Your Trusted Rheumatology Experts

“Here, You Are a Person—Not a Disease”

I understand what it means to need urgent medical care. At age 10, I lay in a hospital bed in Romania with severe liver disease. Those long hours and many hospital admissions shaped my future, calling me to medicine. I became the first physician and first university graduate in my Romanian family.

My journey from that small town in Romania to America seems almost unbelievable sometimes. With borrowed airfare from a friend and $2,000 from my parents selling a parcel of land, I arrived at Harvard University as a Postdoctoral fellow. That money barely covered a month’s rent and food, but my determination knew no bounds.

After cardiovascular research at Harvard, I conducted award-winning research at the University of Pittsburgh’s Starzl Transplantation Institute. Yet something was missing—my patients. This led me back to clinical practice, completing my internal medicine residency and rheumatology fellowship at the University of Cincinnati.

But practicing rheumatology in traditional settings troubled me deeply. I saw patients waiting six months for appointments, driving hundreds of miles to see a specialist, and lying awake at night worried about medical bills. I watched insurance companies disrupt carefully planned treatments, and billing concerns overshadowed patient care. Crisis after crisis could have been avoided if doctors could simply be directly connected with their patients and avoid all the interferences placed by insurance companies and huge, convoluted medical systems.

This was not the medicine I dreamed of practicing.

So, in early 2020, I founded Rheumatologist OnCall®, a direct-pay medical practice. Here, you communicate directly with me—your physician. I am your doctor. There are no gatekeepers, medical assistants, or insurance companies standing between us. Don’t be surprised when I answer your calls myself, call you in the evening to follow up, or send a holiday greeting card to your mailbox.

Through in-person and telehealth visits across our 8-state service area, I provide the care you need when you need it. We charge fair prices with no surprise bills—just transparent, affordable care, including low-cost imaging and labs. You decide whether to use your healthcare insurance for medical expenses like tests and medications or pay a fair price. 

My commitment to your care extends beyond the traditional medical model. I’ve completed Stanford’s Nutrition Science program and studied meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, the renowned founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine. Every day, I help patients blend medical treatment with nutrition, mindfulness, and physical activity to minimize the effects of their diagnosis.

This approach has resonated with millions. My YouTube channel now has over 12 million views, and my work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Medscape, and Kevin MD. I collaborate with the American College of Rheumatology and the National Arthritis Foundation, always staying at the forefront of rheumatology care to bring you the latest treatments and insights.

Time is of the essence with autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. Waiting months for treatment isn’t just inconvenient—it can cause permanent organ damage. That’s why I created this practice: to get you from diagnosis to treatment to feeling better as quickly as possible. I’ve always been fascinated by the connections among our minds, our bodies, our immune systems, and how we fuel ourselves. Approaching medical care this way isn’t just innovative—it’s the most natural choice of all.

This is the kind of medicine I dreamed of practicing when I was that little girl in a Romanian hospital bed. Today, I’m proud to offer it to you.

Let me help you begin your journey to better health. Here, you’ll find more than just medical care—you’ll find a partner who sees you as a person, not a disease.