Family Med Hendersonville People

I grew up in Chattanooga, where I attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for a degree in computer science. After a few years of traveling, soul searching, and white-water kayaking, I made my way to Blacksburg, VA, where I attended the medical school at the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, or VCOM to make it easy. It was during a rotation during my fourth year that I discovered the Hendersonville program, and things have fallen into place ever since.

I had known about the mountains of Western North Carolina since I was a teenager, having made many treks to paddle the Green River and hike some of the many trails nearby. There is something special about being in these hills, and I don't think that anyone who has ever visited the area would disagree. And the same goes for the people, which makes for a perfect atmosphere to perfect the art of medicine.

Our program is unique. The sense of community between the residents, attendings, and hospital staff is unique in the dog-eat-dog world of medicine. I have often said:  'In the hospital where I trained in medical school (a large academic medical center), you would get on the elevator and not say a word to the people standing next to you. But in Hendersonville, you won’t make it to the second floor without knowing what the person next to you is having for dinner.' I hope you take the time to explore our program. It truly is an amazing place.

My fiancé Becca and I grew up by the water in Virginia’s Middle Peninsula region, and we never imagined that we would end up here in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. But we were drawn to the area’s rich arts and culture, its breathtaking views, and Hendersonville’s innovative family medicine program.

When I attended Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, I knew I wanted to pursue family medicine, particularly in underserved rural areas. I was drawn to the residency’s participation in the P4 program, as well as its aspirations to be high tech yet low overhead. I also chose this program because of the camaraderie and support among the residents and the faculty. This residency aspires to produce good people as well as good doctors.

The area offers a plethora of outdoor activities -- white-water rafting, hiking, and bicycling, to name a few. Hendersonville’s historic main street area alone boasts more than 30 restaurants, numerous coffee shops, a food co-op, and a small brewery. Plus, it’s only a quick drive to Asheville, known for its music venues, theaters and festivals. Becca, our dog Kinley, and I are looking forward to our time here, and we would highly recommend this program to any student in search of a residency that is both innovative and intimate.

I studied anthropology at Smith College in Massachusetts, and worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon before deciding that what I really wanted to do was go to medical school. After living, working and going back to school in Philly, I moved to Boston for med school. While at Tufts, I also got my MPH and I knew that I wanted to be able to continue to explore the integration of medicine and public health throughout residency.

The Hendersonville program is a great combination of excellent opportunities in clinical medicine and innovative public health work, and is populated by a group of incredibly kind and fun people.  Hendersonville is a great small town, with a lot of character and amazing outdoor activities. So, while I took something of a circuitous route to get to this point in my life, I am excited to be here.

Hello and welcome to our residency program! Lucy and I stumbled upon Hendersonville at the end of a long search, but as soon as we came to interview here, we knew this was the place for us!

Before I came to the US I lived, studied, and practiced medicine in my home country of Ecuador. I loved that being a doctor allowed me to forge a special relationship with the communities I served, but I was interested in advancing my career in North American. I decided to study English in Canada which brought me to New York to visit my cousins. While in New York, I met Lucy. We ended up getting married and I decided to pursue my career here.

Leaving Poughkeepsie, NY, where my wife and I met and where my only family in the US lives, was not easy, but thanks to the warmth and openness of everyone we’ve encountered, the transition has been surprisingly enjoyable. I love that the Hendersonville program encourages its residents to use their unique talents to make a contribution to the program and the community. Here I feel like more than just another addition to a transient crowd of residents, I feel like a valued member of a rooted team. I know that the skills I bring will be put to good use and that I will learn a great deal from the amazingly diverse group of residents, faculty, staff, and patients. I look forward to doing more exploring of the beautiful mountains and streams the areas has to offer, to eating and cooking a lot of great food, and to taking part in the local soccer and basketball games.

I hope you’ll come check out Hendersonville. It’s a great place to live and learn!

I’m so glad that you’ve found yourself exploring our program. The road that brought us here has been so rich. My wife Kat and I are a “Mississippi woman, Louisiana man” couple (for all you Conway Twitty fans). We both grew up in Baton Rouge however, and our paths crossed and re-crossed until they became intertwined. I always thought I might be a doc, but figuring out why was the hard part. Slowly the reasons unfolded, and I had the wonderful opportunity to start med school at LSU in New Orleans, one year after Hurricane Katrina. The effect on the city’s physical and mental health was heavy, and the need for primary care was great. Early on this helped me realize that I wanted to be at the center of healthcare needs for a person, and that no one subspecialty could satisfy me. Family medicine was the only one for me, and I began to explore.

