ABOUT THE DOCTOR
Anshu Gupta, M.D.
Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
Dr. Anshu Gupta specializes in plastic and reconstructive surgery, particularly procedures to treat facial and hand injuries, birth defects and deformities due to cancer. He also treats burns, scars and dog bite injuries. Dr. Gupta actively researches microsurgery, breast reconstruction and minimally invasive endoscopic techniques. His extensive training helps him personalize care to each patient’s individual needs.
Dr. Gupta earned his medical degree from Government Medical College in India (accredited by the World Health Organization), and then went on to complete his residency in general surgery at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield and his plastic surgery fellowship at Indiana University School of Medicine. He also completed externships for trauma surgery, surgical oncology and general surgery from University of California, San Diego and an externship in microsurgery at Buncke Clinic in San Francisco, as well as an externship in Plastic Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
In 2009, Dr. Gupta opened his private practice in Encinitas where he splits his time between plastic and reconstructive surgery anddoing procedures at Scripps La Jolla, Scripps Encinitas, Tri City Hospital and Sharp Hospital and various surgery centers.
Dr. Gupta has always believed in giving back to the community and underprivileged communities around the globe, and spent time at the El Salvador Mission operating and offering patient care for children suffering from acute burns, scar contractures, cleft lips and cleft palates, syndactyly, club hand and traumatic injuries. His role in this mission was to establish a burn unit in the hospital and to train the staff and fellows.
ABOUT THE DOCTOR:
Robert Afra, M.D.
Board Certified Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr. Robert Afra is a San Diego-based orthopedic surgeon who is nationally renowned in sports medicine with expertise in treating shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle conditions. As the former Chief of Sports Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, Dr. Afra has published extensively in professional journals and books and presented at conferences around the world, where he is considered a pioneer in the study of shoulder, knee, elbow and ankle injuries in athletes and active adults. Dr. Afra is also a specialist in cartilage issues and pain in knee cap disorders; he was named Co-Director of the International Patellofemoral Study Group Conference in San Diego in July 2011. As a sports medicine physician, he has managed and treated complex joint injuries and successfully guided patients back to peak performance levels.
Dr. Afra takes a customized approach to treat each of his patients. He provides comprehensive care to injured athletes, from sprain rehabilitation and muscle and ligament tear repairs to care for broken bones. He regularly cares for children and active adults with injuries to the upper extremities (shoulders, elbows, and wrists) and lower extremities (hips, knees, and ankles). His joint replacement practice consists of shoulder replacement, hip replacement, and knee replacement surgery, including minimally invasive surgery techniques and traditional joint replacement surgery when necessary.
Dr. Afra completed his fellowship training in sports medicine at Boston University, where he treated a variety of elite college athletes in ice hockey, soccer, basketball, field hockey and lacrosse. Dr. Afra was a researcher at University of Hawaii’s Queen Emme Medical Center in the field of muscle and nerve physiology, and was a surgical fellow at the world-renowned Barnard O’Brien Microsurgical Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He has studied microsurgical techniques and the art of plastic surgery. Dr. Afra studied medicine at UCLA, where he also completed his surgery internship. Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Afra worked at the Salk Institute on an NIH research stipend. In 2010, Dr. Robert Afra was selected by the Arthroscopy Association of North America, a premiere sports medicine society, as one of three surgeons to lecture to university faculty in the United States and Canada.
PRACTICE SPECIALTIES
The Chiropractic Center of North County is a full service clinic offering personalized, quality chiropractic care, massage therapy, nutritional counseling and physiotherapy. We specialize in personal injury rehabilitation, sports injuries and effective care for the whole family.
ABOUT THE DOCTOR
Dr. Kent W. Pollock II has been practicing in North County since 2003. He is a second generation chiropractor and has been around chiropractic his entire life. Dr. Pollock has also been a chiropractic patient, and has benefited, and seen countless positive life changing experiences in others through natural chiropractic care.
