About Me

I grew up in Detroit, Michigan and was attracted to studying science for as long as I can recall. My desire to help improve peoples’ lives led me to concentrate on the health sciences. I attended college and Medical School at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. During my residency in internal medicine at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, I visited a college friend in Portland during February and loved the city. After my training, I moved to Portland with my wife to join Kaiser Permanente in 1984. I figured (correctly) that if I loved Portland in the dead of winter, I’d love it even more the rest of the year.

About my practice

I strongly believe in prevention, and recognize that engaging patients and educating them about important health choices is an important part of being a doctor. Because of my strong background in the sciences and my desire to maximize my patients’ health, I gravitated to work in population-based care and evidence-based medicine. After years of work in diagnosing and treating lipid disorders (e.g., high cholesterol) and prevention of cardiovascular diseases at the individual and population levels, I took the position of Director, Guidelines and Evidence-Based Medicine for the Northwest region in 2002. In that role, I’ve had the opportunity to work at the Kaiser Permanente national level, the US national level and internationally with guidelines and evidence-based medicine groups, all seeking to improve health on a large scale. That work is very challenging, but also very rewarding. But it’s my work with individual patients that keeps me grounded.

How I thrive

I stay very physically active with tennis, skiing and regular exercise. I love playing music to challenge me, intellectually and creatively. My wife and I enjoyed raising our son, who is now well on his way to becoming a Mechanical Engineer. Now, she and I have taken up travelling to keep us exposed to new horizons.