About Me

I am a board certified pediatrician based in the San Francisco Bay Area and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  My primary care practice largely consists of low income and new immigrant underserved communities.  Hearing and being a part of my patients’ powerful stories has moved me to become an outspoken advocate to leaders and the media for improving health care access and quality.

I am honored to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Physicians Alliance and am a national leader of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Media and technology can play a powerful role in improving health and well being.  In my estimation we have just scratched the surface on the transformative ways that technology can be used to connect with others, cultivate positive habits, and create opportunities for well being.  I am excited to be a Co-Founder of HealthBegins, a think-and-do-tank that seeks to improve upstream factors that impact health.

When I get a chance (best during a long plane flight) I enjoy writing and blogging for  The Huffington Post.  My writing has also appeared on San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate), The Health Care Blog, Moms Rising, and KevinMD.

My true strength comes from my family and faith.  I am deeply thankful for my loving wife and two spirited children.   I have humbly accepted the hard truth that being a pediatrician only provides a marginal advantage to fatherhood which seems to diminish as my children dare to express their own opinions.

 

Background

Bachelor of Arts, The University of Chicago

Doctor of Medicine,  Medical University of South Carolina

Masters in Public Health,  Harvard University

Pediatric internship and residency training,  University of California, San Francisco

Fellow, California HealthCare Foundation Health Leadership Program

 

Back-Background

Having spent my formative years in the American South, I will drop most everything for a plate of shrimp and grits with a side of black eyed peas.  I became avid jazz music fan during my college years in Chicago’s Southside after being reborn listening to Kind of Blue, purchased at at a used CD store on 53rd Street.  (I dream of trading nights in the cozy hospital call room for nights as a jazz radio station DJ.)  I am also a Bay Area sports fan with irrational fanaticism for the San Francisco Giants and the 49ers.