My Story

I knew I had always to become a doctor.  In fact, I cannot remember a time when I did not want to become a doctor.  I was surrounded by medicine as my Dad is a doctor and his Dad was a doctor.  And it wasn’t so much something that I was supposed to do, I always felt I wanted to become a doctor.

In preparing for my career as a doctor, I felt that I needed to go to the best college to prepare myself for medical school.  So when it came time to look at colleges, I quickly chose Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD as Johns Hopkins is considered a medical powerhouse institution.  I applied early decision, meaning this was the only college I applied to.  Great news--I was chosen and was informed very early on in my senior year of high school that I soon would be going to Johns Hopkins! 

I arrived at Johns Hopkins in the fall of 1992 eager to get started on my path to becoming a doctor.  What was supposed to be a very exciting time in my life, quickly turned into a dark and grey nightmare.  The attitudes and aura at Johns Hopkins was cold and dark and super competitive and a place that I could not stand.  Looking back now, it was everything that conventional medicine represents: antiquated, inflexible, and rigid.

For a lot of people in my shoes, most people, I imagine, would have sucked it up and said I started on this path, I need to continue.  But not me. I just could not live and learn in such a cold and grey environment.  I made the decision to transfer--which is a huge deal, by the way. I needed to get out of Johns Hopkins and find a place that I could relax and be free.  Luckily, I was accepted at Brown University in Providence, RI and transferred there the next fall.

Brown is pretty much the polar opposite to Johns Hopkins.  It is just as strong an academic institution being an Ivy League school, but has a much more flexible and open approach to learning.  Where Johns Hopkins was cold and dark, Brown was bright and colorful.

When I transferred to Brown, I also decided that since I was going to spend my career in medicine, that it would be fun to study a non-science, so I majored in Old World Archaeology and Art.  I even went on an archaeological dig in the middle east, while studying at Brown.

My experience at Brown definitively opened my eyes away from the cold institutional world of conventional medicine and I attribute my desire to think outside of the box as having started at Brown.

While at Brown, I certainly continued to pursue my desire to go to medical school and so I made sure I completed all of my pre-med requirements along with Archaeology training.  I applied to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, was accepted and off I went in the fall of 1996.

It was at Jefferson that the best part of my life occurred--I met my future wife, Laura!  I divide my life really into Pre Laura and Post Laura--my life now is defined by her completely. She's a tremendous, gigantic influence on me and everything I think about and everything I do. It is awesome.  Even though I had a great eye-opening experience at Brown, I was still, for the most part, a conventional student.  Well, here comes Laura, this amazing, free-thinking, independent artist who studies anatomy and biochemistry by drawing large diagrams of the human body full of color and detail.  There was nothing conventional about Laura--she has so many gifts, one of which is her amazing ability to CREATE.  And so Laura and I had the best time of our lives in medical school--we spent countless hours “studying" anatomy and biochemistry that actually turned into countless hours of playing games, purusing book stores and walking all over Philadelphia. We fell in love and I am so much of a better person because of her.

As an aside, it is Laura who continues to furnish our connection to the natural earth--she started our tremendous organic garden and orchard in our backyard, inspired us to start composting and is the best organic chef using pure, natural, organic ingredients to create the best food. She also creates by sewing our clothes, crafts using upcylced material so now we have a house filled with the most amazing tree branch sculptures, bird houses and glorious paintings.  All of this as she homeschools our two children (her real passion is being a Mom)! Yes, I am VERY lucky!!!

After graduating from medical school in 2000, we completed our internships in Virginia. We then traveled over to Arizona where we spent a couple of years working and having our first child. It is there that another big change occurred in our lives. We had our daughter. It's interesting that being a Doctor, you think you know how to, you're trained to take care of babies, but that goes out the door when you have your own child. And so our precious little daughter had colic. And she was uncomfortable and we were not happy with that at all obviously.

We went to her Pediatrician on several occasions, asking, "Hey, what can we do to help her. She's clearly uncomfortable. She's not feeling good, What can we do?"

And the response was always the same: “Oh, she'll get over it in a few months, she'll be fine."

A few months, a few months? You would never tell an adult just to wait a few months and you'll be fine. That was very unsettling for us--and so we started to look outside the realm of the conventional medical world to find our own solutions to help our daughter.

This was a big shift and in how we thought about things--both being doctors, it was almost like a slap in the face to be given such poor advice.  So we had to think laterally and outside the box.  We could not believe we were told that our daughter would be fine (in a few months)! 

Oh let her cry, it's okay. No, no, no, no. We were not about to let our daughter cry and be uncomfortable even if it's for one day. That was laughable for us. That seems like a joke. And so we found our own solutions, outside of the conventional medical world and that really propelled us to think: “You know, this is not working. The conventional medical world is not working."

And our natural approach for helping our daughter transcended then upon our approach to helping our patients. Once we stated thinking along this line., It's hard to think any other way, because once you start thinking outside the box, it's hard to get back in that box. There are numerous and endless solutions and ideas and ways for people to feel better without having to rely on medicines and surgery. This was an eye opening experience for us as both parents and physicians.   

