutritionist in 2010. Since then, I have worked to create Nutrition Care programs in primary care practices throughout the area. In 2007, I came to MAHEC to develop Nutrition Care and with the support of so many wonderful colleagues, we have built a robust program that offers Medical Nutrition Therapy to all MAHEC patients as well as patients from other practices in the community. I also serve as the clinical nutrition and dietetics educator providing didactic and participatory learning opportunities for all MAHEC learners from all disciplines. Working with patients, providers and learners at MAHEC has been the most rewarding professional experience of my career. I am always grateful for the opportunity to participate in the interdisciplinary care we provide, cooperate with so many special people, help our community improve their health, and provide our next generation of health care providers with knowledge and resources to integrate nutrition into patient care.

As my colleagues at Family Medicine will attest, I am passionate about incorporating healthful eating patterns and lifestyle practices into disease prevention and management. I believe that my role as an advocate for lifestyle intervention is as important as my role as a counselor in this treatment. It is always exciting for me to meet and work with residents and other learners who share this passion and show interest in collaborating with me in this advocacy.

Now that my daughters are grown and on their own, I have plenty of time for my other passion of exploring the forests by bike and foot. I have been an avid cyclist for over 20 years. I spend the majority of my free time mountain biking, running, hiking and enjoying our empty nest with Karen, my wife of 30 years.

I joined MAHEC as a Behavioral Medicine Faculty member in 2022. I have lived in Asheville since 2013 and worked at the Asheville VA Medical Center prior to coming to MAHEC. While at the VA, I provided mental health care to Veterans and their families who were experiencing grief, end of life, cancer, life transitions, health challenges, relationship challenges, and aging. 

I was drawn to work at MAHEC for the diversity of clinical opportunities and client populations. MAHEC’s Family Medicine Department is widely known for its dynamic learning environment, which I have experienced firsthand while consulting alongside the talented family medicine team. I find all staff to be accessible, friendly, and incredibly smart and motivated. I feel fortunate that my colleagues continuously stimulate my own learning and make me a better therapist. Working alongside multiple disciplines allows me to think through clinical concerns from multiple perspectives and address client needs in a holistic manner. Working within the MAHEC Family Medicine clinic provides a solid community I can lean on for intellectual growth, emotional support, and innovation. It is truly an inspirational institution.

I hope to provide residents a safe and exciting environment to learn about the integrated care model, develop skills to build rapport with clients to ask challenging questions, and learn methods to motivate clients to engage in healthy behaviors.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you would like to talk about the integration of behavioral health care within MAHEC Family Medicine.

Offers shorter-term counseling for Family Health Center patients referred by their physicians as part of the Integrated Care Model.

I am so passionate about the art of family medicine and its foundation. Here at MAHEC, I am so fortunate to be surrounded by amazingly dedicated folks to both the community and each other. The staff are engaged and enthusiastic in patient care and the providers here including residents are wonderful and involved in many levels across the breadth of family medicine.

Currently I am still an Assistant Consulting Professor for the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Duke University. I joined Duke Family Medicine as an attending faculty member in August 2006 and held the role of Medical Director for five years. I continued to be actively involved in teaching the residents and medical students, transforming clinical practice and seeing patients.

I graduated from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1992 and completed my Family Medicine Residency training at Fairfax Family Practice Centers outside Washington, D.C. in 1995. After residency, I worked for Fairfax Family Practice Centers in private practice for 3 years and precepted low risk deliveries with family practice residents. I also worked for Kaiser in the Rocky Mountain Division for three 3 plus years where I learned a great deal about cost containment, quality assurance and played a large role in rolling out the electronic medical record. For six years prior to coming to Duke Family Medicine I had the opportunity in South Berwick, Maine to set up and grow a practice as Senior Managing Family Physician. I joined the academic/teaching environment as an opportunity to share my experiences and to help develop new doctors in our changing healthcare environment. I try to bring to teaching a fresh perspective from the private practice realm to the academic/ teaching medical setting.

