As far back as I can remember from childhood, I always wanted to be a doctor. Pediatric gastroenterology was something I was drawn to early in my medical training. I gravitated towards pediatrics because I come from a family of teachers and working with children is something we always talked about at home. I became a gastroenterologist because I grew up with several close family members who have inflammatory bowel disease. Seeing everything they went through was inspiration for me to improve the lives of kids and their families navigating their journey with this disease.

I went to the University of Florida for college and stayed for medical school, residency and my fellowship training. Gainesville is such a comfortable place to live and it has become my community. I specialize in inflammatory bowel disease and started the UF Pediatric IBD multidisciplinary program in 2013. It has grown significantly in the past decade and families from all over Florida, and even outside of the state, travel to receive care here. Our program is one of the participating members of ImproveCareNow, which is a national quality improvement initiative to improve outcomes in kids with IBD. Since we've been participating, we've seen improvements in our remission rates, and our clinical data has contributed to new knowledge in the form of publications that share new findings in the care of children’s inflammatory bowel disease.

I focus a lot of my energy on teaching my patients and their parents about their IBD, how to understand results of testing and how to make decisions affecting their treatment. Becoming ready for transition to adult GI care and learning the skills necessary to navigate the medical system is something I think is important for their success.

When I'm not seeing patients in clinic, I am teaching. I direct the Gastroenterology Course at the medical school at UF, which means I get to teach GI to all of the medical students. I'm also involved in teaching residents and fellows, and I am the director for the Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship Program, where we train doctors to become pediatric gastroenterologists.

I'd like my patients to know that I take a family-centered approach to care. I think families are comfortable communicating with me, and they know we make decisions together as a team. I enjoy working with children of all ages (and their parents!), and I think I'm particularly skilled at working with teens and college students. Outside of work, I enjoy going on hiking trips with my family. I'm also a big fan of yoga and indoor rock climbing.