Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency

I’m so glad you have found yourself exploring our residency. I truly feel it is like no other program, and in a place like no other. While I was at LSU Medical School in New Orleans, I knew I wanted to do Family Medicine in unique and challenging ways. I wanted to be a part of something excellent and wanted to be in a place where every weekend could feel like vacation. This has been found here as a place that truly values community engagement and change, and we truly are surrounded by natural beauty with some of the best mountain and road biking on the east coast.

During my time here as a resident I started to form a clear picture of what I wanted professionally, and I was ecstatic when the opportunity came to work here in our transition to a Teaching Health Center as I could still practice inpatient, obstetrics, and be a teacher. There are so many opportunities to improve the health of our community and it’s truly a place where we are equipped to be a part of that change.

It was important for me to be practicing in a clinic where we truly serve all people, and what a joy to work with such amazing co-faculty and residents. I’m so proud to be a graduate of this program and then have an opportunity to serve as faculty and now Program Director.

I hope you will consider a visit and explore how your values align with ours in helping to equip you for a lifetime of service.

I came to Hendersonville as my dream residency program and after graduation was thrilled to stay on as faculty. As I've continued to learn and grow, to teach and volunteer, and to build relationships with colleagues and in our community, I've come to love this place even more! I grew up in Georgia and around the world, graduated high school in the Chicago area, attended college at Samford University, and Medical School at the Medical College of Georgia. As a former Air Force Captain, I found my passion for underserved health care while volunteering as a medic at the Berkeley Free Clinic in Berkeley, California, and ultimately, I've found my home, my people, and my dream vocation here in the beautiful mountains of Hendersonville, NC.

As faculty, working with our amazing residents and colleagues is the best part of the job! Our program really values resident leadership and involvement in decision making for all aspects of the program, and in clinic I enjoy working with our residents as we navigate medical concerns, connect our patients to resources, and walk the journey alongside them. Like my colleagues, I enjoy providing both full spectrum care in clinic and covering hospital care and OB deliveries. I serve as the lead provider for our 7th Ave outreach clinic where we coordinate a resident MAT clinic and provide healthcare/resources to the most vulnerable and unhoused in our community. I also serve as board member and volunteer for The Free Clinics, providing after hours acute care, free medications, and resources for patients. My particular interest areas are in resident education, MAT, transgender health, and care for the unhoused/underserved.

Outside work, you'll find me at our church (St James Episcopal, where my husband is the rector), hiking with my family in Pisgah Forest, tending my much beloved vegetable/fruit garden, reading books for the next residency book club, or enjoying a local symphony or musical production. This is a place where you can really do it all -- put down roots, build relationships, enjoy the outdoors and cultural events, and really make a difference for patients and community- so thankful to be a part of it!

I am a family physician, and have been faculty for the Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency Program since 1996. I teach clinical rotations at the county health department in Obstetrics and Gynecology. In addition, I teach public health, community medicine, laboratory medicine, and coordinate the resident community projects.

As the medical director at the Henderson County Department of Public Health since 1999, part of my role is to link family medicine with public health -- enhancing the resident experience in caring for Spanish-speaking, the uninsured, and low-income patients.

I graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1993 and did my residency at the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency in Asheville. I have completed a fellowship in Faculty Development at the UNC School of Medicine and have a certificate in Community Preparedness and Disaster Management. My husband, Gary Curran, is also a family physician in private practice in Asheville. We are the proud parents of two children, Genevieve and Paul. We love living in the mountains where we can do our favorite activities including hiking, biking, running, white water rafting and canoeing, photography, spotting wildflowers and teaching our children about wildlife and gardening.

Back in Hendo at long last! I am a Boone native who has always claimed NC as home and I am finally back in WNC after many years outside of the state. I did my residency at UTenn-Knoxville while my now husband did his residency here in Hendersonville. I spent a lot of time back and forth on I-40 and sometimes feel like I was an honorary resident at this wonderful program.