After spending a few years in Arizona, we decided to move back to the East Coast and chose Charleston, South Carolina, mostly because we wanted somewhere warm. My wife had visited Charleston once in her life and enjoyed it on a family vacation; I had never been. It seemed like a great fit as one of the problems we had with Arizona was that it was land locked. And since we really enjoyed the water, and the ocean, Charleston seemed ideallic with it's numerous beaches.

And so we moved to Charleston where I finished my residency in Family Medicine. Upon doing so, I decided, I wanted to open my own medical practice--a practice where I could be fully in charge of the philosophy of the practice.  I had jumped ship from the conventional medical world and needed a place I could let my desire for natural health and healing expand.

This is quite unique for a resident coming out of a residency to open their own pracitce--it certainly was a large financial risk. The general path that physician's take is they complete their residency, a 3 -5 year program generally in a hospital. And after their residency, they go to work for a group of doctors or work at a hospital.  I didn't like that option--I knew that I wanted to practice medicine in different way. And having my own practice would allow me the flexibility to do that, because, even through my residency, I knew the conventional medical model was not helping.

What is that model? Simply the model of western medicine: label, diagnose, prescribe medicine or surgery. Repeat, repeat, repeat. That's it. There's really no other options And all medical education is shaped by this model. Not intentionally, but it does happen. And the conventional medical model is failing.

Just think about it--think about the last time you visited your doctor. What happened ? Probably you were given a diagnosis and offered some medicine or surgery. That's not working. And patients are not getting better, in fact I feel patients are getting worse. We have just as much heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity that we did 20 years ago, maybe more.

Knowing this, knowing that western medicine is failing many people with its approach of label, diagnose and prescribe medicine or surgery, I opened my own practice- Primary Plus Organic Medicine with a new focus-- a focus on helping patients achieve optimal health and well-being, naturally. I'm very interested in helping patients figure out the root cause to their problems and I'm not so much interested in covering up their symptoms. The goal is certainly to get everyone feeling as well as they can and I think people have much better success when they understand the physiology and biochemistry.

Commonly, I see patients now who complain of multiple problems including fatigue, abdominal pain, constipation, hot flashes, weight gain, you name it. And for every patient my approach is the same, let's look at all of these symptoms,  these processes from every angle. So instead of just running a few blood tests and throwing my hands up and saying, “I don't know, maybe you need an anti-depressant," I'd much rather look and say: “How is your nutrition? How are your hormones acting? How is your immune system behaving? How is your detoxification system functioning? How is your vitamin system operating? How is your autonomic nervous system? How is your brain chemistry affecting how you feel, affecting what is your reality of life?

There are so many components to health and wellness. There are genetics, and there are behavioral issues: what are you eating? are you drinking alcohol? are you smoking cigarettes?

And then there are many other issues that go well beyond these common issues such as are your hormones balanced? What are the level of your hormones? What are the level of your amino acids and fatty acids?

You read about Omegas 3 and 6 but you are not really sure what that means. I can tell you exactly what it means for you.

You see generic advice just doesn't work. Whether you are someone trying to lose weight or you are professional athlete. Generic advice just does not work because everyone is individual and unique. I embrace this notion.

We run several different tests for patients to try and figure out what is going on with them right now. Because my goal, ultimately, is to get to the bottom of how they feel, to get to the root cause, and I’m successful because I do so.

I understand that their depressive mood is related to the food they are eating because maybe they are eating foods they shouldn't be eating. Yes, maybe they are eating healthy foods like broccoli and asparagus but maybe these are the wrong foods for them. Or maybe they are not getting enough amino acids because their not eating enough protein and so their amino acid levels would be low, which in turn causes their neurotransmitter levels (their serotonin, their dopamine, their  norepinephrine) to be low. When this happens, there's no way they can feel good, there's no way they can feel optimally well. Or maybe their liver is not detoxifying well and so maybe the standard liver function enzyme test that most doctors run will never uncover this. Never.

We have to understand the physiology and biochemistry and we have to have a desire to learn about this. And to fix all of these facets that may have gone awry, we employ so many natural remedies. From changing your choice of food, to adding certain vitamins and nutrients, to balancing hormones with bio identical hormones. The options are limitless.

You don't feel like you feel today just because. I don't like when I hear patients coming in to tell me, “Well my doctor told me it was either to take this medicine, have this surgery or there's nothing else they can do."

There are so many options, there's always options. Let us take the time to think about them, that is what matters. Let us take the time to dig down deep and figure out what is going on with each individual.  It is somewhat of a mystery and it is playing detective and we are investigating. But I'd much rather look around and try to figure things out than just offer prescription medicines which cover up the symptoms and carry the burden of potential side effects.

There is a better way and that way is thinking outside the box, thinking laterally, getting out of the line that continuously follows the mantra of western medicine. Don't get me wrong, I practice medicine, I prescribe medicine because I think there's a time and place for medicine. I think technology is amazing and we are lucky to be living right when we are because the use of medicine is critically important in all of our lives. But I think we need to temper that with our understanding of what's really, what's truly causing disease process.

What I like to do is help patients create their own model of health and well-being. I want patients to create what they want for their health. I don't want to solve problems because solving problems puts you back in line in having more problems, and then you'll have more problems to solve. No, we need to get outside of that loop and create what we want to create.

This is an exciting time and I enjoy so much working with patients and developing relationships with them and learning exactly what is truly going on with them and looking at everything from different angles with different lenses. That is how we find things work well.