Faculty...
Bill Alto, M.D., M.P.H., SIHB Site Director
After his residency, Bill spent eleven years involved in overseas clinical and public health work in the South Pacific. He then received a Masters of Public Health in Health Education from the University of Northern Colorado and has since become certified in tropical medicine and traveler's health. Bill continues to serve as an international consultant in rural health. Additional interests range from office surgery, addiction medicine, dentistry, travel and international medicine and health advocacy. Of his experience, Bill explains, "My passion for medicine is healing patients wholesale and not retail (one at a time). I like working at Swedish family Medicine Residency because of the great people and the variety of the work."
Paul C. Costello, M.D., Faculty, Behavioral Science Coordinator
Dr. Costello is a board certified family physician who graduated from residency at Highland Hospital-University of Rochester, NY in 1994. He learned of Dr. George Engel’s Bio-Psycho-Social Model of health and illness at age 19 when he studied “Introduction to Community Medicine” as a sophomore in college at the University of Rochester, where he completed his undergraduate studies. He stayed to work in full spectrum family medicine in Rochester until 2000 when he moved with his wife, preschooler and toddler to Seattle. He spent the following 10 years serving the underserved in Lynnwood and South Seattle at Community Health Centers of Snohomish County and International Community Health Services. He and his wife, Dr. Chinda Roach, shared one practice while they raised their young family until June 2010 when he became faculty at Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency Program.
He oversees the strong Behavioral Science curriculum here at Swedish Cherry Hill. He has particular interest and experience in both family oriented maternity care and family oriented palliative care. He served as Volunteer Co Medical Director of a 2 bed home for the dying in Rochester from 1993-2000. He obtained a CAQ (Certificate of Added Qualifications) in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He values the work of Marshall Rosenberg, PhD in Non Violent Communication and envisions the expansion of the Bio-Psycho-Social Model to include attention to Spiritual or Values-focused communication. He is thrilled to be here.
In his free time, he is often found playing tennis, exercising at the YMCA, commuting via bike and bus, and/or goofing off with his wife and their 3 sons. He was born into a catholic family and married a Quaker and thus is occasionally at University Friends Meeting or other various progressive catholic venues.
Gregory Engel, M.D., M.PH., Didactics Coordinator
Dr. Engel received his undergraduate degree in biology and political science at Cornell University . He studied medicine at Yale University , where he expanded his interest in travel and research. Dr. Engel completed an internship in general surgery at the University of Indiana where he quickly learned that becoming a surgeon was not conducive to having a family life. He completed his training in family practice in New Mexico , and received a master’s degree in public health at the University of New Mexico. In 2002, Dr. Engel and his family moved to Seattle where he accepted a faculty position with the residency program. Dr. Engel pursues many research projects around the globe and continues to be drawn to family medicine because it pulls together the scope of his experience. He enjoys taking care of entire families, keeping up his Spanish language skills, and interfacing with the public health system in serving a large underserved population. He thrives on practicing in a community-based setting and teaching residents to become lifelong students of medicine and community.
Pat Gemperline, M.D., Sea Mar Site Director
After graduating from Columbia University with honors and B.S./ M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering with an orthopedic bioengineering focus, Dr. Gemperline chose to work in underserved family medicine. This decision was sparked by his experience volunteering with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization in the heart of Harlem. Dr. Gemperline completed his medical training at the University of Utah, his native state. He then chose to attend the Providence Residency program which has since become the Swedish Cherry Hill Residency program. After graduation, Dr. Gemperline worked and learned Spanish in Guatemala, returning to the United States in 1990 to begin his career at Sea Mar CHC. Dr. Gemperline moved into the position of Clinical Director, a post he held until 2002. During this time he completed a faculty development fellowship. Through a statewide collaborative he learned of the chronic disease model of care and has helped apply this model to Sea Mar’s diabetic population. He is an ALSO instructor and ALSO Director and helps coordinate the obstetrical teaching for the first year residents. He continues to work .more than half time in clinical medicine. Dr. Gemperline enjoys teaching and he remains committed to training residents to become outstanding Family Medicine physicians who are also committed to caring for the underserved.