After residency we moved to Colorado to see how Family Medicine was practiced in a different part of the country, explore the West, and of course play outside! I worked at a community health clinic that provided full-scope FM care to patients in clinic and in the hospital including deliveries. We served low-income, homeless, and primarily Spanish speaking patients which allowed me to continue to learn Spanish and provide full scope care to the underserved. We had a busy OB service and jam-packed clinic days that made me a stronger physician. When we weren’t working we were trying to explore all the West had to offer since we always dreamed of coming back to WNC one day. We have hiked the Colorado Trail, rafted the Grand Canyon, toured around the surrounding states in a van, and tried to ski every single day possible. After 5 years out West, we decided to come home and knew Hendersonville, specifically this residency program, was where we wanted to be. I loved all my experiences at my current CHC and knew that Blue Ridge would give me the same patient population, serve the same mission, provide Spanish exposure, and allow me to participate in the full scope FM experience that I had in CO. And the added benefit was teaching! I love prenatal care, homeless outreach, hospital medicine, and taking care of families. Blue Ridge and the Hendersonville FM Residency program are a perfect fit for me and I love my new role as a teacher.

We are also excited to be back in NC after having our first daughter and are expecting another little one soon! In our free time we love to travel, get outside, see live music, obsess over Carolina/Tennessee sports, and post up at a local brewery.

As an avid runner, hiker, biker and gardener, Western NC is my outdoor paradise. As a family physician committed to accessible, quality healthcare for all, my faculty position with Blue Ridge Community Health Services is an opportunity to serve the most vulnerable population living in our mountains. After my Family Medicine residency with MAHEC in Asheville, I completed a Rural Faculty Fellowship at the Hot Springs Health Program in Madison County, followed by a faculty position with MAHEC in Hendersonville. I recently returned to WNC after six years at another community health center, and I am very excited to be part of the new teaching health center paradigm. There is no better way to enhance the health of our entire community, particularly our most vulnerable patients, than to train and retain family medicine doctors as part of our community health center work.

As a WNC native it has been my dream to return to this area for quite some time. I was excited to join the Hendersonville MAHEC Faculty because it allows me to continue doing all the things I’ve been trained to do, and to help teach residents and medical students.

After working at UCLA Medical Center and in the LA-County Health System, it’s a relief to join a smaller medical community. I am very impressed with the Pardee Health System, and the services that are available here. This is a great environment to learn, grow, and deliver high-quality patient care.

When I’m not working I enjoy hiking, cooking, traveling, and attending live music events. Living in Hendersonville is great for access to hiking trails, farmer’s markets, and concerts. I also have a 9-year-old German Shepherd Mix named Zora. My family is in Asheville and South Carolina.

Having completed a National Health Service Corps Scholarship at a Community Health Center in underserved St. Louis, I have found myself re-committing to academic teaching and serving an underserved population here with MAHEC and Blue Ridge Community Health. I was drawn to the dedication, innovation, and balance that I found in the residents and faculty at this program. My clinical passions include innovative practice models, improving health disparities by working with diverse and vulnerable patient populations, chronic disease management, and preventative medicine. This has led me to an array of experiences abroad in Honduras, Guatemala, and Kenya, as well as challenges closer to home like working with homeless diabetic patients and group visit models. Working in underserved communities with residents inspires me to create change that matters for those that need it most. I am constantly reminded how family medicine allows me the best opportunity to impact the lives of others in a positive sustainable fashion as well as treat patients as whole individuals. I consider myself very fortunate and inspired to be practicing and teaching in an environment that enthusiastically shares this belief.

Out of the office, I am happily surrounded by the commotion of four young daughters, a supportive wife, and the male companionship of a shih tzu toy dog. We enjoy traveling, camping, running, hiking, and swimming as well as exploring all the joys of Western North Carolina.

As a high-schooler growing up in swampy Gainesville, Florida, I started practicing Spanish by volunteering as a translator in rural clinics in the surrounding North Florida region. This experience led to a curiosity for medicine and service, including volunteering for an adolescent palliative care program while in college at the University of Florida. After considering careers in marine biology and wilderness therapy, I ended up at the University of South Florida in Tampa for medical school, where I was inspired towards broad-spectrum family medicine by rotations at rural Indian Health Service hospitals on the Hopi and Navajo reservations, public health research in Nicaragua, and as a founder of Tampa Bay Street Medicine providing medical care to Tampa’s large homeless population. This passion for broad-spectrum family medicine took me to Ventura Family Medicine Residency in California, and eventually back east to Appalachia and the Blue Ridge mountains.

I couldn’t be more passionate about the founding mission of Blue Ridge Health – to provide quality healthcare that is accessible and affordable for all – and for our service commitment to the area’s migrant farmworker population. The MAHEC Hendersonville residents have incredible opportunities for full-scope family medicine practice every single day, and I’m continually impressed by the high caliber of our team.

