About Me

I was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria. While I was growing up, medicine was discussed almost every day as my father was a physician who had a PhD in preventive medicine and my mother was a chief financial officer of a medical institution. Health is the most precious thing in our life. Helping people to prevent sickness was something worth dedicating my life to. In 1986, I graduated from Medical University in Sofia and practiced general medicine for three years in Bulgaria before moving to the U.S. with my family in 1990. In 1997, I completed my internal medicine residency in Brooklyn at the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center at the State University of New York, and in 1999 a nephrology fellowship at the Hospital of Saint Raphael at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven.After living first on the West Coast and then on the East Coast, my family and I were blessed to be able to move to Hawaii in 2001 and enjoy the aloha spirit of the local people, the best weather one can dream of, and the best beaches all year round.

About my practice

Nephrology is a very exciting and challenging specialty. It deals not only with various primary kidney diseases but also with diseases of all other systems and organs that can affect the kidney function. Nephrology gives me the opportunity to be a well-rounded doctor in addition to being a specialist.Medicine is an art based on limited science. Medical science is limited because every patient is unique and no scientific study can include all individual presentations of the studied disease. The art of medicine entails first listening to the patient, then asking the right questions, and finally explaining the problem and the options for prevention or treatment in plain language. What I enjoy most in my daily practice is establishing trust with my patients. Once trust is established, they understand the value of making the lifestyle changes I ask of them as part of the treatment. When a patient comes back and says, "thank you for being my doctor and changing my life for the better," no words are enough to describe the feeling of making a difference for that patient.It was an honor for me to serve as a chairman and co-organizer of the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group (HPMG) Research Symposium exhibit, "Chronic Kidney Disease: The Coming Epidemic" and a member of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii's Hypertension Performance Improvement Team. Additionally, I am a permanent member of the Kaiser Permanente Clinical Risk Committee.In recent years, I presented our research at the HPMG Symposium, "Chronic Kidney Disease: The Coming Epidemic" and "Hypertension: A rational approach." In 2013, I had the privilege to be a moderator on a Scientific Program and Continuous Medical Education course of the European Renal Association. At the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry I had the opportunity to moderate a panel of international experts on diagnosing and treating the various stages of chronic kidney disease.I volunteer at the Kidney Early Evaluation Program for the National Kidney Foundation in Hawaii.

How I thrive

My family is the healthiest environment for me. I also stay mentally and physically healthy by exercising regularly and discussing various social issues during monthly dinners with other colleagues. I enjoy playing soccer and watching sports events with friends, listening to music, improving the quality of old music records with computer software, playing drums, reading history or watching the History Channel, traveling and exploring new cultures.