L. Paul Gianutsos, M.D., M.P.H., Interim Residency Program Director
After completing his undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Gianutsos completed a master’s degree in epidemiology and international health at UCLA. He graduated from the UCLA-Drew School of Medicine in 1993 and completed his family medicine residency at Providence Family Medicine. After graduation he worked for five years in a community health center where he helped develop an inpatient medicine and obstetrics program. Dr. Gianutsos developed and directed the Addiction Medicine Fellowship at the residency. He is certified in addiction medicine by the American Society for Addiction Medicine. He coordinates the Gynecology curriculum and supervises the colposcopy and LEEP clinic at the Cherry Hill clinic. Residents may also rotate with him at Planned Parenthood where he is the director of colposcopy services. His interests include teaching evidence-based medicine, addiction medicine, women’s health, and chronic disease management. He is an advocate for reproductive health rights for women and men and supports the inclusion of abortion training in Family Medicine curricula nationwide. He has two children who make him appear older than he really is. He enjoys vegetarian cooking and is generally regarded as potluck-safe.
Brent Oldham, M.D.
Brent A. Oldham, MD, FAAP, Clinical Associate Professor, University of Washington School of Medicine has been a practicing board certified pediatrician and teacher in Washington State for over thirty years. He attended Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and completed his pediatric residency at Seattle Children’s. He has held a number of leadership positions in the medical community, sat on numerous local and state public health and research committees, and lectured locally and internationally. He has received numerous awards as one of the best pediatricians in America and Washington, and multiple honors as teacher of the year. His diverse interests include newborn care, pediatric cardiology, addiction medicine, children with chronic disease and disabilities, and international medicine. He strongly believes access to quality medical care is a fundamental human right, and that excellent physicians treat patients with equal parts of respect, confidence, humility, and compassion.
Carrie Rubenstein, M.D., Carolyn Downs Site Director
Carrie came out to Seattle from New Jersey after medical school training at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School because of the quality of Family Medicine training and the natural beauty of the Great Northwest. She completed her Family Medicine Residency at Swedish – First Hill, and stayed for a 4th year to pursue further fellowship training in Geriatrics. During this R4 year, she had the opportunity to complete a faculty development fellowship at the University of Washington, which clarified her passion for academics and teaching.
Immediately following the Geriatrics fellowship, Carrie accepted a position as a full spectrum family physician at Carolyn Downs, a well-respected CHC in Central Seattle. During her first 4 years of practice, she developed her clinical and leadership skills, and worked for 3 years in the role of Clinical Site Director. It was during this time that our organization received a large Recovery Act Grant, which enabled us to pursue a formal relationship with Swedish – Cherry Hill as a satellite continuity clinic. At this time, Carrie transitioned to the Residency Site Director role, which gave her an opportunity to join the fantastic faculty at Swedish - Cherry Hill. Our first 2 residents at Carolyn Downs arrived in June 2010, and while we are still in the nascent stages of our program, we have a well-supported, growing program with enthusiastic and quality faculty at our CHC.
Carrie was recently married in the summer of 2010, and she and Justin enjoy running, tennis, triathaloning, cross country skiing and travel. She travels frequently out to New Jersey to visit her family.
Tanmeet Sethi, M.D.
Dr. Sethi joined the faculty in the fall of 2003. She is a board-certified family physician who graduated from the Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency in 2000 and has been practicing in the Seattle community since. Dr. Sethi’s primary interests are in maternal-child health and Integrative Medicine. She has completed a two year fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona with Dr. Weil and is faculty for the Center of Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, DC. She has also received training in Ayurvedic Medicine in India and the U.S. She directs the Integrative Medicine curriculum and IM Area of Concentration which includes a more intensive learning experience in mind-body medicine, nutrition, botanicals, nutritional supplements and integrative medicine consultations. She leads an Integrative Medicine consultation clinic at the Cherry Hill Clinic site and runs mind-body medicine group visits twice a year at the clinic.
Dr. Sethi completed her undergraduate work at Northwestern University in Evanston , Ill., where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in African history. After graduating from college, she lived in China for a year and a half where she taught English and traveled through China and Southeast Asia . After moving back from China , she attended Rush Medical College in Chicago and then moved to Seattle to complete her residency. She has also co-founded Chaya, an organization created to support South Asian women in domestic violence situations and educate the South Asian community on domestic violence issues. She is a writer and has published her non-medical work in anthologies. She has conducted workshops on physicians and writing as well as workshops for women to use writing as healing from chronic illness. She speaks Punjabi, Hindi and Spanish. She has three young children and enjoys spending her free time with her family in the beautiful Pacific Northwest
Joseph Shamseldin, M.D.