In free time, I enjoy grilling and good beer, trail running, ultimate frisbee, surfing, sailing, freediving, fishing, canoeing, mountain biking, rock climbing and backpacking, especially when accompanied by my wife and our dog Oso!

After completing family medicine residency at MAHEC in Asheville, I discovered an enjoyment of clinical education while supervising learners during a 2-year term at Clinica Hombro a Hombro in southern Honduras. Upon returning to the U.S., I was drawn to North Carolina for the third time, the first being at Davidson College and this time to work with a great residency program that benefits from its relationship with four excellent organizations: MAHEC, University of North Carolina, Blue Ridge Community Health Services, and Pardee UNC Hospital.

Each of these organizations contributes to a robust residency experience rolled out in a community health center and community hospital. I consider it a privilege to work alongside innovative and compassionate colleagues who are adapting to both local and national medical needs with new ideas about how to offer quality care to patients from all walks of life. Hendersonville is a place where I have the opportunity to practice the spectrum of what I was trained to do while adding new knowledge and skills to meet my patient’s needs; most recently in the areas of MAT, hepatitis C, and point-of-care ultrasound. My other medical activities include being the medical director of several local camps/adventure travel companies and the Course Director of the Missionary Medicine for Physicians course at Equip International.

My wife, Laura, and I love living here with our four children: Luke, Gabriel, Ana, and Sam. During this season of life, they are my main hobby. It is a joy to raise them here with a sense of community and an appreciation for God’s creation as we hike the hills, explore the forests, ski the lakes, and cool off in the streams of Western North Carolina. We are an active part of our local church, Henderson County foster care, and our children’s schools. Once you come visit here, you will see why it is so hard to leave.

I was born and raised in a small town in Michigan. After leaving for another small town in upstate New York for my undergraduate, I met my husband there and followed him the big city of Raleigh where I was accepted to medical school at UNC. Through those experiences I realized both my own need for rural spaces and the unique potential of small towns to make big changes for the health of their people. I jumped at the opportunity to move to Asheville for my medical school rotations and stayed for residency with the rural family medicine program in Hendersonville. The town and hospital met my family's needs perfectly, so we opted to stick around!

As faculty I'm excited to share knowledge and love for a wide variety of topics. I'm interested in lifestyle medicine as a key component to effective primary care. I also devote clinic time to special projects in perinatal substance use disorders and child advocacy.

All good things come to those who wait.... It is true both for becoming a certified-nurse midwife and of finding a professional and personal home here in Hendersonville. I first discovered midwifery as a biology major at Florida State University, while finishing my pre-med curriculum and after I had already taken the MCAT and had been accepted to DO school. My pregnant advisor had the wisdom to introduce me to her midwives and it was immediately apparent that although I didn’t know that midwifery existed, the work was exactly what I had envisioned doing all those years ago when I day dreamed about what I would be when I grew up. While at FSU, I worked both in the microbiology lab and as a telephone counselor and supervisor for two statewide, nonprofit hotlines, the Florida HIV/AIDS Hotline and Healthy Baby Hotline. After graduation, I completed classes to apply to nursing school and worked many odd jobs, always trying to keep a hand in biology or medicine. Some of the more interesting ones were during my time in Los Angeles as a group methamphetamine counselor, as a researcher for an herbal supply company and as front office staff for a star-laden Beverly Hills dermatology office.

I completed my training at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, graduating with a Masters Degree in Nursing and midwifery specialty in December 2003. For four years, I worked in Florida providing care to the uninsured and underserved as a member of the National Health Service Corps in a community health center. As fulfilling as my work was, I longed for a professional environment with supportive and service-oriented health care providers and a balanced family life. I am deeply grateful to have found that in Hendersonville and moved here with my infant son in September 2007. In addition to professional satisfaction, I was drawn to the area by its beauty and the opportunity to raise my son in this warm and welcoming community and with an appreciation of nature and small-town life. Hendersonville Family Health Center is a family, as corny as that might sound, and we are supportive of each other through good times and bad. My friends here helped my son and I though a difficult separation and divorce, and have welcomed my new husband and stepsons with open arms.

I am proud to be a part of the Family Practice program, to call these doctors both my colleagues and my friends and to help educate our outstanding rural family practice residents each year. Midwifery and family practice philosophies of care are well-suited to work together, providing comprehensive, supportive and preventative care. We all believe in the power of women’s bodies to give birth and are supportive of that natural process and of the transition of the family to welcome this new, little life.

