Naturally, I am in many ways sad about this change, but this career change will allow me to pursue international medical mission trips with greater frequency, and this is something I've long felt was the way I should spend the latter years of my medical practice career. To accomplish this I have accepted a position at an east bay hospital at which I will join a team of ob-gyns who provide medical care for the indigent of that community. It is the flexibility in that position's scheduling that will allow me to take several overseas trips each year.

I count it a great privilege to have been part of your care team these past years. You have enriched my life beyond measure. Mine is a great specialty which I feel blessed to have practiced for these twenty-plus years. I started my practice in 1988 and have had the privilege of caring for many of you for most or all of those years. We have gone through many life events together and I thank you for allowing me to enter into your world in those times. Many of you also helped me and my family walk through the very difficult loss of my daughter Missy in 1999 and I thank you for each and every one of your cards, letters and prayers.

But now it is time for me to move on to another area of medicine that is calling. International medicine will give me the opportunity to share with doctors and nurses in faraway places the knowledge and experience I have acquired in a way that will increase and multiply my gifts far beyond anything I could ever accomplish by myself in direct patient care. Also, the individuals we serve on these trips are often poor, displaced, unloved and ignored, and my participation on these teams will allow me to bring a special and meaningful touch to these individuals.

If you are so inclined I would appreciate your prayers and good thoughts. I will long remember my years on Samaritan Drive with fondness, a smile on my face, and tears of joy and compassion in my eyes...