Following in his father’s footsteps, he graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College Los Angeles. After college, he moved his family to Carlsbad in 2003 and opened his practice in Encinitas. Dr. Pollock uses a variety of safe and effective chiropractic techniques in order to stabilize, strengthen, and heal the body. Over the years, he has learned that no two bodies are the same. He believes careful evaluation, history, and exam findings are needed in order to determine and provide the correct type of chiropractic care.
Dr. Pollock believes that everyone can benefit from chiropractic care regardless of age, current health problems, or pain levels. He is passionate about chiropractic and feels it improves a person’s quality of life and health.
Matt Alavi, L.Ac
Clinical Director / Founder of ActiveMed
Director of Pain Management and Natural Medicine
Owner & Co-Founder of NCIAC
Originally from Chicago, IL, Matt moved to San Diego to leave the winters behind while he broadened his studies of Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Mr. Alavi graduated from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, one of the largest Acupuncture Medical Colleges in the United States. While there, Matt trained under many of the finest health practitioners in his field, gaining a deeper understanding and knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In adjunct to his studies at Pacific College, Matt continued his education and clinical expertise at Chengdu Traditional Medical Hospital in Chengdu, China.
Mr. Alavi has obtained specialized training in orthopedics, neurology, endocrinology, immune disorders, gastrointestinal dysfunction and pain diseases. He has successfully treated numerous sports related injuries of collegiate athletes and coaches, at the RIMAC center at the University of California San Diego. Here, Matt utilized his background in sports medicine and nutrition to provide sports enhancement therapy.
As a lecturer and educator on many areas of health and wellness, Matt continues to spread the awareness and application of integrative medicine to the public as well as medical professionals. His mission is to be able to help as many people as possible, by providing the best standard of health care possible. Matt’s practice and expertise have been featured on local San Diego News and various other news media throughout San Diego. For the last several years, Matt has developed and directed the successful natural medicine and integrative medicine department at a medical center in Poway, CA. He is currently co-owner, founder, and Director of Integrative Medicine of North County Integrative Acupuncture center located at the Pomerado Outpatient Pavilion in Poway, CA. He is also co-owner and founder of Natural Cures, LLC., a nutraceutical company which incorporates the best advances in technology with nature, to provide products that address many different aspects of promoting health and conquering disease.
Matt believes the most important aspect in health care is disease prevention. However, when disease arises, in order for healing and wellness to occur or resume, the root (causative factors) of the disease must be treated. He has a true passion for health and his compassion for his patients is unsurpassed. Some services that Matt provides are acupuncture, herbal medicine, diet therapy, athletic enhancement, lifestyle consulting, structural therapy, hormone consultations, and neurotransmitter consults. Matt continues to expand his knowledge and research in integrative medicine by attending fellowship trainings, seminars and continued education. All Matt’s effort and learning is directed and focused on helping patients heal and become well.
Brett Rabin, L.Ac., C.SMA
Brett Rabin is a California Licensed Acupuncturist specializing in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders and the mitigation of pain associated with acute and chronic injuries. He has been the Acupuncturist for the San Diego Padres since the 2015 season and currently treats professional baseball players on the active rosters of MLB. He utilizes Sports Medicine Acupuncture alongside MLB Athletic Trainers, Training Staff, Team Doctors, Sports Physical Therapists, and Chiropractors in the on-going evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation of professional baseball players on the San Diego Padres active roster.
In his private practice, Brett remains committed to providing the utmost in quality patient care. He firmly believes in fostering open communication with each and every one of his patients. Each patient receives a personalized treatment plan designed to fit his or her health needs. Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, cupping, postural and movement analysis, nutritional consulting, stretching, and home-based exercises are just some of the medical modalities that may be included in the treatment plan.
He is a graduate of the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) in San Diego, where he received a Master of Science in Traditional Oriental Medicine (MSTOM). Brett is also Certified in Sports Medicine Acupuncture (C.SMA), a unique distinction in the field of acupuncture.
