About Me

My parents are originally from Ireland and Malaysia, and settled in Hawaii in the 1960’s; I was born on Oahu and grew up in Kailua. In college I was an English major and spent a year in England studying Shakespeare, but ultimately decided to become a doctor instead of a teacher or writer. I entered Cornell University Medical College, where I met my wife, and we completed our internships and residencies together in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. During medical training I became interested in complex infections and how best to treat them, and after finishing residency I began a three-year fellowship in infectious diseases (ID) at the University of Washington. As part of my fellowship, I completed a master’s degree in epidemiology and spent time in Peru studying HIV transmission. In 2001, I returned to Hawaii, joined the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group (HPMG), and began raising my young family.

About my practice

As an infectious diseases specialist, the focus of my work is on treating patients with infections of many different sorts and helping my medical colleagues solve complex and confusing cases. Although I spend much of my time with patients who are hospitalized, I also have many patients whom I care for in the outpatient setting. I have a special interest in hepatitis C, and in 2004 I established the Viral Hepatitis Clinic to help HPMG patients with this infection receive focused evaluation, treatment, and long-term management. I also provide care for a number of patients with HIV infection. Hepatitis C, ID, and HIV and are fields that evolve rapidly, and to stay current I closely follow developments in medical research and regularly attend mainland clinical conferences. I also serve as a lecturer at the annual Viral Hepatitis Hawaii Symposium to help educate other health professionals about the epidemiology and treatment of hepatitis C. I believe strongly in a warm, thorough, and supportive approach to patient care, and I am blessed with an excellent medical team that shares this belief. I find my clinical work deeply rewarding, and I’m constantly humbled by my patients’ bravery and resilience.Administratively, I currently serve as the Chief of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Chief of Medical Specialties. My focus in these roles is on helping HPMG provide excellent, cutting-edge specialty care, and on recruiting top-notch clinicians to our medical group.

How I thrive

I exercise most days by running or using my trusty rowing machine in the early mornings. On weekends, I surf as often as possible and try and keep up with my three young daughters, all of whom are active in sports and dance and seem to have a bottomless supply of energy. My wife is also a physician at HPMG, and I’m very blessed to have worked and learned alongside her since medical school.