Hendersonville Family Medicine Residency
Originally from Christiansburg, Virginia, I graduated from Harvard College in 2016. Following college, I worked as a MedServe Fellow, a primary care service fellowship. During this experience, I served at Advance Community Health in Raleigh, NC as a Medical Assistant and Community Health Worker. Since medical school, I’ve been passionate about underserved primary care medicine and became a Kenan Rural Primary Care Medical Scholar and Pisacano Scholar. Working with Sanjay Batish, MD in Leland, NC, we created the Firearms Related Incidents from Gun Shows (FiRInGS) study and won a $50,000 grant to support evaluation of the temporal association between regional gun shows and firearm events.
I chose to pursue an MBA to gather more perspective on the broader healthcare system and a toolkit to solve system-level problems. I put my new skills to work with Aledade, an Accountable Care Organization contractor, to support NC community health centers in transforming to value-based care. Following my residency training, I dream of practicing full-spectrum family medicine while being a Chief Medical Officer of a network of rural, community health centers. During my free time I can be found crocheting (@LittleBitsByJiyun on Instagram) and snuggling with my cat Chao and my husband, Andrew.
Hello! I’m Hannah and I was born and raised in the small town of Ashland, VA. I attended the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia for my undergraduate degree and went north to Hershey Pennsylvania to attend Penn State Hershey College of Medicine for Medical School.
My father passed away from cancer while I was in college, and the extraordinary care he received inspired me to pursue medicine. I am passionate about mitigating health disparities and discrimination in medicine and believe every person should have access to excellent compassionate health care.
I am excited to be joining the Hendersonville team and look forward to exploring my interests of full scope family medicine, women’s health, and rural/underserved care. On a free day you will find me doing some combination of something outside, something artsy, or something involving food and friends. I am also lucky to be supported by my wonderful husband Joey and our weird cat Benji.
I grew up down the mountain from Hendersonville in Mooresville, NC. As a North Carolina native and member of a tight-knit southern family my childhood was comprised of Sunday lunch at my Mama Billie’s house and adventures all up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway. This part of the world will always feel like home to me.
Through my academic career, I was given incredible opportunities to venture out of North Carolina and learn about medicine, cultures, and people in many different parts of the world. My innate curiosity and genuine love for hearing people’s stories brought me to live in a village in rural Nepal, work in rural Honduras, and be a full-time professor in the Southern outer banks. I was able to present research from all over the world to people all over the country. In all my experiences there was an abiding truth; life, and certainly healing, happened at the local level. In my experience, this truth holds from the Himalayas to Appalachia.
My interest in family medicine was solidified by my nontraditional path to medical school and all of the places I saw primary care as the largest gap in outcomes for populations. Family medicine for me is primarily about becoming an integral part of the community I am serving, it is within community that we have the rare opportunity to truly help people heal in ways that are lasting and significant. I wanted to become a rural family medicine doctor who uses their life to invest in the people around them. I am so thankful to be coming back to my neck of the woods/world to practice as a resident country doctor in Hendersonville. This program provided the depth and breadth of independence, exposure, and amazing support I was looking for in my desire to train at a truly full scope program.
Outside of medicine you can find me attempting to start a homestead equipped with seed bags and YouTube. I love reading and usually have about three different books going at any given time. I also love doing all the outdoor things with my fiancé and rescue dog Willow who can hike and ride in the canoe with the best of them!
I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI and took a non-traditional route to medical school: I studied Romance Languages and Literature and International Studies at University of Michigan. After college, I trained in San Francisco to be an esthetician and massage therapist. Taking care of people with acne is a passion of mine, and I continued to work in skin care while doing my post-baccalaureate for medical school.
I truly believe every part of the body works together; I always wanted to take care of the whole person instead of one system. I went to University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville and was the student that loved everything. It was hard to think about giving any part of medicine up, so Family Medicine was a perfect fit! I am particularly interested in working with my hands, dermatology, mental health, family planning, and lifestyle and integrative medicine.
