Care Philosophy

I am a medical oncologist who primarily focuses on treating breast cancer. Ive been at Duke Raleigh for eight years and also serve as the hospitals chief medical officer. My favorite part of my job is the initial patient visit. Its not unusual for patients to arrive for their appointment feeling fearful and anxious. I enjoy making them feel more comfortable and at ease with their diagnosis and treatment plan by the end of the visit. To further build that bond and trust I encourage my patients to have full access to me even on weekends or holidays so I can help guide their treatment. I decided to become a doctor when I was 18 years old and heading to college. I felt that I would be passionate about taking care of people and my intuition turned out to be right. I am married to a physician and my oldest son is a medical school graduate so medicine is now firmly in my familys blood.