My wife, Erin, and I first moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina for me to complete my residency at MAHEC in Asheville. Once you’ve visited here, it’s easy to see how we fell in love with the area and were eager to make it our more lasting home. After graduating from residency, I was looking for a place that I could practice both inpatient and outpatient family medicine, while still getting to deliver babies, and I didn’t have to look much further than down the road in Hendersonville to find a thriving environment to continue full-spectrum family medicine, with the wonderful addition of fostering the next generation of family physicians through residency education.

I’m passionate about providing comprehensive care to my patients, preventative health, family planning, substance use disorders treatment, and family medicine procedures. I’m particularly interested in how to balance support and independence to nurture developing resident physicians to a role of autonomy.

When not working, I love spending time with my wife and our two energetic little ones, Annalise and David. I’m rejuvenated whenever I can venture out into our beautiful mountains, hiking, running, and biking. And we enjoy filling our house with the sounds of music (admittedly more nursery rhymes now than before) and the smells of home cooking.

After graduating from medical school at UNC Chapel Hill, I left my east coast roots and headed out to Ventura, California for my Family Medicine Residency training. It was an awesome experience living in a new place and forming a close group of residency friends, but I always planned to come back to North Carolina to be closer to family. It was also very important to me to practice in an underserved area and enjoy where I live. Luckily, I found all of that in Hendersonville.

I was immediately drawn to Blue Ridge because of its mission to take care of the migrant farm worker population. When it turned out I could work with residents and keep practicing inpatient medicine and OB along with this mission, I knew it was a great fit. I am very excited to be joining such a creative, dedicated, and experienced team of providers all working toward the same goals: providing excellent care to those who need it most and training residents to be the best doctors they can be. My favorite parts of family medicine are dermatology, procedures, women’s health, and everything to do with obstetrics!

My family has enjoyed getting to know Hendersonville, Asheville, and the surrounding areas. We love local produce, reading, movies, hiking, running, and watching the seasons change.

Born and raised in Raleigh, NC, I have found myself transplanted in WNC and honestly can’t complain a bit about it. After completing both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Work at North Carolina State University in 2012 and 2013, respectively, I found myself looking for a change of scenery and, now, very much enjoy calling WNC my home. My favorite activities include hiking, houseplants and hanging out with my husband and three beloved dogs.

I have a diverse background as a clinician, having worked previously in inpatient substance use detoxification and rehabilitation services, inpatient psychiatric services with children and adolescents, medical social work with mother-baby dyads, school-based therapy services and outpatient therapy services. Working with clients aged five and older, my clinical areas of expertise include Trauma-Informed care, Dual Diagnosis, Perinatal MH/SUD, ADHD, Personality Disorders, Intimate Partner Violence and Chronic Pain.

Throughout my clinical experience, I have always enjoyed taking on a teaching role with social work interns, psychiatry fellows, psychology doctoral candidates, and medical residents. While I thoroughly enjoy the challenge and diversity of my clinical work with clients, I was thrilled when the opportunity to participate in a teaching capacity became available within the residency program in 2021. Serving as residency faculty and offering outpatient therapy services in the Blue Ridge Health clinic setting creates the perfect balance of clinical work and teaching, which had made my work more rewarding than ever.

As the saying goes, history repeats itself! I was fortunate to train at the Hendersonville Residency from 2008-2011 and had fantastic experience here both personally and professionally. I can truly say that being in Hendersonville was a life enriching experience, one in which I learned how to relate to patients with compassion and how to build effective clinical teams. After graduating residency, our family moved to Jellico, Tennessee to work at Dayspring Health, an FQHC on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. While there, I worked with an incredible group of mission- minded physicians providing full spectrum care in three different clinics and in the hospital, including obstetrics. I was pleased to see how well residency at MAHEC Hendersonville prepared me for practice in rural Appalachia. During my time in Jellico, students and residents often rotated with us and I recognized how much I enjoyed teaching in the midst of my daily work.

Sadly, the hospital that I was working at ceased providing obstetric care and many inpatient services. Through a series of fortunate events, I learned of the faculty opening at the residency and am excited to come back. My wife, Amy, reminds me that she always felt like we might find our way back to Hendersonville someday and we are glad to be here and to be part of the residency.

My interests within medicine include behavioral health and hospital medicine, but I truly enjoy the broad scope of family medicine. Outside of work, we enjoy gardening, home improvement, baking and outdoor activities.