In my free time, you can find me veganizing my favorite foods (I am a for-the-animals vegan), doing hot yoga, writing, and learning languages. I am always learning new things in French and Spanish, but I am currently studying Italian.
I want to be the doctor my patients go to for everything at any point in their lives. I felt the training in a rural health program would help me be a more well-rounded family physician. The opportunity to take care of a large Latinx community was also a huge draw for me to MAHEC in Hendersonville. Aside from being physically close to my family, the people in the program made it feel like home away from home.
Hi, everyone! My name is Lyda. I’m originally from Charleston, SC. I come from a large, blended family and have 5 siblings.
I studied anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, where my free time was spent with the Outdoors Club and working on urban farm projects. After college, I accepted an Americorp position in the Copper River Valley of Alaska. It was there that I fell in love with living in a small, close-knit community. I also experienced the unique challenges rural areas face in accessing healthcare. I went on to the University of Alaska for premedical coursework with a newfound goal of becoming a small town doctor.
I headed home to the south for medical school at University of South Carolina in Columbia. Medical school rotations confirmed my interest in full-scope family medicine. I also found that I loved working with patients experiencing mental illness. I couldn’t be happier to continue my training at MAHEC Hendersonville and join a family of passionate family medicine physicians!
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, but I have lived in North Carolina for the majority of the last 10 years. In high school I read all of Nicholas Sparks’ novels and discovered a love for North Carolina! I dreamed of living in NC and ended up at Davidson College, where I earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology and was a member of the swim team.
After graduating college, I started my gap year with two weeks in my car driving across the country. Once I reached Los Angeles, I flew to Peru where I spent two months learning Spanish and shadowing doctors. I spent the remainder of my gap year working as a background actor in television and training for triathlons. Then I spent three weeks driving back across the country to Durham, NC to start medical school at Duke University. I am so excited to be able to stay in NC for residency and serve the communities in North Carolina!
In my free time I like to crochet, do any kind of water sport, and explore on my bicycle. I am so excited to start my next adventure as a Family Medicine resident in Hendersonville! I love that family medicine allows me to pursue all my passions in medicine and allows for long lasting relationships with my patients.
Hi there! I grew up in rural Glasgow, Kentucky, where I experienced firsthand how a zip code can determine access to healthcare. Before medical school, I completed college at the University of Louisville, making the somewhat unorthodox choice to study biology and studio art. After that, I attended medical school at UofL’s Trover Rural Track. There, I served as a co-director and student provider in our free clinic, the Hopkins County Community Clinic, where I developed a passion for meeting the community where they to provide equitable healthcare.
I believe that the physician’s job description, first and foremost, is to heal. This of course means healing the body, but also healing emotionally, fiscally, and otherwise, ultimately to heal a community. Family medicine was a perfect fit for me because it most allows the physician to be a holistic healer in this way. My special interests within family medicine include mental health, and reproductive health.
When I am not thinking about medicine, you can find me drawing, painting, tending to my controlled jungle of houseplants, or feeding the deer and birds in my backyard (cue Mary Poppins song). I am also constantly on the lookout for the best coffee in town, so please send me your recommendations!
When I interviewed in Hendersonville, I strangely felt that I was surrounded by “my people.” Everyone I met had similar interests to my own, within and without medicine, and were immediately welcoming to me. I am thrilled to be continuing my education at MAHEC Hendersonville by training to provide excellent, first-class healthcare to those that need it most.
Hi everyone! I am originally from Washington state, where my family still lives in the beautiful San Juan Islands. After graduating from a small liberal arts college in eastern Washington I worked as a neurodiagnostic technician. I obtained my MPH through the University of Minnesota and worked for several years on the industry side of medicine, both on pharmaceutical and medical device clinical trials. Working with oncology clinical trial patients and terminally ill patient populations sparked my passion for palliative care.
My clinical rotation years were spent in Alaska where I fell in love with rural primary care. I experienced firsthand the health disparities in rural America and the strong, lasting impact that family medicine doctors can have not only on patients but entire communities. From that point on, I knew I wanted to practice full spectrum family medicine!