It’s here in the story that we stumbled upon this wonderful little town in Western NC. I wanted a program that prepared me to be well-rounded and empowered, one that took action concerning the underserved, and one that pushed me to think differently. We looked far and wide, and there were a fair number of places that fit the criteria, but there was something special here. Our impressions were totally confirmed after I rotated here in my 4th year. The people are stellar! Since day one as an intern, I’ve been blown away by the magic here: the positivity, the intelligence and the consistent belief that we can bring about change. Our system emphasizes independence early on, and there’s a big swell of responsibility after coming out of the last few months of medical school, but it’s wonderful to meet the new challenges head on.

We’re so pleased to be here if you couldn’t already tell. We have a new baby in tow, Adah, and she is wild and wonderful. Hendersonville is a great place to live--the outdoor opportunities are so amazing and we have yet to run out of adventures. I hope this helps you get a glimpse of what we have here, and if it so moves you, please come see for yourself.

Being born and raised in Ohio, and educated at Pikeville (KY) College of Osteopathic Medicine, I never would have guessed that I would end up in Hendersonville, North Carolina for residency! With that being said, the day I found out I matched here was one of the best days of my life. The education and experience you get here is top notch, and I couldn’t ask for better people to work with. Moreover, being a D.O., you would think I’d feel out of place, but it’s quite the opposite. Everyone has been very accepting and open minded, plus we’re lucky enough to get osteopathic students who rotate with us! Also, I regularly have clinic at a rural area where the preceptor is excellent and a D.O. as well.

In my free time, I love to hang out with my husband, Bryn, and our dog, Peanut. We’re pretty easy going people, so just ’hanging out’ is probably our favorite thing to do!

My family and I moved to
Hendersonville from the mountains of Utah to join the faculty here at the Hendersonville family medicine residency. Having come from an outpatient pay-for-production clinic, fellowship work, acute care work to residency work, I have learned that teaching residents and students is very important to my sense of job happiness and the “do-goodness” of family medicine. Here at HFHC clinic, my interests lie with residency education, wilderness medicine (very fun but not as “wild” as you think – most of us have been in places where the concepts taught in wilderness medicine are relevant!), practice efficiency, electronic medical record efficiency and design, and behavioral economics (financial and in medical decision making). We like the Hendersonville area because it is a small town that is close to the “big” town – we can take a straight flight to Europe from Charlotte, smaller hops from the Asheville airport (30 minutes away) and still enjoy walking to the downtown area to grab an ice cream cone on long summer days on Main Street. When not doing medicine, I tinker with my VW beetle (a classic air cooled engine), hike, ski when the snow comes, knit, play cello, and admit to watching any movie that has a space ship in 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.

Having just 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 here at Hendersonville Family Medicine. I was drawn to the dedication, innovation, and balance that I found in the residents and faculty at this program. My clinical passions include working with diverse patient populations, preventative medicine, and chronic disease management. 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. I am constantly reminded how family medicine allows me the best opportunity to impact the lives of others in positive sustainable fashion as well as treat patients as whole individuals. I consider myself very fortunate 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 three young daughters, a supportive wife, and a one- hundred pound bloodhound. We enjoy traveling, camping, hiking, and swimming and are eager to explore more of Western North Carolina.

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.

After completing residency at MAHEC in Asheville, I discovered an enjoyment of clinical education while supervising learners during a 2 year term working at Clinica Hombro a Hombro in southern Honduras. Upon returning to the US, I was drawn to NC 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 to a strong community hospital, MAHEC, and UNC. I count it a privilege to work alongside innovative colleagues with expertise in resident education who are adapting to both local and national medical needs with new ideas about how to offer and administer care to patients from all walks of life. Professionally, I have special interests in low-risk OB, pediatrics, and Spanish-speaking patients. Trying to keep up with our residents is intellectually and professionally stimulating.

My wife, Laura and I love living in Western North Carolina with our two sons, Luke and Gabriel. For this season of life, they are my hobby. Family life is good in Hendersonville. They will grow up with a sense of community and an appreciation for God’s creation as we picnic below Triple Falls or play in the woods behind our home. Come visit and see what I mean.

Hendersonville North Carolina is a wonderful place to work, play and raise a family. I feel very fortunate to now be working for the MAHEC-Hendersonville Residency Program, from which I was trained. This residency program really focuses on training physicians to become compassionate physicians that practice full scope family medicine, and this is exactly what I am now doing. I am working at one of the residencies rural clinic sites, in Etowah, and providing obstetrics, pediatrics and adult medicine. I have particular interests in women’s health, so this area of the practice is continuing to grow. I am also the first Osteopathic Physician to become faculty at this program, something that has always been welcomed, but still in limited supply in this community. I am excited to work with the 3rd year osteopathic medical students we have rotating with us each month, as well as increase the osteopathic medicine exposure to our current residents (both MD and DO), our patients, and to the community.