We moved to Asheville in 2008 for family medicine residency at MAHEC Asheville. We love the area so much and have met so many wonderful people that we never want to leave. I started working for Blue Ridge Health shortly after graduating from residency. The work is fulfilling and challenging, and although some days are the latter more than the former, I love what I do and where I work. There are amazing people here, and we see a variety of patients, including adults, children, prenatal patients, and procedures. I especially love teaching and precepting both residents and students. It allows me to learn more and to be a better doctor in attempts to provide a better example to learning physicians. We all strive to provide access to quality healthcare for all, and we can go home each evening knowing we are making a difference in people’s lives.

I have also taken on some administrative responsibilities at Blue Ridge Health and am the current Chief Medical Officer. I enjoy opportunities to work with providers across the organization and help with logistics of a Teaching Health Center.

My family and I love the community here. Between Hendersonville, Asheville, and surrounding areas, there is a lot to do! We particularly enjoy getting outside, riding bikes, hiking, and of course, just hanging out with our children and friends. There are many fun festivals, sporting events, and gathering places. It’s a great place to be!

I hail from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina where I grew up with a love of the outdoors and strong connection to rural spaces. I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Anthropology and like many Tar Heels never left and continued on to finish my medical degree. During my time at UNC I found a passion for international travel and global health. I have traveled extensively throughout South Asia, particularly in the Himalayan region of India. I return routinely to participate in medical clinics and to continue exploring a fascinating subcontinent.

Besides global medicine my clinical interests include the full spectrum of family practice including sports medicine, women’s health, pediatrics, and the care of chronic disease. When not in the clinic I can be found imbibing in the many great outdoor activities Western North Carolina has to offer including hiking, kayaking, and rock climbing.

I am thrilled to be returning home to the Blue Ridge Mountains! I could not think of a better place than Hendersonville to complete my training and fulfill my dream of becoming a rural country doctor!

I was born and raised in the big city of Miami, FL. I grew up a city girl with a love for the ocean, but I always felt like there was something missing. One year my parents booked a trip to the mountains in Asheville, NC and I saw snowfall for the first time. Surrounded by mountains, trees, and falling snow I knew this was where I was meant to be.

I then started my trek north to the mountains. First with earning my Cell and Molecular Biology degree at the University of South Florida, about five hours north of Miami in Tampa, FL. Then I went on to Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Carolinas Campus where I earned my medical degree and fell in love with rural Family Medicine. From running my school’s free clinic to completing my clinical rotations at a rural site in South Carolina, I saw how important it is to really know your patients and treat them as a whole. I felt the best way I could serve and connect with my future patients would be as their family doctor.

While living in Spartanburg, SC for medical school I spent my free time driving up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiking in Pisgah National Forest or DuPont State Forest, so when I heard about MAHEC Hendersonville I knew I had to come visit. I was fortunate enough to have spent two weeks rotating here during my fourth year, and after I left, I found myself comparing each program I visited to MAHEC Hendersonville. The people here treated me like I was part of the family from the very first day, and on top of that they were some of the smartest people I had ever worked with. This program has such a breadth of opportunities in addition to the full-spectrum Family Medicine training. There’s an array of procedural training, sideline sports opportunities, POCUS training, opportunities to work with diverse patient populations, extra obstetrics opportunities, and I could go on and on. MAHEC Hendersonville felt like home to me and I couldn’t be happier to join this amazing family!

As you could probably guess, in my free time I love to hike – with my dog of course; I also love to read, play guitar, and dabble in photography and videography.

I grew up next to the Mississippi River on the border of Illinois and Iowa in a city called East Moline (about 3 hours west of Chicago). I was always a die-hard Fighting Illini fan and went on to attend the University of Illinois. My major was psychology and that eventually led me to medicine. I then went to medical school at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine where our focus is on trying to train physicians to work in rural and underserved areas. I am very excited to continue this type of training at MAHEC in Hendersonville. My focuses as a family physician are underserved medicine, full spectrum care, and political advocacy.

Outside of medicine, I am happy to be moving to Western North Carolina with my fiancée. We love the outdoors and everything we have seen from this community and can’t wait to begin our lives here. Other big hobbies for me are soccer, NCAA basketball and board games.

I was born and raised in a small, rural town in upstate New York where I spent much of my childhood outdoors working with my hands. I started my higher education at Binghamton University studying engineering, feeling that my desire to build and problem-solve would lead me to a fulfilling career in the field. However, while spending some time as an intern with a large engineering firm, I also gained some experience working in the healthcare field as a nursing assistant. I soon realized that my true passion was found in directly caring for others. I combined my love of science, desire to problem-solve and passion for helping people into a new life goal – to become a physician.

