Specialty Family Medicine Facility San Jose Medical Center Department of Continuing Care Address 275 Hospital Parkway Suite 835 San Jose CA 95119 Map & Directions Telephone (408) 972-3390 [Administrative Assistant] (408) 972-6568 [Medical Assistant] (408) 972-6477 [After Hours line] (408) 972-6616 [Home Health office] (408) 972-6168 [Fax 8am-5pm weekdays, not holidays] (408) 972-6471 [Fax After Hours] E-mail your doctor View your preventive services

Department Hours

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Closed	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 5:00 pm	8:30 am 5:00 pm	Closed
Closed during lunch, 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Welcome to my home page!

As a Kaiser Permanente physician in the Department of Continuing Care, I fill a number of roles. I provide medical care to residents in nursing facilities and make visits to homebound individuals. I also work in Palliative Care, helping patients who are hospitalized with serious illnesses and may be suffering from pain or other unpleasant symptoms, or who may benefit from discussion of health care wishes in the face of these illnesses. As these conditions eventually progress towards the end of life, I care for patients as director of the Hospice Team, working closely with nurses, social workers, home health aides, volunteers and chaplain.

About me

I was born and raised in the South Bay where I attended public schools; my parents still live in the same house in which I grew up. Back then, our family had Kaiser healthcare, and I also did later, when my own children were born.

Some time after graduating from UC Berkeley in Social Welfare, I went to Tufts University in Boston where I obtained my Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health degrees. I completed my residency training back in the Bay Area at UCSF’s Family Medicine program at San Francisco General Hospital, and then stayed on to work in San Francisco’s community clinics where I could help those who had little or no medical insurance. My interest in geriatrics blossomed subsequently during my years at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, caring for veterans in the nursing home, whether they were there for rehabilitation or for long term care. From this came the opportunity to care for individuals near the end of their lives, as well as the opportunity to try to address the commonly complex issues, questions and decisions that appear during this difficult period. My desire to be of instrumental benefit to people at this crucial time led me to complete the Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship at the VA in Palo Alto.

Outside of practicing medicine, I enjoy spending time with my large and close-knit family. I also love gardening, hiking, sewing, classical piano, and exploring faraway places.

My recommendations

Discuss with your family and loved ones your desires for health care in the event the unthinkable should occur; how you would want to live and how you would not want live. Making sure they know your wishes in advance can make a potentially very difficult time much easier – they will not have to guess for you. Complete an Advance Health Care Directive and designate a Health Care Agent to speak for you in case you cannot.

My Philosophy of Care

I understand the importance of maintaining dignity in the face of illness, illness that can be fraught with suffering, so I work to relieve this suffering. I strive to help individuals, often times with the assistance of their family and loved ones, to define and achieve their particular goals - goals during their stay at the nursing home, or hospital, and often their larger goals in life, or near the end of life, whatever those goals may be.

My Credentials

Medical school	Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
Residency	UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Fellowship	Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA
Board certification	Family Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine
Board certification	Hospice and Palliative Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine

Disclaimer
If you think you have a MEDICAL OR PSYCHIATRIC EMERGENCY, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY or go to the nearest hospital. DO NOT attempt to access emergency care through this web site. An emergency medical condition is a medical or psychiatric condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in any of the following: serious jeopardy to your health, serious impairment to your bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part. An emergency medical condition is also "active labor," which means a labor when there is inadequate time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery or if a transfer poses a threat to the health of the member or unborn child.

This site may contain links to other web sites outside of www.permanente.net. Kaiser Permanente has no control over the content or the availability of these sites, and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites. Web links are provided as an educational tool, and should not be relied upon for personal diagnosis or treatment. A link or reference to a web site should not be construed as an endorsement of the site or its contents. Any medical content that you feel may be important to your health should always be discussed with your Kaiser Permanente physician.