My professional interests include chronic disease management, sports medicine, pediatrics, office based procedures, medical acupuncture, quality improvement, practice transformation and the ongoing development of team based care.

I grew up in the Washington DC area and got married in 1990. My spouse works as a consultant to the federal government and on community health projects. I enjoy time with my family which includes my two adult children. My daughter graduated from Elon University and is working for FDIC in Washington DC. My son graduated from UNC-Asheville and is in graduate school at University of Denver playing his last year of eligibility in NCAA Division 1 Soccer, position of goalie. We love to travel, to do outdoor activities especially hiking with my dogs. We are true sports buff fanatics for minor league and collegiate level teams in soccer, basketball and baseball!

I grew up in Cary, North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for both my undergraduate and PharmD degrees (go Heels!). I moved to Asheville in 2012 to complete my residency training at Mission and MAHEC. After residency, I took a position establishing and growing clinical pharmacy services at two MAHEC satellite clinics. In this role, I also advise pharmacy learners from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, particularly in the Rural Certificate Program. I love the character and personality of Asheville and am grateful to have settled here. I met my now-husband here in 2014, and we have grown our little family to include 2 dogs, 2 donkeys, 4 goats, and the most recent and precious addition, our beautiful daughter Ila.

I feel immensely fortunate to be able to work at MAHEC, a health care pillar in the community and leader of innovation. As a pharmacist, it is truly a gift to work with providers on interdisciplinary teams with one shared purpose – provide the best quality of care possible for every patient. Above all, the sense of family at MAHEC is especially unique and difficult to find. The relationships I have developed with other faculty members and residents has made me a better person and pharmacist.

My clinical interests are in patient-centered management of chronic disease states, especially diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. I am also passionate about equity with a particular focus in providing accessible, quality health care to transgender and gender diverse patients. In the profession of pharmacy, I am most interested in pharmacy practice models focused on clinical pharmacist integration and sustainability.

Genevieve Verrastro MD is a Family Medicine physician and an Addiction Medicine specialist. She completed her residency at MAHEC and worked at several Community Health Centers in Western North Carolina as a primary care physician. In 2020, she returned to MAHEC for the inaugural Addiction Medicine Fellowship and continues there as a faculty physician in the Addiction Medicine program. Her areas of interest include perinatal substance use disorders, care of people with HIV and the LGBTQ community. Outside of work her interests include biking, whitewater kayaking, gardening and restoring her Craftsman bungalow.

Tasha Woodall graduated with her PharmD from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in 2011. She moved to Asheville to complete her residency in ambulatory care with Mission Health and MAHEC and accepted her current position as Associate Director of Pharmacotherapy in Geriatrics with MAHEC in 2012. She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Education with UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and serves as adjunct faculty with UNC School of Medicine, and as such has been engaged in training pharmacy and medical students, in addition to family medicine residents and geriatric fellows during her time with MAHEC. She currently serves as a Co-Director for MAHEC’s Center for Healthy Aging and sits on the Board of Directors for Council on Aging of Buncombe County and the Executive Committee for North Carolina Association of Pharmacists’ Chronic Care Practice Forum, in addition to being an active member of American Geriatrics Society. Dr. Woodall is a Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist. Her clinical practice is split between two continuing care retirement communities, where she functions under her own scope of practice as a Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner.

On a more personal note, outside of work Tasha spends most of her time caring for two small (demanding but adorable) children. She enjoys hiking and camping with her husband Waylon, dog Polly, and the kids.

I have my Master’s degree from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. My clinical practice began in the late nineties when community mental health was a team-based approach. This shaped my belief which is that people can thrive when offered the opportunity for integrated care. My training is primarily with families and children (0-18 years) as well as pregnant and post-partum women. I’m passionate about supporting caregiver/child relationships because it can shift entire family dynamics and improve outcomes for all family members. My specialties include attachment, caregiver/child interactions, and anxiety reduction for children and adults using CBT strategies, mindfulness, and acceptance.

Offers shorter-term counseling for Family Health Center patients referred by their physicians as part of the Integrated Care Model.