"I was born in New Orleans, and just prior to hurricane Katrina our family moved to Houston following my father's career in oil and gas. My mother is an artist, master DIY magician and homemaker, and I have one younger brother who is a budding computer programmer. Our family was almost always with limited means, but we learned to grow food for our table, and make many of the things we couldn’t afford. Those skills enriched our lives and created a fierce sense of self-sufficiency and resilience that was a platform for me to launch my medical career. I’ve known as far back as I can remember that I wanted to be a physician. That inspiration probably started from minor swimming-related shoulder injuries and troubles with asthma earlier in life, and continued to grow with me over time through all of life’s hurdles. After graduating from high school I was able to continue my swimming career at Centenary College of Louisiana on an athletic scholarship, which put their fantastic pre-med program within my reach. When the time came to start medical school at the University of Texas HSC in Houston (now McGovern Medical School), I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer two months before classes would start, and for the first time I had the experience of helplessness and fearfulness that can come with being a patient in our current, confusing system. I knew I wanted to change it to be better for others someday, but at the same time it was my extreme good fortune to have an excellent team of physicians who both treated me, and became role models through my medical training. I met my husband in our first year of medical school (he was two groups over in the anatomy lab), and we were married in my home town of New Orleans in the Spring of our third year. We ultimately decided to stay in Houston to continue our residency training in the Texas Medical Center, where I pursued combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, and Devin trained in Anesthesiology. Now, after 8 years in Houston we have decided it is Devin’s turn to be close to home, and have moved back to Dallas where he grew up and his side of our family still lives. We are so excited to begin our careers in Dallas, and it is such a privilege for me to be joining Dr. Benson at Paradigm Family Health! I have known for a long time that I wanted to take care of families, and to truly know my patients and community. I am delighted to have found a home in this model of practice, which I believe is the answer to that question of what went wrong with healthcare in our country and how I can make a difference. Direct Primary Care means placing the control back in the hands of the patients and physicians, so we can collaborate to make deliberate choices that are sensitive to individual needs, and create true wellness. I'm so excited to get started!"
