Dr. Josh Echeverria grew up in Hacienda Heights, CA. Shortly after earning his B.S. degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, he joined the Peace Corps and served as a community health volunteer in Mozambique. Giving health seminars and working with people living with HIV made him realize that helping people was his life's calling. He completed his medical degree at Our Lady of Fatima University in Manila, Philippines, and is looking forward to helping people in Humboldt County.
Dr. Jesus Mendez grew up in Las Vegas and went to UNLV for his undergraduate education but then spent 4 years in New England at the Dartmouth University Geisel School of Medicine. He has a special interest in Wilderness Medicine and hopes to eventually practice family medicine in a in rural community. He enjoys trying new things and hobbies but also enjoys relaxing on a rocking chair on a porch.
Dr. Shenoda Abd Elmaseh graduated from the Washington University of Health and Sciences and Sohag University Faculty of Medicine. He has been living in Huntington Beach, California. He chose family medicine because he realized that this field offers the opportunity to commit himself to serve patients who have needs in all areas of medicine. His hobbies include reading, listening to music, walking and running.
Dr. Yehuda Fox is joining us from the Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv, Israel and grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Fox seeks to contribute to his community by building trusting relationships with his patients and their loved ones. He has lived in and traveled to over 30 countries, and enjoys mountain biking, camping, and working on his motorcycle.
Dr. Ramir Geluz is from Highland, California. He received his undergraduate degree from UC Riverside before attending the Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados. He likes the wide range of clinical topics in family medicine and enjoys meeting families of all ages. His hobbies including listening to music, playing the piano, barbecuing, and playing semi-professional poker.
Dr. Milad Najar Ranjbar received his undergraduate degree from Florida Atlantic University before attending the Ross university School of Medicine in Barbados. He is determined and hardworking when it comes to achieving goals. His main goal in life is self-improvement, as well as spiritual and character growth and development. Dr. Najar Ranjbar is looking forward to his residency in Eureka because he believes it will help in his path to achieving those goals.
Dr. Fullerton-Nelson was raised in Jersey City, NJ and Mill Valley, CA. After graduating from UC Berkeley, she worked for Planned Parenthood and Interplast as a Spanish-English interpreter in Ecuador. She once trekked across the Andes and got lost in a storm by a glacier. She survived the ordeal to attend UCSF medical school. After UCSF, she trained in emergency medicine at Stanford, worked as a domestic violence advocate, and then practiced pediatrics full time in a house with 4 children. She hopes her experiences raising kids will enable her to be a compassionate, sensitive family medicine physician. Her hobbies include adventure travel, dance, music and nature photography.
Dr. Daniel Heyn is originally from Damascus, Maryland but has also lived in Tennessee, California, and Arizona. After graduating from the University of Tennessee, he spent three years in Zambia as a Peace Corps Volunteer. He then went to medical school at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. Daniel is looking forward to practicing family medicine and ultimately hopes to open his own practice. He loves hiking, gardening, and archery, and is always looking for his next favorite hobby.
Dr. Tim Mahanes is originally from Lexington Kentucky, but has lived in Seattle, Atlanta, Catalina Island, Australia, and New Zealand. Prior to completing medical school at the University of Louisville, Tim was working as an environmental consultant in Melbourne Australia. Though he loved his job and his wandering ways, he decided to use his diverse background and easy-going personality to connect to patients in the healthcare setting. Traveling, fitness, photography woodworking and cooking are some of his favorite hobbies. During residency he hopes to create a strategy that allows him to address healthcare needs in underserved communities, while enjoying going through the hundreds of thousands of photos that he has collected over the years.
Dr. Ryan McHenry was born and raised surfing in Santa Cruz California. After graduating from the University of California in San Diego he once ran across the United States. He obtained his medical degree from the Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo CA where he also completed a one year pre-doctoral OMT fellowship. As a D.O., he is looking forward to providing medical care to the Humboldt community in mind, body, and spirit. Outside of medicine, Dr. McHenry is an avid surfer, runner, and father who loves Rock n' Roll music.
Dr. Brian Ruiz joins us from his hometown of Reseda, CA. After completing his undergraduate studies at UC Riverside, he went on to work in diverse fields, including software engineering, information technology, neuroscience research, education, and clinical laboratory science. He then returned to the classroom to obtain his Master of Science and medical degrees at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA. He enjoys discovering new restaurants and food, music, repairing and upgrading cars, and computers and new technology.
