“If health is lost, everything is lost.” This is what I would hear my grandfather, Dr. Peter, tell his patients when I shadowed him in his clinic as a kid in India. He cared for his patients like they were his family. What he delivered was pure, genuine medicine, and he inspired me to become a physician.   

 

I came to America as a teenager and soon realized my calling to promote health and wellness among my peers and community. Throughout high school and college, I started various organizations focused on improving access to healthcare and combating unhealthy lifestyle habits that are leading to various chronic conditions like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions. I understood the importance of addressing the root cause of these problems, rather than just treating the symptoms. I was a junior in college when I decided to become not just any physician, but a family medicine physician. 

 

I attended medical school in Des Moines, Iowa, and during that period, I continued to be interested in family medicine but also developed interest in osteopathic manual medicine (OMM). This is a modality that makes DOs different from MDs; we have an additional 200+ hours of training on hands-on manual therapy techniques. One of the DO tenet is that the body has the ability to heal itself and OMM helps the body in that process. After medical school, I did my family medicine training in Chicago at Hinsdale Hospital, where I got rigorous inpatient and outpatient medicine training. Then I moved down to Florida to join my husband and started working in the private practice outpatient family medicine sector. Later when COVID hit, I moved up to Jacksonville and started working at Baptist, where I continued to practice full-spectrum family medicine. I would see pediatric patients ages 4 and up, all the way through geriatric patients.  

 

As time passed on, in addition to getting more experience clinically, I also started getting disillusioned by the shift in focus of the current healthcare system from the patient” to “the corporate.” Endless hours are spent on meeting metrics to satisfy insurance companies. The “care” is not there in healthcare anymore. Instead, it is about increasing volume, shorter appointments, and increasing revenue. This type of medicine is not what is in my heart, and I decided to start my own medical practice. This is how Haven Family Health began, out of my desire to practice simple, patient-centered, genuine medicine. In my practice, patients enjoy unrushed appointments and same-day acute visits, and we get to know each other well. It is like a family. I personalize treatment plans for my patients, take time to listen to them, and have a more holistic approach. My goal is to empower my patients and partner with them in their health journey. If this philosophy resonates with you, then I welcome you to become a part of my practice! We are currently accepting new patients and you can register to become a patient by going to our website www.havenfamilyhealth.com and clicking the “Patient Portal” button on the top right corner. From there, register as a new patient. Feel free to call us as well at 904-902-0150, and visit our office at 4243 Sunbeam Rd Suite 5, Jacksonville, FL 32257. I hope to meet with you soon!