Chief Medical Officer
TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track
Brief Biography:
As a family medicine trained physician, I have loved all aspects of medical care, from delivering babies to end-of-life care. Over time, I found that acute care medicine – conditions I could fix in one or two visits in a motivated patient population gave me the most gratification. During residency at The Ohio State University, I worked in the urgent care space as a moonlighting physician – my first introduction to urgent care. After spending time in resident education, both inpatient and outpatient care, and global health, I spent a year working in a hybrid primary care/urgent care role in New Zealand before transitioning into a full-time career as an urgent care specialist in 2012.
As my career has evolved, I found myself seeing patients, but also taking on leadership roles, educator roles, and business roles. First in a Corporate Medical Director role for Hometown Urgent Care (30+ clinics) in Ohio/Michigan/Kentucky and later moving to Florida where I continue work as a clinician but also CMO with ownership interest in a growing practice of 20+ clinics. I still love patient care – but now I bridge the gaps between doctor, educator, administrator, advocate, community leader, and medical expert. I am firmly committed to help push for unity, collaboration, and advocacy in the urgent care space. I firmly believe that I have the experience needed for this next chapter of my career. I no longer want to just sit by the sidelines and hope that advocacy will happen – I want to be a foundational piece of helping to push urgent care medicine to new heights and this position would be an amazing way for me to get involved on a national level.
Organization Description:
At TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track, we provide access to 21 walk-in urgent care clinics throughout Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Lee and Charlotte counties in Florida. Our mission is to deliver efficient, high-quality healthcare in a welcoming environment, ensuring patients have a convenient alternative to emergency rooms for minor illnesses and injuries, as well as accessible care when primary providers are unavailable.
As the first urgent care center in Tampa Bay to be certified by the Urgent Care Association, we take pride in setting the standard for excellence. Our collaboration with Tampa General Hospital and USF allows us to expand our reach and serve a broader patient population—while continuing to grow. Whether treating common ailments, providing long-term care, or offering lab testing with a provider visit, our team of board-certified medical professionals is committed to continuity of care. In the last 12 months, we have taken care of over 200,000 patient visits.
Professional Experience:
Chief Medical Officer – TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track – 2013-Present
Chief Medical Officer – Hometown Urgent Care and Occupational Health – 2012- 2014
Primary Investigator – Hometown Urgent Care and Occupational Health – 2012- 2014
General Practitioner – New Zealand Medical Counsel – 2011- 2012
Previous Involvement with Boards:
I sit on the Ultimate Medical Academy/Nasium (UMA) Executive Advisory Board, the CMO council for Tampa General Hospital, and the Board of Directors of TGH/Synergic Healthcare Solutions, LLC. I currently am also part of the College of Urgent Care Medicine Clinical Advisory Group and serve as a peer review editor for the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine.
Previously, I served on the Board of Directors with the non-profit healthcare organization, PODEMOS, based in Columbus, Ohio and I served on the Global Health Committee with The Ohio State University College of Medicine, 2006-2011. I also served on multiple committees during my time at Ohio State.
Education:
Awards, Honors, Community Involvement:
From a community/volunteer perspective, I have dedicated many years to serve as a volunteer physician and educator in various underserved countries around the world, most recently in Poland, caring for those displaced by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and in Kenya in the Masai Mara Hospital. Previous global health volunteer trips have taken me to Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Saipan, India, Bolivia, Belize, Honduras, Peru, and Haiti.
Vision for the Future of Urgent Care and Core Purpose for UCA for the next 3-5 Years:
The specialty of urgent care is still young, by modern medical standards. As society better understands the role of urgent care, I believe we have the opportunity to improve and standardize the quality of care we are providing. Urgent care serves such a need to our communities, and the healthcare establishment as a whole – we fill the gaps for acute care, between primary care appointments, for those who do not have an established primary care, and for post-acute care. For every point along the continuum, urgent care offers access to high-quality care at a lower price-point than an emergency room or hospital setting.
The UCA needs to cohesively work with healthcare partners, insurance companies, CMS, legislators, and with patients to foundationally be able to market, organize, adapt, and grow. There is an ongoing need to push for inclusion for higher reimbursement to demonstrate our value to the healthcare system and advocate as our own specialty – we are urgent care specialists/urgentologists and should be recognized by other systems as such.
Disclosures:
none