Dr. Joe Shamseldin is a board-certified family physician with a certificate of added qualification in sports medicine. He has been a full-time faculty member in the residency since 1976 and has directed our curriculum for years. He is Head Team Physician for all teams of Seattle University, NCAA Division I. He is a regular speaker at the AAFP Board Review Courses on sports medicine. Dr. Shamseldin is active in the King County and Washington Academy of Family Physicians. He is a past president of the King County Academy. The Washington Academy of Family Physicians honored Dr. Shamseldin in 2002 by naming him Washington’s Family Physician of the Year. Formerly a college level athlete and musician, he has played trumpet in the Seattle Symphony and continues to enjoy music, sports and exercise. His favorite thing to do is spend time with family and friends. He is blessed with a very close family in Seattle area and believes that our residents, faculty and staff should feel like a close family and he continues to work to make it that way.
Frederick B. Smith, M.D.
Dr. Smith graduated from Rutgers Medical School , New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1979. A board-certified family physician, he completed his family practice residency in 1982 from the Cherry Hill residency program. He has been a member of the faculty for 27 years. He directs the clinic’s procedure clinic and is one of the R2 advisors. In addition to his residency teaching, he has maintained a busy clinical practice in downtown Seattle for over 24 years with Swedish Physician Medical Group.
Julie Taraday, M.D., Associate Director of the Curriculum
Julie Taraday received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Brown University before heading to the Rocky Mountains to ski, hike and climb for a few years. A thorough analysis of weather and snow conditions required her to return to her Washington roots where she learned how to multitask: coordinating multiple research projects for the University of Washington, obtaining essential pre-med requirements, and ski patrolling on weekends. She graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine and completed her residency at the 45th Street Clinic site of Swedish Family Medicine Residency at First Hill. She landed her dream job as faculty at Swedish Family Medicine, Cherry Hill immediately upon completing residency training. She is currently the Faculty Coordinator for the 4th year student clerkship program. Her other curricular passions include maternal/child medicine, obstetrics, gynecologic procedures, community-based research (including but not limited to her special focus on improving breastfeeding rates in high-risk populations) and inpatient family medicine service. She is enthusiastic about the advantages of Group OB care and has been conducting group OB visits with resident colleagues using the Centering model of prenatal care. Julie finds meaning and purpose in her professional life by working for the disadvantaged and underserved in the community. Her like-minded resident and faculty colleagues make this the ideal work environment for her. She also loves getting to speak Spanish with many of her patients in the Cherry Hill Clinic. Julie and her life-partner, Gretchen, have two adorable boys who keep life at home hilarious and busy. She finds abundant joy in sharing her once “extreme” passions with her kids via the bunny slopes and cushy tent camping. While parenting has become her favorite pastime, she still enjoys cooking Indian and Thai food, racing in triathlons, backpacking, digging in the garden and generally being a dork with her family and friends.
Shannon Waterman, M.D.
After completing her undergraduate degree in The Comparative History of Ideas at the University of Washington, Dr. Waterman remained in Seattle for her medical doctorate at the UW School of Medicine. Following residency at Tacoma Family Medicine, Dr. Waterman, now board-certified in family medicine, returned to the desert Southwest (where she grew up) working for several years at the Indian Health Service hospital in Zuni, New Mexico. There she developed a broad scope of practice including OB, emergency care and trauma stabilization, casting, and colposcopy. The clinical culture at Zuni included interdisciplinary care, a spirit of intellectual curiosity, bright students and residents and supportive collegial relationships - all of which she finds at Cherry Hill as well. (Recent work in Arctic Alaska also provided insight into the rewards and challenges of caring for underserved populations in remote locales - and to think she initially found Zuni to be remote!) She is pleased to bring this experience to advising residents interested in rural health care careers. Dr. Waterman worked in community health care locally, and in medical student and residency education at the University of Washington before joining our program at Cherry Hill. She enjoys time with family and good friends, road biking, river rafting, traveling internationally and is a self-declared foodie. She has broad interests in art, music and theater and still stubbornly attempts the Sunday NY Times crossword in pen. Though never playing a team sport before, she is now a member of a community kickball league and has become a die-hard fan of the Seattle Sounders professional soccer team.