Outside of medicine I am a lifelong athlete. I was a competitive collegiate swimmer, and now CrossFitter, Olympic lifter and on and off coach. I love movement and inspiring others to use their bodies and find their own strength.
I love dogs (maybe too much), and my partner Brad and I currently have 8 perfect fur babies. He is from NC originally, and we are excited to come back to the area and establish ourselves in the wonderful Hendersonville community. I couldn’t be more excited to join the MAHEC Hendersonville team to continue my training among like-minded family medicine physicians!
Hi everyone! My name is Alex, and I am so excited to be joining the team here in Hendersonville! I grew up in New Orleans, but I spent many summers visiting family in Brevard, NC, about half an hour from Hendersonville.
I attended college at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I initially thought I wanted to be an archaeologist. I even got to go on archaeological dig near Fairbanks, Alaska! While this was a truly incredible experience, back in the Bronx I had been teaching health education to ninth graders for a program called Peer Health Exchange, and this is where I really felt at home. This led me to pursue working as an afterschool teacher at a non-profit called CitySquash in Brooklyn. While I loved working with my coworkers, students, and their families, I missed the health-specific content from my volunteering days in college. Thus began my journey to medical school, and I worked the next two years as an EMT and medical scribe throughout New York City before starting medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.
Volunteering at Einstein’s student-run free clinic introduced me to family medicine, and I loved the holistic and patient-first care the family doctors practiced. In my family medicine rotation, I deeply admired the strong trust between physicians and their patients, and among all the members of the healthcare team. Additionally, the variety of family medicine allows for me to pursue my personal interests of pediatric care, neonatal and maternal health, and substance use disorders.
I am so excited to be joining the residency in Hendersonville!! I’m so grateful to be joining a team so committed to each other and the health of their community.
In my free time, I am a total home body and love to spoil my yellow lab Maggie, and two cats Minerva and Serenity. I am also stoked to be able to see my parents and family more over in Brevard!!
Hi everyone! I’m Katie Lively. My family is from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia, and I am looking forward to continuing my training in this region. Though I’ve always been a Georgia girl, I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter here in Hendersonville, North Carolina with my partner Cody and our fur babies, Eden and Putney.
I went to college at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia and majored in Psychology and Sociology, where I began to better understand how social, personal, and economic factors can impact a person’s wellbeing and quality of life. I longed for a career where I could merge my insatiable love for learning with a desire to serve others and advocate for their wellbeing… and I landed on medicine! I attended the Medical College of Georgia where I was the chapter co-founder and inaugural co-president of the SNaHP (Students for a National Health Program) Interest Group. During my time at MCG I also served as a Student Director for the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians, where I was able to collaborate with members to influence advancements in practice, patient care, and health equity for Georgians.
I am interested in practicing full-scope family medicine within a community that I myself am embedded in. I look forward to delivering uniquely tailored care to my patients that empowers them to elevate their quality of life and achieve better health.
I felt that the mission of MAHEC was aligned with my own values and firm belief that effective healing stems from understanding the unique personal and social factors that shape patients’ lives. I know that here I will build the tools to care for all!
I was born in the Philippines, but moved to North Carolina with my family at age 6 and have lived in the state ever since. Most of my family works in healthcare from nursing to respiratory therapy, but I am the first in my family to become a physician. I graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Psychology and Chemistry. During undergrad, I did a wide variety of non-medical things, including being a linguistics research lab assistant, playing with the UNC Marching Tar Heels, and learning jiu jitsu. I also worked in multiple clinical settings, including as caregiver for psychiatric patients, emergency medical technician, and medical scribe in labor and delivery.>/p>
My many interests led me to pursuing becoming a family physician, and so I stayed at UNC Schoolt of Medicine. As a student, I helped develop our ultrasound curriculum, worked with our climate change advocacy group, and taught pre-medical students. I have a particular interest in providing procedural care, seeing patients of all ages and backgrounds, and promoting both physical and mental health. Training as a family physician is a dream come true as I can do all of that and more. In my 4th year, I visited MAHEC Hendersonville for a short rotation and came to love the small community, full-spectrum practice, and close-knit program. I’m incredibly excited to be part of this amazing group of people.
