In 1987, as a high school senior, I took a leap of faith to enter a combined six year undergraduate/medical school degree program at The Pennsylvania State University and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor. I was fortunate to attend a medical school where the specialty of Family Medicine was respected, and I could focus on my goal of helping children and adults in an outpatient setting.
The biopsychosocial approach to patient care taught during my residency training at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, Pennsylvania, not only laid the groundwork for me to diagnose an illness, but also focus on how it effects the patient and their family on a personal level.
After 17 successful years of practicing a broad scope of Family Medicine with Main Line Health in Edgemont and Newtown Square, including a Main Line Today “Top Doc” award, I realized that my true passion is helping people with their behavioral health issues, so that the physical issues can be prevented or lessened. The immune system does not function as well under stress;therefore, if you can minimize the stress, you improve overall health and well being.
Many primary care doctors do not have the time, inclination or medical expertise to treat the most common behavioral health issues such as anxiety,depression, ADD/ADHD, and OCD in a routine office visit. Although I had the desire and knowledge to treat many patients in my prior office setting with these conditions, I never felt like I was able to spend the time that the patient deserved, because I had to accomplish so many other tasks in that same time frame.
In late November 2013, I opened my own office located in Ardmore, PA to better serve the Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs needs for access to timely, affordable, quality medication management of behavioral health issues. If you do not have a primary care physician that wants to treat these areas, I can be of great help.
Often, the patient is referred to a psychiatrist in this situation. Unfortunately, the wait times for psychiatrists can be weeks to months and many do not accept any insurance with expensive self pay rates. While I do not claim to have the board certification or training of a psychiatrist, I have successfully treated numerous patients for what I call primary care psychiatric needs. In addition, my work at the Devereux foundation, which serves an adolescent and adult behavioral health population, has furthered my knowledge of complicated medication management.
My intake forms are extensive, but include screening questionnaires that will help me decide on a treatment plan at the first visit. My focus is on medication management, and I am happy to work with any therapist or treatment provider you choose. If you are not sure if medication is right for you, I can do a one time evaluation and recommend a therapist suited to your needs. As of now, I take all calls myself, including scheduling of appointments and questions between visits. I am happy to communicate by email and text messaging for convenience as well when necessary to have a quicker response time.
If you are struggling with depression or anxiety and have not gotten the help you need and deserve, please call me at 610-645-6300 or email at [email protected]. I can help.