From 2012 through 2017, Brett treated patients at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine (SCIM) in La Jolla, CA. He utilized comprehensive clinical treatment plans and protocol evaluations in concert with Integrative Medical Doctors, Nurses, Nutritionists, Biofeedback Specialists, and Medical Assistants. The unique opportunity to combine the principles of Eastern medicine with the science of Western medicine at a highly regarded medical facility enabled Brett to practice a truly integrative approach to health care.
Dana Steindorf, L.Ac
Licensed Acupuncturist
Dana’s interest in Chinese medicine was born out of a love for the curative power of diet as well as an awareness of lifestyle factors in the creation of disease. She participated in medical research during her undergraduate studies to gain a better understanding of the disease process, and the role of both social and psychological factors. Traditional Chinese Medicine’s aim at prevention, as well as reverence to-wards the body’s ability to heal itself, led Dana to continue her studies at one of the top medical acupuncture colleges, Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. Renowned for integrating the ancient system of medicine with current medical practices she had the opportunity to work at hospitals and clinics throughout the county to deepen her knowledge and practical application.
Her passion for helping others combined with her desire to obtain the most current research and treatment methods, provides her patients with the highest level of care. She believes in empowering others to play a role in their healing process by providing them with an increased understanding and awareness of causative factors. An educator in her field, it is her mission to work with both the individual and the community to make this powerful system of medicine a more utilized and accessible method of health care.
Dana is exceptional at customizing treatments to work with the needs of the individual and helping her patients to feel comfortable. She takes a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, working with herbal medicine, nutritional therapy, and lifestyle consulting, along with acupuncture and manual therapies. She believes in working closely as team with other health providers to both comprehensively treat and eliminate pain and disease.
Although Dana has a special interest in the treatment of digestive and autoimmune disorders, her extended studies and practice have given her success in treating acute and chronic pain, PTSD and mood disorders, women’s health, infertility, endocrinology, orthopedics, and pediatric medicine.
Board Certified Pain Management & Anesthesiology
ABOUT THE DOCTOR
Dr. Kumar is a board-certified and fellowship trained pain management consultant. He is an active staff physician at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, and local surgical centers.
He has an extensive educational background and the most up-to-date medical training in pain management. His interest in pain medicine stems from his research background in chronic pain and spinal physiology, and he utilizes this knowledge in his private practice. He is published in medical journals, is active in numerous medical societies, has lectured extensively on epidural analgesia and opioid pharmacology, and remains involved in medical student education.
Dr. Kumar is a long time local resident of San Diego, growing up and living most of his life in North County. He enjoys spending time with his wife and 5 year-old twins, Max and Chloe, his friends, and his dogs. He feels privileged to live in, and care for the patients of North County, San Diego.
Treatment Philosophy
– A Focus on Diagnostics, with an emphasis on identifying and treating the underlying causes of pain. Individualized treatment plans for each patient.
– A Multidisciplinary Approach utilizing pharmacological therapy, interventional procedures, physical therapy and exercise to facilitate improved function and quality of life.
– Efforts to avoid or Minimize Narcotic Dependency when possible. Educate on the limitations and efficacy of narcotic medications in various pain syndromes. Aim to stabilize doses in opioid tolerant patients. To taper or detox narcotic medications when medically necessary.
– We utilize the most Up-to-Date Pain Management techniques and interventional therapies available.
– Non-Surgical Pain Solutions, with referral for orthopedic or neurosurgical consultation when medically indicated.
Pre-Med Education:
UCLA, Physiology, Summa Cum Laude, 1998
Graduate Education:
UCLA School of Public Health; Biostatistics, 2000
Medical School:
UCSD School of Medicine, 2004
Internship:
Internal Medicine, UMC, Las Vegas, 2005
Residency:
Anesthesiology, UCSD, 2008
Fellowship:
Interventional Pain Management, UCSD, 2009
Honors and Awards:
Dean Scholarship UCSD School of Medicine
Medical Honor Society
Board Certified:
Pain Management 2009
Anesthesiology 2008
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