After completing my bachelor’s degree in Cell and Molecular Biology, I moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania where I earned a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Finally, I decided it was time to apply to medical school. To my surprise, this process resulted in a major move away from the Northeast and into the South where I attended medical school at PCOM Georgia. My fiancé and I have fallen in love with the southern United States and are very content with letting the memory of those brutal northeast winters fade away!

During my time as a medical student, I discovered that while I still enjoyed working to build things with my hands, I also enjoyed building relationships with my patients. It was for this reason that I knew Family Medicine was my calling.

I am very excited to be part of the team at MAHEC-Hendersonville! Having grown up in a rural area, I have personally experienced some of the healthcare challenges that are unique to rural and underserved communities. The passion of the faculty and residents to care directly for the local community and help to build solutions to overcome these challenges is something that truly stands out about the program. My fiancé and I are astounded at the beauty of the surrounding area and can’t wait to explore the mountains as we camp, hike and kayak with our dog, Maisy.

My name is Landon and I’m North Carolina born and raised. I grew up in the small town of Rockingham and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in journalism. After a year, I changed my career path and decided I wanted to be involved with healthcare. I completed a post-baccalaureate year of science classes at UNC Greensboro. After that I volunteered at my hometown hospital, shadowed doctors and worked as a CNA to make sure that this second career in medicine was the right one for me. And it turned out to be the best decision I’ve ever made.

I was accepted to Campbell School of Osteopathic Medicine and after the first year of medical school, I attended the Rural & Underserved Summer Immersion Experience with the Hendersonville Family Medicine residency. For two weeks, I shadowed and lived with the faculty and family medicine residents in Hendersonville and Asheville and got to see what life was like as a rural family doc. I loved the experience and knew that Hendersonville would be a top choice for residency. I’m beyond excited to join the Hendersonville community along with my blue heeler, Warri.

I grew up in eastern North Carolina, Greenville to be exact. Most of my time growing up was spent on the softball field or volleyball court. I come from a very close-knit family and community, the kind where it is very hard to go to the grocery store without seeing someone you know. After high school, I ventured to Boone, NC where I attended Appalachian State University and was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to continue playing volleyball. This is where I fell in love with the Blue Ridge mountains and realized just how flat eastern NC really was. Outside of the weight room, practice and library, the next four years were spent exploring Western NC and all it has to offer.

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to serve in health care in some way. It was after my time spent with a local family physician that I truly began to envision what my future career would be. As family physicians, we have the unique opportunity to walk alongside our patients through various life transitions. We become their biggest advocate in helping them achieve their health goals and optimize their health outcomes by providing preventative care. I headed back home and completed my medical school training at ECU. Go Pirates, arghh!

I knew the Hendersonville program would be the perfect fit for residency for several reasons. Full spectrum training that’s focused on serving rural, underserved communities, amazing mentors who love what they do, and the beautiful location were some of the important factors for me. I was able to experience this firsthand during my time spent here in medical school as a NCAFP Rural Health Scholar.

Some of my interests outside of medicine include hiking with my husband and fur child, sampling new craft beer across the globe, traveling, and our recent failed attempts at gardening and being plant parents.

I grew up playing ice hockey and drawing superheroes in a diverse area of Northern New Jersey. Forming meaningful connections with others and living outside one’s comfort zone were important values emphasized in my upbringing that I also value today.

I first earned a bachelors in biology from Northeastern University in Boston, MA, and met my future-wife Olivia. We ventured to Charleston, SC, where I worked as a research coordinator in sleep apnea clinical trials for two years before joining the Medical University of South Carolina college of medicine's class of 2021. Two years into my studies, Olivia and I got married in a hot air balloon over Asheville, foreshadowing our future adventures in the western part of the Tar Heel State.

Outside of my work I enjoy leading a healthy life physically and creatively by playing different sports, getting out in nature and making art. I also love learning about design and technology. My favorite thing in the world is meeting new people, which makes me even more excited for my future as a family medicine physician.

Born in Greenville, SC, I enjoyed a childhood filled music, hiking, dancing, and a wonderful family. After graduating from Clemson University with a B.S. in psychology, I worked for Project Hope Foundation delivering Applied Behavior Analysis therapy to families affected by Autism. After joining the class of 2021 at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, I found great meaning in my work in High Value Care, Lifestyle Medicine, and Recovery Coaching for individuals with substance use disorders as a part of FAVOR Greenville. Since then, I have been passionate about providing care to patients of all ages, genders, and needs in a comprehensive, continuous, collaborative, and compassionate manner. These experiences naturally led me to the field of Family Medicine, where I continue my interests in full spectrum care and establishing a health-centered environment for all people.