Outside of medicine, I still play music and drums, train as a competitive powerlifter, and enjoy video games like The Legend of Zelda. I am a huge fan of college sports and always cheer on the Tar Heels.
Hey! I’m Allison, and I am originally from a town just outside of Burlington, Vermont. I studied biology for my undergraduate degree in Buffalo, NY and then attended medical school at Nova Southeastern University about seven years later. During my break between undergraduate and medical school I spent time volunteering with the American Red Cross and AmeriCorps NCCC, traveling abroad, and working both in and out of the medical field. A lot of these experiences helped shape my desire to pursue primary care, and I am excited to start this journey with MAHEC.
Some of my interests in medicine include mental health, global health, and lifestyle medicine. I also have an interest in wilderness medicine and spent part of my time earning a degree in Disaster and Emergency Medicine which I hope to incorporate into my future practice. Other interests of mine include being in the mountains, being outside, going on walks, reading, and music.
Hi!! My name is Louisa and I’m thrilled to be joining MAHEC Hendersonville in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. I grew up spending summers in the area, and it’s been calling my name ever since!
I am originally from Decatur, Georgia, a small town just outside of Atlanta, and I did my undergrad at Davidson College in North Carolina. After college, I spent a year working at a local Davidson nonprofit organization followed by a year working with the Virginia Department of Health in Richmond, Virginia. Both experiences taught me the value of preventative medicine and motivated me to pursue primary care. While at medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University, I participated in the VCU fmSTAT Scholars program, which supports students going into family medicine and augments the SOM curriculum with FM-relevant education. As an M4 student I was fortunate to do an away rotation at MAHEC and saw immediately that the type of physician I wanted to be was being modeled by residents and faculty alike.
My own interests in full-scope practice, migrant healthcare, and addiction medicine are core components of Hendersonville's training, and I look forward to joining the community that already feels like home.
Outside of work, you will find me walking my needy (beloved) Aussie/hound mix, Ginny, or playing with my cat, Squirrel. I also enjoy horseback riding (shameless horse girl!) and choral music (choir nerd!). One day I hope I can add chicken-owner to this bio.
Hi there! My name is Constance Fontanet (she/her), and I’m very excited to be completing my post-graduate medical training at MAHEC Hendersonville’s Family Medicine Residency. I was born and raised in Paris, France, and most of my family still lives there!
I studied biology and anthropology at Mount Holyoke College in Western Massachusetts. After college, I lived in Boston, MA for 5 years where I obtained my MPH, worked in health services research, and spent a lot of time involved in municipal and state advocacy campaigns.
I moved north to New Hampshire to attend the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, close to the beautiful White Mountains. During my family medicine rotation in the small town of Cottonwood, ID, I fell in love with rural family medicine. I am particularly interested in family planning, and substance use challenges, but am hoping to pursue full-spectrum practice and care for whole families.
In my free time, I like to hike, swim, read, eat cheese, and find cheap tickets to concerts/ shows/ museums. I am excited to have moved down the Appalachian trail and exploring Western North Carolina!
Hi! My name is Aleksa Kirsteins and I am delighted to be back in North Carolina serving my fellow North Carolinians! Much of my family lives in rural areas, which laid the foundation for my decision to pursue rural and underserved populations in my home state. After graduating college with a degree in biology, I was sure I wanted to help people, but wasn’t sure of what exactly I wanted to do yet. I was a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) in a nursing home and an EMT for an emergency department in Greensboro for several years before I realized medicine was my path to serve my community to my fullest extent.
I was accepted at the American University of the Caribbean, where I spent a year on the island of Sint Maarten. I worked with the extremely underserved population there before continuing with my clinical studies in many parts of the country including New York, Louisiana, and Florida. My broad clinical and educational experience brought me back home to North Carolina, where I hope to start my own rural community practice.
