Shenary J. Cotter, BSN, MD

"Dr. Cotter completed medical school and residency, OB track, at the University of Florida College of Medicine in 1997. She practiced full-scope Family Medicine in a high priority physician shortage area in East Tennessee, including operative obstetrics. After completing the National Health Service Corps Scholarship, she practiced in a variety of settings, including hospitalist medicine, emergency medicine, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and outpatient medicine. As Faculty at the University of Florida, Dr. Cotter enjoyed teaching clinical medicine to medical students as well as working on the Admissions Committee at the College of Medicine. Dr. Cotter left academic/employed healthcare in order to co-found Gainesville Direct Primary Care Physicians for one reason; health improves best when a patient has a relationship connection to his or her physician. Though physicians of the past knew this, research is now showing that it is in fact true. Dr. Cotter has done two important things in creating this practice. She has optimized factors supporting relationship - hour-long visits, expansive medical services included, and multiple ways to communicate with her. She has also eliminated factors impeding the doctor-patient relationship: the computer, administrative burden, unmanageable patient loads, and affordability of care."

"Gainesville Direct Primary Care Physicians is the first physician owned and operated Direct Primary Care Practice in North central Florida. It was founded by two family physicians, Dr. Cotter and Dr. Tyndall-Smith, who were disillusioned by the prevailing climate of primary care practices where numbers, driven by the insurance industry, seem more important than patients. Their passion led them to start a medical practice with the core mission of returning the patient experience to one where the doctor-patient relationship is the focus. The founders’ vision is for a practice where the physicians are accessible at a reasonable transparent price and are able to spend meaningful time with their patients to listen to their needs and concerns and to enable the doctor to deliver high-quality personalized medical care to each patient. All of the physicians at Gainesville Direct Primary Care Physicians are board-certified in family medicine. Combined they have over 50 years of clinical practice experience, including teaching and mentoring young doctors. Each doctor’s personal life experiences as parents to young children, caregivers to aging parents, volunteers in the community and involvement in health ministry have further enhanced their ability to connect with patients of all ages and backgrounds."