MAHEC Hendersonville instantly seized my attention given the focus on rural full-spectrum care, which includes tons of procedural, obstetric, and pediatric opportunities, POCUS, and an unbelievable relationship with the local Hispanic community. The faculty and residents were clearly achieving all of this while nurturing wellness and wonderful relationships amongst one another. To me, this is clearly a human-centered program which takes care of its patients by first taking care of the people which comprise it.

Outside of medicine, I take pride in a wonderful mess of activities which begin and end with my incredible wife, Holly, our unparalleled toddler, Eleanor, and our God-given dog, Marlow. Together we love taking on new experiences such baking with sourdough, playing role playing games, meditation, taking care of plants, woodworking, photography, hiking, rafting, and traveling to new places.

I am originally from Greenville, SC and then left to attend Rhodes College, a small liberal arts school in Memphis, TN. Afterwards, I moved to Athens, GA to pursue research focused on Chagas disease. I then headed back home to attend University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville. There, I became energized by working at a local free clinic and by setting up a healthy meal delivery program for patients and their families.

During my clinical rotations, it was impossible for me to ignore how many hospitalizations were due to diet, addiction, and mental illness. This motivated me to focus my career on serving rural communities where access to healthcare is often extremely limited.

I believe that Family Medicine doctors are the great humanists and communicators of medicine; I could not be more excited to enter this field! MAHEC Hendersonville is the perfect program for me. It combines rural, inclusive medicine and the North Carolina mountains where I feel most free and happy. My interests in medicine include addiction medicine, mental health, LGBTQ+ heath, and culinary medicine. Cooking is my greatest joy; I also love getting my hands muddy in a garden, woodworking, painting, and backpacking.

I grew up in Westminster, Maryland, which is a town just outside of Baltimore. From an early age, I was fascinated with biology and medicine, and knew that I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare. After high school, I made my way down to North Carolina where I attended Davidson College and studied Biology and Anthropology. During my time at Davidson, I had many opportunities that nudged me out of the classroom and into the community. I spent many nights volunteering at a hospice home, did ethnographic research that led me to a church basement to study a nutrition program for the elderly, and took a global health course that culminated in working and learning in a rural Zambian hospital. These experiences, among many others, allowed me to see that medicine was the right choice for me. I then went to medical school at St. Louis University in Missouri. During clinical rotations, I fell in love with the breadth of family medicine, working with underserved populations, and seeing the variety of ways family medicine doctors can impact the communities that they serve.

My primary interests in medicine currently include underserved care, global health, STI counseling and treatment, mental health, and corrections medicine. At MAHEC Hendersonville I've been able to pursue my goals and interests as they grow and change. Outside of work I enjoy cooking for friends and family, camping, photography, and lounging around with my partner Mary and our cat Sassafras.

I grew up in Hendersonville, and I’m so grateful to be returning to my hometown to learn medicine from some of the best Family Medicine doctors I’ve been privileged to meet in our state. I didn’t always know I wanted to be a doctor. For undergraduate studies I attended Samford University in Birmingham, AL and studied English. After graduation, I started a doctoral program in comparative literature at UNC-Chapel Hill, but a health humanities class helped me to realize that my passion for hearing people’s stories, teaching, and seeing people thrive fit perfectly into the world of medicine. It took several years before I made it to medical school, but by then I knew that Family Medicine was the right fit for me. I believe that healing only happens within community and within the context of a person’s entire life story, and Family Medicine as a specialty uniquely cares about both of those: community and context.

When I’m not learning about medicine and preventive health, I love being outside with my husband and daughter enjoying the glorious mountain weather! My family also includes a stripey cat named Cookie and a stripey dog named Toph. I’m an aspiring gardener, and I also love cooking (and eating!). I look forward to returning to my roots here in WNC and caring for people in my community as a Family Medicine doctor.

Hi everyone! I’m Valeria and I grew up in the small town of Simpsonville, SC. I attended the University of South Carolina for undergrad and the Medical University of South Carolina for medical school. I’m a (South) Carolina girl through and through but I’m excited to spread my wings in North Carolina!