When I am not in clinic, you can find me all over the place! I enjoy multiple outdoor activities including running, hiking, and swimming, or I may be indoors reading, painting, at the gym, or taking care of my various plants, aquariums, or my kitty Lola. My favorite book series is The Lord of the Rings!
Howdy, y’all! I’m Melinda, and I’m thrilled to be a resident physician with MAHEC-Hendersonville!
Both of my parents served in the U.S. Navy, so while I consider Augusta, Georgia my hometown, I was actually born in Germany and didn’t set foot on American soil until I was nearly five! We eventually settled in Georgia, which has shaped much of my identity and sense of purpose.
My journey to medicine has been a winding one. I first earned a BA in English Literature from Augusta State University, followed by an MA in Women’s Studies from Georgia State University. I spent several years working in the nonprofit sector before deciding to pursue a career in medicine. Along the way, I picked up an “accidental” degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Augusta University and ultimately earned my MD from the Medical College of Georgia.
I’m passionate about providing compassionate, community-oriented care to those who need it most, especially in areas where access is limited. That’s what drew me to Hendersonville in the first place—its mission of serving the historically under-resourced communities of rural southern Appalachia aligns perfectly with my values and goals.
When I’m not in the clinic, you can find me enjoying the arts, hiking in the mountains, or watching Parks and Recreation on repeat.
Hello, everyone! I’m Abigail Mohr. I grew up in the beautiful hill country of Appalachia in Kentucky, and it’s here where I experienced my first glimpse of what medical poverty looks like in rural communities. I stayed close to home for undergrad and studied developmental psychology and biology; but afterward, I decided to branch out for medical school by attending Tulane University in New Orleans. Life in the Big Easy is always a party, and the city’s diverse population is one of the most resilient in the nation.
While I thoroughly enjoyed my time learning about the facets of providing healthcare to the urban underserved, I am delighted to be back in the mountains for residency at Hendersonville’s MAHEC program. I am passionate about digging deep roots in a community and providing excellent rural care to each patient I visit, and this life view was mirrored back to me by every faculty member and resident I met here during my interview. My special interests in Family medicine include the intersection of maternal care and addiction medicine, but in truth there is very little in this field that I don’t enjoy!
During my spare time, you can find me exploring coffee shops (mostly for the vibes), reading, drawing, painting (paint by numbers, I am not talented), and trying to match my partner’s ability in cooking (currently failing). I also enjoy hiking – aka nature walking – for a little grounding after tough days. I am thrilled to do more outdoorsy stuff now that I am back in the mountains!
I was born in Connecticut, grew up primarily in Roswell, Georgia, and have moved up and down the east coast since graduating high school. I went to Georgetown University for undergrad, where I double-majored in English and History and minored in Chinese language. During my undergrad years, I had no interest in medicine; in fact, the only science course I took was astronomy, which has not proven to be particularly relevant thus far in my medical career. But I am a firm believer that no learning is ever wasted, and I continue to appreciate a good meteor shower!
After graduation, I worked for a tradeshow and conference management company that produced events in a variety of industries, including gifts and souvenirs, Halloween and party, restaurants, art, aviation, and casinos. I had the privilege of working with the National Indian Gaming Association, where I learned a great deal from my colleagues about the many challenges faced and triumphs achieved by indigenous people in this country. By getting a better understanding of how the advent of tribal casinos and subsequent prosperity changed the trajectory for many individuals on reservations, I became keenly interested in social determinants of health, the impact of intergenerational trauma on health outcomes, and social justice in healthcare. Before I knew it, I found myself sitting in Intro to Chemistry at Georgia State University, and the long and winding path towards Medical College of Georgia, Family Medicine, and MAHEC Hendersonville had begun.
I am so excited to kick off this next chapter of my life in Hendersonville! I look forward to learning everything I can, practicing full-scope family medicine, and embracing everything Western NC has to offer. When I am not absorbed in all things medicine, I am typically reading some mystery novel, trying out new hobbies, and catering to the whims of my fur baby, Honey Cat. Although currently a cat mom, I consider myself an equal-opportunity crazy animal woman and will always want to hear about your pets and see pics of any and all animals.
