Specialty Emergency Medicine Facility Oakland Medical Center Department of Emergency Medicine Address 280 W. MacArthur Blvd. Oakland CA 94611 (entrance on Howe St.) Map & Directions Telephone Advice/Information: (510) 752-1190 E-mail your doctor

About Me

I was born, ….born in the 50’s.

I am about to celebrate my 24th anniversary of proudly working as a career physician with The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) for Kaiser Permanente. I cannot think of a more satisfying and honorable way to practice private medicine, than with the physicians who have been my colleagues during these years. These are the best and brightest people that I know.

I believe that there is a very special relationship between two human beings, when one person asks another person to help them take care of their health, whether the issue at hand is simple or serious, whether it is chronic or emergently acute, or whether it is a unique encounter or one of many encounters that recur through the years. I believe that it is based on what the patient needs and what the physician has to offer, on mutual trust and honesty, on patience and humility, but above all, on a duty to a higher standard, the duty to understand nature and life, as it exists in human biology, physiology, and pathology, or illness.

From the first day of medical school, when I was told that I would be learning 10,000 new words in the first year, to the most recent discussion with a colleague who was sharing his specialty knowledge with me so that I could better treat my patient, I have remained in awe of the beauty of life and the human body, the incredible knowledge that medicine has gathered over the course of human history, and the huge responsibility that physicians have to be the caretakers of human life when it is threatened by illness.

When I first started working for TPMG, these wonderful men and women who practiced medicine here, had just been allowed to join their colleagues as voting members in the Alameda-Contra Costa County Medical Association. Kaiser Permanente had been considered a threat to American medicine. Now, TPMG is considered as setting the right standards for American medicine. We all work together for the benefit of our patients, human beings who ask us to take care of their health.

I grew up in New York City in the 1950’s. I was blessed with a good family, and the good fortune of being a New York Yankee fan. Between the age of 6 and 14, I watched the Yankees win the American League pennant and play in the World Series 8 out of 9 years. I grew up expecting a great team, composed of great, hard-working, humble players, to achieve great success. I continue to be a Yankee fan, so I recently have been able enjoy a great team, composed of great, hard-working, humble players, achieve great success.

I went to college during the 1960’s, a time in America when people were expanding their civil rights, their gender rights, and their minds. There was a feeling that we were all trying to play together as a team for the benefit of all.

After Medical School and residency in the 1970’s, I moved from New York to California to work as a commissioned officer in the US Public Health Service, at a National Health Service Corps field station, at the Vacaville Community Clinic. I worked as a family practice physician for several years, and learned the importance of being available to patients. I told them they could always feel free to contact me after hours, if they were worried. Ironically, because they were comforted that I would always be available, they rarely became worried, and rarely called.

I moved on to Emergency Medicine, because it allowed me to continue to treat all ages and kinds of patients. I was lucky to have eventually chosen TPMG, because whenever I worked, I had access to hundreds of physicians, who were more than happy to answer my calls, and help me help my patients with their expertise and insight. It is one of the fundamental bases of our group, and my patients and I continue to be lucky to benefit from that.

I met my wife while working here in the Emergency Department in Oakland. We are proud of our family. Our children are happy to have an Emergency Physician, and an Emergency Nurse available for their needs! My children are disappointed when I have to leave for work, but they enjoy watching me garden, play baseball, watch the Yankees on mlb.tv, and be the family handyman.

My children also know that I am proud to be a member of TPMG. They know why I am proud. They know that I feel lucky. They know that I have achieved a boyhood dream. I am part of a great team, composed of great, hard-working, humble physicians and nurses, who achieve great success for their patients.

I have included some links that you may find interesting and helpful.

My Credentials

Medical school	New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY
Internship	Stamford Hospital, Stamford, CT
Residency	UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA
Board certification	Emergency Medicine, American Board of Emergency 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.

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