Socially, I enjoy running, hiking, and spending time with my family. I may jump into a local 5K race now and again. My husband owns a local running shoe store, and is therefore a very active member of the running community, as well as programs to help fight childhood obesity. As any family physician knows, the best medicine is prevention and living a healthy lifestyle. Western North Carolina is the perfect place to live if you enjoy outdoor activities, local music and arts, and great (even healthy) restaurants. We enjoy all four seasons, but after being raised in New Hampshire, I certainly enjoy the more mild NC winters!

BA: College of Science, Cairo University
MS: Ain Shams University
MD: Kasr Al Aini Medical School, Cairo University

After graduating from the MAHEC Residency program in 2000, I immediately joined the faculty and have been a member of the program ever since. I moved to the United States in 1991 after serving as a physician in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. I discovered my passion for teaching after taking care of the underserved population in Egypt. Teaching students, mid-level professionals, residents and patients has always been the highlight of my career. Serving in a rural community has always been fulfilling for me because this is the same environment in which I grew up. Currently, I am interested in my community’s nutrition, as both malnutrition and over-nutrition carry significant health risks to the whole population. Outside of work, I am happily surrounded by my three precious sons, Andrew, Samuel and Mark and my lovely daughter Cheryl. I enjoy travelling, swimming, tennis and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Ruth Christos, RNCS, MSN, FNP-BC, received her undergraduate and master of nursing degrees from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She completed her nurse practitioner training at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA.

Christos enjoys focusing on promoting healthy lifestyles, disease prevention, and health education. She treats a variety of both chronic and acute health conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, infections and injuries. Christos believes it is very important for individuals to be informed and involved in making their health care decisions and is committed to focusing on the whole person and their families when treating specific problems.

Christos provides a full scope of family medical care for people of all ages. She is a credentialed member of the Pardee Hospital auxilary medical staff and a residency program faculty member. The offices of the Hendersonville Family Health Center are affiliated with MAHEC and the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine and serve as a teaching facility.

Pardee's family nurse practitioners provide health assessments, direct care, and guidance, teaching, or counseling as appropriate, particularly around family self-care. Our FNP's work collaboratively with our family medicine physicians and other health care professionals.

Susan McKenney,RN, MSN, FNP-BC, BC-ADM received her graduate degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN 1992 and her undergraduate degree in Biology from Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC in 1990. She is certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and Advanced Diabetes Nurse Practitioner (BC-ADM).

Mrs. McKenney treats a variety of both chronic and acute health conditions for people of all ages. Her special interests include hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and women’s health. She promotes healthy lifestyles, disease prevention, and health education in addition to treating illnesses. She has certification and advanced training in management of all stages of diabetes. She emphasizes educating patients about all aspects of diabetes and working with other health professionals to coordinate diabetes management.

Mrs. McKenney is a member of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, American Association of Diabetes Educators, and Sigma Theta Tau (Nursing Honor Society). She is a credentialed member of the Pardee Hospital Auxillary Medical Staff.

I have been a nurse-midwife for 25 years working in private nurse-midwife practices. I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and graduate degree from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I joined the OB faculty team in Hendersonville in May, 2008 after practicing in Minneapolis and Akron Ohio. I am passionate about helping women have the personalized health care they deserve, offering a variety of birth options including water birth or epidurals and gynecologic care for women throughout their lifetime. I enjoy running, sailing, and keeping up to date with my adult children.

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.

I moved here from Chicago in 1996 and became involved with the residency program the next year. In Oak Park, I worked with West Surburban Family Practice Residency program and found the contact with residents and the broad array of patients that come through a residency program challenging and enjoyable. Perhaps because I was a nurse in my earlier life, family practice seems like a natural home for seeing the whole person.

In the last five years I completed trauma training with Peter Levine and continued to work with PTSD patients. That has lead to an interest in neuroplasticity and how to encourage patients to learn health promoting skills. .

I, and my husband Ernest, love the natural beauty and small town activity. We live on a fifty acre tract of land with a pond, which is why we bought it. The farm is often used for resident retreats.

Our garden, painting and occasional kayaking, are my hobbies. By the way, we have a fabulous white water river, the Green, twenty minutes from Hendersonville. You can meet people from many states who come to kayak there.