I am a general doctor, trained in Internal Medicine, based in Grass Valley, California. I believe in applying modern scientific and pharmaceutical advances with wisdom and deep knowledge of each patient… always with the goal of supporting our bodies’ built-in healing mechanisms.

I was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in Redwood City, California–a town south of San Francisco–hanging out in parking lots, eating questionable food, and going to the movies. My parents came to the United States as refugees from Vietnam in 1975, living in Queens, New York, and Lawrence, Kansas, before permanently settling in California. They instilled a love for humanity, an adventurous spirit, and the habit of treating all people with kindness and respect.

Ever curious and exploring, I went to college outside of Boston, Massachusetts, spent a semester in Vietnam, and graduated with high honors in Cultural Anthropology. After working for two years, I went to medical school at the Stanford University School of Medicine. After a couple years assuming I would be a surgeon and building my surgical skills, I ultimately chose to pursue training in Internal Medicine, a field that felt better aligned with my big-picture, complexity-loving personality.

I moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for my Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a busy 2,000+ bed hospital system, with nationally-renowned medical programs. In Pittsburgh, I discovered my love for general practice and down-to-earth places that value community, creativity, and small enterprise. At graduation, I was awarded the Frank Mateer Award, an honor presented to the graduating resident voted by their peers to be the person who they would most prefer to care for their own family members… combining excellence in diagnostic ability and humanistic personal qualities.

After Pittsburgh, I moved to San Francisco to work as a primary care doctor and researcher at UCSF and the San Francisco General Hospital. There I took care of a diverse array of patients in a fast-paced clinic and led historical and mixed-methods research projects focused on how outdated healthcare system design gets in the way of doctors’ abilities to care for their patients and themselves.

After going through a divorce, I realized that I had no interest in becoming an academic professor, and the “Current” was pulling me towards a new life. I met my now husband, Colin, at the Outer Sunset Farmer’s Market in San Francisco at the Avast Bake Shop booth, and after several years of living by the beach together, we decided to move back to Colin’s hometown where we knew we could build the life and businesses we envisioned: balanced, purposeful, and grounded in creating a better world.

We officially moved to Grass Valley in November 2024 and are building a permanent “home base” in neighboring Nevada City with the help of our family and friends. We envision this home base to serve as our sanctuary and a place of community, inspiration, and family.

Art, writing, and leadership

I keep an art practice (writing, sketching, painting) that helps me stay creative and apply that creativity to all facets of my life, including caring for my patients.

I keep my reflections and field notes here: mtln.substack.com.

I run a website and community called Canyon Oak, where we encourage independent thought and inspire and nurture independent doctors and doctors-to-be. Visit Canyon Oak here: canyon-oak.org.