Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency

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.

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.

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.

I was born in the United Kingdom and have spent time living across three different continents. I’m happy to raise my children and call WNC my home for a multitude of reasons—largely revolving around rivers, forests, and adventure. Soon after moving to the USA, I started working with homeless and runaway youth in Asheville, quickly recognizing that early intervention leads to positive outcomes. After attaining my MSW and clinical licensure, I moved on to work at a Recovery Education Center in Transylvania County with a focus on Substance Use Disorders within the rural setting. Serving as an outpatient therapist at various FQHC sites, I again find myself the opportunity to offer targeted interventions at critical moments for at-risk populations. I am trained in DBT, CBT, and EMDR and enjoy working with complex trauma, disordered personalities, and substance use disorders. I appreciate any opportunity to share my experiences, knowledge, and passions surrounding wellness and mental health within the residency program. I approach my practice with the ethos that life is short and we all deserve to find a life worth living with an emphasis on harm reduction. I am grateful and energized to work within an organization promoting inclusivity, empowerment, and civility. My hobbies include whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, guitar, and painting miniatures.

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.

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, 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!

Being called to figure out how we make a positive difference in the health of our community, lands me in the hills of Western North Carolina committed to academic teaching, service, and engagement. Having completed a National Health Service Corps Scholarship at a Community Health Center in underserved St. Louis, I am drawn to the dedication, innovation, and balance that I found in the residents and faculty of this program. My journey here has led me to an array of experiences abroad in Honduras, Guatemala, and Kenya, as well as challenges closer to home like working with people experiencing homelessness, rural health, and person-centered delivery models. Working in underserved communities with residents inspires me to create change that matters for those that need it most. As chair of the Department of Community and Public Health at UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC, I have the opportunity to expand community outreach throughout our rural region, build pathways that support equitable access to health careers, and train public health leaders. I am constantly reminded how family medicine allows me the best opportunity to impact the lives of others in a positive and 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.

Outside of the office, I am happily surrounded by the commotion of four young daughters, a supportive wife, and the companionship of two dogs, one cat, several chickens, fish, and a gecko. 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!

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.

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 four 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.

Growing up as a homeschooler in Western North Carolina allowed me to explore the world outside my front door as well as abroad. My parents are firm advocates of experiential education. My early years found me disembarking a bus in a Guatemalan mountain village and being allowed to wander through town to make new friends on the soccer pitch. At home, I could be found in the deep hollers of our mountain home or catching crawdads in the creek. Much of this early exploration was foundational to who I am today. I love meeting new people from all walks of life, sitting with a patient and truly listening to their story, building vegetable gardens in our clinic, and advocating for healthcare in rural WNC.

I completed my BA in theatre and biology at UNC–Chapel Hill, where I had the opportunity to spend five months interning with practitioners of homeopathy, Ayurveda, and traditional Chinese medicine across India, Nepal, and China. During my clinical time in medical school, I witnessed too many primary care physicians running on a treadmill with no control over the speed setting. They often pointed to insurance, documentation requirements, or the business of medicine as culprits for their unhappiness—what didn’t sit well with me was the utter lack of empowerment I witnessed. This prompted me to pursue my MBA concurrently with medical school.

My dream clinic is one that is not simply a single-file line of patients waiting to interface with my limited knowledge base, but a gathering point for the community. I currently have three group visits around topics including lifestyle medicine, substance use disorders, and individuals with high ED utilization who lack insurance. I am passionate about being meaningfully involved in addiction treatment, rural prenatal access to care, intergenerational and communal cycles of trauma, and creating sanctuary spaces for healing healers and healing patients.

In my free time, I am in my garden, tearing down and rebuilding parts of my house in Morganton, cultivating mushroom logs, whitewater kayaking, traveling abroad, or spending time with family.

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!