Dr. Brian Stone grew up in Southern California. He received his B.S. from the University of Michigan. Prior to attending medical school, he worked as an EMT and volunteered in homeless shelters and after-school education programs in underserved areas. He then attended medical school at the University of Toledo. He is passionate about family medicine and forming relationships with patients. His hobbies include computer science, cooking, and playing piano.
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Dr. Landon Whittington is from Houston Texas. After obtaining a BS in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M we worked on offshore oil platforms. He then changed careers and went to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He once biked from Coos Bay Oregon to Eureka California. He is excited to move to Humboldt County with his wife and two children. His hobbies include most outdoor activities, traveling, and playing or watching sports.
Dr. Valerie Williams received her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Outside of work, she enjoys serving in her church and leading community events focusing on food and housing security. She loves hiking, skiing, snowboarding, and playing golf with her husband and children. Dr. Williams looks forward to learning from and serving the residents of Humboldt County.
Dr. Higgins grew up in Vermont, always in the woods, and moved to Alaska for several years, until a love of language and culture led her to live and work in South America, India, and the Middle East for about 15 years. Along the way, she always immersed herself in art and dance, creative exploration of any kind, and the natural world, including stints like working with a circus in a tiny town in Brazil. "I love teaching and working with kids and families, where I also am always learning. I went to medical school at the Ben Gurion University in Israel for their focus in primary care and love the way family medicine interweaves stories of our lives into health in an endless variety of ways."
Dr. Luiza Mnatsakanyan grew up in Armenia where her interest in medicine started when she became acutely aware of how traditional cultural values could mitigate against attention to health. "It was shameful for people to experience pain or be sick. Unfortunately, when patients sought medical care, they faced uncertainty and even hostility from providers." Her family later moved to Glendale, California and she did her undergraduate work at the University of California Irvine. She received her medical degree from William Carey University, College of Osteopathic Medicine in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dr. Mnatsakanyan is passionate about providing care in underserved areas and forming long lasting relationships with her patients. Outside of medicine, she enjoys music, reading, and traveling.
Dr. Maya Urva was born and raised in the East Bay of the Golden State, but by the end of high school decided it was time for a change and jumped continents, traveling approximately 5,078 miles to complete medical school in Dublin, Ireland at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland. After developing a wealth of hobbies*, a higher-than-expected pain tolerance, and a passion for family medicine, Dr. Urva (the second!) worked a year as a doctor in County Galway, Ireland before returning home to California to complete a family medicine residency in one of the coolest programs in the country! (*These hobbies include but are not limited to: video games, playing music, taekwondo, and drawing.) learning many many more.
Dr. Xiong grew up in the Hmong community in Merced in the central valley of California. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California at Davis and remained there for her medical training where she was a member of their Rural PRIME program which was created “ to train the best and the brightest medical students for a fulfilling career in a rural community. “ She states “My goal in pursuing medicine remains a simple one: become one more Hmong physician serving medically underserved communities like mine. I am the first person in my clan to attend medical school, a badge of honor I wear proudly”. Her hobbies are many and include cooking, exploring outdoors, camp, hike,, running (completed 2 half marathons), and training my dogs (chocolate lab and blue heeler).
Dr. Kashani comes from Tarzana, California. She graduated from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Marteen, Netherlands. After graduation she has joined American Indian Health and Services in Santa Barbara California where she will be practicing a full range of family medicine caring for children, adults and women's health.
Dr. Zach Nankee was raised on a dairy farm in the Midwest. He went to medical school at Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. After graduation he decided to move back to the midwest and is joining Friend Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center on the South Side of Chicago. He will be practicing a full range of Family Medicine including primary care of children and adults.
Dr. Margot Oliver grew up in McKinleyville California. She attended Calvin College and received her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. After graduation she will be working as a full spectrum Family Physician at the Sea Mar Community Health Center in Vancouver Washington to fulfill her National Health Service Corps obligation. She and her husband hope to eventually return to Humboldt County to live.
Dr. Sean Purtell is from Petaluma California in the Bay area. He went to Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. After graduation he decided to stay in Humboldt County with his wife and two children. He has joined the Providence Medical Group Humboldt and will be working as a hospitalist at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna.
Dr. Anirudh Rai received his medical education at the St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada. Dr. Rai is from Reseda, California. After graduation he is returning to Southern California to work at the Henry Mayo Hospital Outpatient and Urgent Care Center in Santa Clarita.