I’ve wanted to be a doctor since grade school and was inspired by watching my aunt (also family medicine) take care of my family through the years. I kept an open mind throughout medical school but truly fell in love during my family medicine rotation and knew this was the path for me. My passions include closing the health literacy gap, women’s health, lifestyle medicine and caring for underserved/underrepresented populations.

I am a very dedicated plant mom to a bunch of plant babies. My hobbies include crocheting, painting and watching sports. I also enjoy spending time with my family and going to the beach. I love my warm weather but I’m excited for this next stage in the mountains of Hendersonville!

Hi everyone! My name is Adam Glenn, and I am so excited to be starting my Family Medicine Residency in Hendersonville. I am originally from North Myrtle Beach, SC, but most of my family lives in North Carolina. I’m the youngest of three children and learned a lot about humility from my older brother and sister as I grew up.

I studied chemical engineering in undergraduate and graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2017. After college I worked as a medical assistant in order to affirm my desire to pursue medical education. In this role I learned that I am energized by working with patients and deeply value the privilege of working in a clinic. I attended UNC for medical school and was lucky enough to spend my last 2 years of school living and learning in Western North Carolina.

On a day off you’re likely to find me falling off a mountain bike, backpacking in Pisgah National Forest, or making a meal with friends. After going to both USC and UNC, saying “Go Carolina!” has a dual meaning for me. In medicine there’s nothing I value more than the doctor-patient relationship. I look forward to building many of these relationships during my time in Hendersonville!

I grew up in Fayetteville, NC with my two siblings and an ever-present abundance of dogs. Being the daughter of two surgeon parents, I was introduced to medicine at a very young age. Throughout the years, I’ve been asked time and again if I was going to follow in my parents’ footsteps. However, I never found myself drawn towards surgery. In fact, the opposite - I was always far more interested in the patient’s story than the surgery itself. For undergraduate, I attended Elon University majoring in Exercise Science with minors in Public Health and Psychology where I really developed my foundation for preventive medicine.

After college, I found my true calling in medicine while working as a medical assistant/scribe with an incredible family physician. I then attended Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine for medical school where my passion for family medicine was further solidified. As the Director of Health and Wellness for our rural, student-run clinic, I got the unique opportunity to follow patients on a regular basis and work through lifestyle factors affecting their health. Additionally, I was able to help start Campbell’s first LGBTQ+ in Medicine organization as its inaugural president. Coming from rural, Eastern NC, education about LGBTQ+ health disparities and discrimination in medical settings is not only something I’m very passionate about, but has also affected me personally.

MAHEC Hendersonville is one big, inclusive family where I am beyond excited to continue to pursue my passions in lifestyle medicine, rural/underserved care, and LGBTQ health! Outside of medicine, I am a self-proclaimed pickle connoisseur, enjoy gardening, checking out local breweries, and hiking with my beautiful partner, Mariah and our three crazy dogs.

My name is Andrew, and I was born and raised in Wilmington, NC. I studied Chemistry at Yale but graduated uncertain of what I wanted to do next. I moved to Sitka, AK where I worked as coordinator for a fetal alcohol spectrum disorders diagnostic team and, briefly, deckhand on a commercial salmon fishing boat. I eventually found my way back to North Carolina to work as a medical assistant at a Family Medicine clinic in Benson, NC through a service fellowship called MedServe. Along the way I discovered a love for primary care and the strength and closeness of rural communities.

I attended medical school at the University of North Carolina and was quickly drawn to the breadth and community focus of Family Medicine. I spent four weeks at MAHEC Hendersonville for an acting internship and was blown away by how competent, caring, and welcoming everyone was. By the end of four weeks, I felt I had found my people.

I am thrilled to be joining the Hendersonville team and look forward to pursuing my interests of comprehensive care, rural health, farmworker health, and improving access to healthy living for all. In my free time you will find me hiking, sneaking in trips to the beach to surf, playing the guitar and banjo, and relaxing at home with my partner, Jiyun, and our cat, Chao.

I grew up in Eastern North Carolina, a town on the coast – Jacksonville. I have a passion for Public Health and got a BS in Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill…Go Heels! I wanted to grow this passion so I got a Masters in Public Health at Campbell University and stayed there for Medical School.

I’m excited to move to Western North Carolina and work with new people, a new community and a new team. I look forward to utilizing my work and training in the Public Health sector, my commitment to community health and preventative medicine. Being from the beach I really love boating and kayaking, I’m also a huge fan of hiking and a total Harry Potter nerd…quiz me any day!