Specialty Nephrology Facility Sacramento Medical Center Department of Medicine - Nephrology Address 2025 Morse Avenue Sacramento CA 95841 Map & Directions Telephone Appt/Advice: 916-973-5230 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

My Profession and Why I Chose It

My specialty is nephrology, though I am first and foremost an internist. Nephrology is the study of kidneys and I specialize in dialysis. It's a tough road for many patients, but it's certainly not the end of the world. A large part of my job involves preventing kidney failure that leads to dialysis, but when kidney failure occurs, I try to transition my patients on to dialysis by offering a lot of information and a lot of support. It's a team effort that involves nurses, dietitians and even social workers.

I love nephrology and I love practicing medicine. As a resident in training, I looked up to the nephrologists because they seemed to have a wide variety of expertise and they felt comfortable treating just about every different type of medical problem. The more I know about nephrology, and there is always more to know, the more I love it.

My Practice Philosophy

I try to use my expertise and knowledge to provide patients with information so that they can be directors of their own healthcare. I emphasize life style changes, ones that will work for specific patients. My style is to tell patients up front about the state of their health and then try to work on goals that patients can live with. I feel that life style changes that are made by a patient are far more important than the pills that I prescribe, but sometimes I still have to prescribe a few pills. A successful day is when I can actually discontinue medications for a patient. This always seems to brighten a patient's day!

My Tenure with Kaiser Permanente

I started with Kaiser Los Angeles as a resident, but moved to U.C. Davis for nephrology fellowship. After fellowship, I remained in academic medicine for several years because of my interest in teaching and research. My academic career was very rewarding, but I knew that I always knew that some day I would return to Kaiser and recently I joined Kaiser Sacramento. I have always believed that Kaiser does an excellent job of delivering high quality career to a growing population.

Why I Like Practicing Medicine at Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser is a wonderful organization and manages to attract some of the best physicians around. I enjoy working with people who are both well trained and dedicated to the delivery of high quality care. It's also nice to work for an organization that provides excellent care to patients, but still allows me time and energy to have a personal life.

My Professional Interests

My professional interests are many and include hemodialysis or more specifically, home hemodialysis and nocturnal hemodialysis. As an extension of this, I am also interested in peritoneal dialysis, which is done by patients themselves at home. I have extensive research experience in acute renal failure (a sudden worsening of kidney function that is usually seen in hospitalized patients) and still hope to pursue this in the future.

My Professional Affiliations

• Member, National Kidney Foundation (NKF)
• Member, American Society of Nephrology (ASN)
• Member, American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO)

I am also a member of the Members Advisory Board for the local National Kidney Foundation of Northern California. I am currently participating on the Workgroup for development of hemodialysis adequacy guidelines for the NKF-KDOQI, a national organization that develops standards of care in the U.S. for patients with chronic kidney disease.

On a Personal Note…

I was born in Pennsylvania, but grew up in Los Angeles. I went to Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. I earned my undergraduate degree at U.C. Santa Cruz in computer and information science, but then decided to pursue a career in medicine. I obtained my medical degree at St. Louis University in 1994 and returned to Kaiser Los Angeles for residency training. I then moved to Sacramento to complete nephrology training at U.C. Davis. After fellowship, I was a faculty member at U.C. Davis for about 5 years and still serve as a voluntary faculty member.

I have one son, who is 16 years old and is a junior in high school. He is a great kid and it certainly feels like he has grown up too quickly. He watched his mother go through medical school (he was only 2, but he was a good sport about it) and I think he is very proud of me.

About My Home Page

My home page gives a brief overview about my philosophy of medical practice, reasons I love working for Kaiser Permanente and a little about my personal life.

Be sure to visit the New Kaiser Permanente Website for additional information regarding appointments, prescriptions, health education classes and other health-related topics. You can also click on my department link above to receive additional health information.

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My Credentials

Medical school	St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
Internship	Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
Residency	Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
Fellowship	UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
Board certification	Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine
Board certification	Nephrology, American Board of Internal Medicine

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