Seeking a female pediatrician
Hello,
We are looking for a a female pediatrician for our daughter, who will be born in October. We live in Oakland, but are willing to travel east of the tunnel or further north for a caring and reasonable doctor. Any recommendations/anecdotes are helpful.
Thank you!
Jul 23, 2018
Parent Replies
Annemary Franks is amazing! She was a great doctor from birth to recently for our 22-year-old daughter. We loved the home visit a couple of days after she was born.
Dr. Patricia Chiang at Primary Pediatrics
We love Lisa Swearingen at Alta Bates in Berkeley. She has been our daughter’s pediatrician since birth. As first-time parents, it was important for us to find someone who was not only highly competent, but also caring and a good listener. Dr. Swearingen met all of our criteria and more.
Her bio page: https://www.sutterhealth.org/find-doctor/dr-lisa-swearingen
Hi there! We LOVE Emily Caro-Bruce, MD at One Medical on Grand Ave. The scheduling is SUPER easy, every appointment is on time and the lab work is always a breeze.
Best of luck!!
I've loved Dr. Karin Schiffman. She's the pediatrician for our 7 year old and will be for another, to be welcomed in Nov. Highly recommended, She's personable, takes time with the kids, and thoroughly explains things to parents.
Dr. Shawna Johnson and Dr. Susan Goddard are both competent and lovely. Both are at Kaiser Oakland.
We love Olivia Lang at Berkeley Pediatrics. The office is well-organized and we've always felt that she has been generous with her time during visits. My youngest spent 6+ weeks in the NICU, so the first year was tough and we were very grateful for Dr. Lang.
We love Annemary Franks at Berkeley Pediatrics in North Berkeley, whom we've seen for 14 years. We find her to be very sensible and smart, as well as warm and straight-forward.
Can't say enough good things about Dr. Katrina Michel at Berkeley Pediatrics! She's wonderful, patient, attentive and 100% understands modern parenthood as she has two young children herself. Also, I find that I can almost always get a same day appointment if my child is sick (sometimes within 30 min - 1 hour). You can call their office to set up an in-person meeting with her before deciding.
We absolutely love Lisa Swearingen in Berkeley. She is incredibly responsive but not alarmist (I’m a first time mom and occasionally anxious) and takes a lot of time with us. She’s very sweet toward our daughter and takes a lot of time to explain EVERYTHING to us. Happy to give you more details if you want
We have Dr. Annemarie Franks at Berkeley Pediatrics who we love. They have mostly female doctors and the others I have met are great too. I highly recommend them.
My kids have been seen Dr. Robin Meezan (Summit Pediatrics in Orinda) since they were babies and she's amazing. She's down to earth, thoughtful, practical, funny, and develops a great rapport with the kids as they grow. She has two kids of her own so she totally gets kids and parents and is never judgmental. I've never felt rushed and no question ever feels awkward or stupid with conversing with her. Her office is right off of the Orinda exit (Highway 24). I travel from Oakland and it's usually a quick ride.
We really love Dr Lang at Berkeley Pediatrics, she's very thorough and takes all our concerns seriously. My children, who are shy and introverted enjoy visiting her too.
Dr Olivia Lang at Berkeley pediatrics, we go with her and also live in Oakland
Check out Primary Pediatric Medical Group. They are in Oakland, Alameda and Castro Valley, and are a wonderful group! All offices have female pediatricians.
My daughter has seen Dr. Sarah Handelsman at East Bay Pediatrics (offices next to Alta Bates in Berkeley and in Orinda) since infancy and we love her. She is so warm and as my daughter has grown (she's now 10) Dr. Handelsman has geared more of her questions and comments directly to my daughter, even when I am in the room. It is respectful, inclusive of me, but also teaching my daughter how to be engaged in her own health care. Their office has a great nurse advice line, and good drop in hours for acute sickness. My daughter has had a couple of very complicated issues and Dr. Handelsman tracks them and helps us problem solve.
We absolutely LOVE Juliana Damon at east bay pediatrics. Offices in Berkeley and Orinda. We first met her in the hospital when our baby was born and although we were initially with a different doctor in the practice we switched to her because she was so positive and caring and compassionate. She helped guide us through the initial stages of my son’s severe peanut allergy when he suffered anaphylaxis at only 6 months old (she grabbed the phone from the advice nurse, snapped me out of minimizing the situation, and insisted that we immediately go to the emergency room which was 10000% the correct call) and then referred us to an absolutely wonderful and highly renowned local allergist for specialist follow up. She is otherwise available for questions (when the advice nurse thinks she needs to be included) and an absolute pleasure to see at his regular check ups. She has such a positive attitude, is extremely supportive, and gives wonderful feedback on how well we are doing with our first baby!
If you're with Kaiser, I really like Dr. Katrina Saba at Kaiser Oakland. She is very friendly and professional.
We love Dr. Janet Perlman at Stanford Children's on Telegraph Ave. (btwn Russell and Ashby) - she is always kind and consistent, and takes her time. She gives our daughter a book to take home any time she gets a shot. She is also flexible on vaccination schedules, if that matters to you.
Dr. Chau-Lim is awesome. She is in Walnut Creek. She's probably in her 60's. Very bright, yet good with kids. A but old school, including her office, but I'd give aesthetics to quality care any day. We were with Kaiser and very dissastisfied. She is located at:
1822 San Miguel Dr, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
all the best!
We love Kiwi Pediatrics. There are two female doctors (and two male). They are so attentive to the kids and really care about them and our family. They have called in prescriptions for us while we are on vacation, they have stayed after hours to stitch up a head wound, we will email them pictures of rashes or cuts and they will tell us if we need to come in or if it something we don't need to worry about.
I love that they give out bike helmets at the beginning of school to kids who don't have them, they give out glowsticks at Halloween so kids will be more visible to traffic, give out books so kids will read. They talk to our kids about nutrition in such a way that they take it to heart. They have two office, one on Alcatraz Ave in Berkeley (right near the border with Oakland).
They are a fantastic group. I particularly love Liz Salsburg but all the doctors are good.
You certainly don't have to travel through the tunnel to find an excellent pediatrician! They abound in Oakland and Berkeley. Try Paula Brinkley at Bayside, or probably any of the other female providers there. Berkeley Pediatrics is also good, but maybe that's too far.
Annemary Franks BPMG Berkeley Pediatric Medical Group. Or in the same practice, Dr Lisa Kalar.
I second the docs at Primary Pediatric Medical group. Our daughter is 6 mos and we have been treated by multiple docs beyond our primary pediatrician (who happens to be male) and the entire experience has been fantastic. The practice is extremely well run. One of the best decision we made was choosing that practice for our child. She is very well cared for.
+1 for Emily Caro-Bruce at One Medical in Oakland. She is amazing with my one year old and so responsive to email/texts. We feel so fortunate to have her as my son's doctor.
Our family has been with Dr. Richard Oken of East Bay Pediatrics for 18 years. He and every pediatrician in the practice have been beyond fabulous, beginning with day-of-birth care in the delivery hospital. My oldest just had a leaving-for-college physical.
With that said, I recently took my younger son to drop-in there for a sports injury, and we were attended by Dr. Tracy Evans-Ramsey (Dr. Tracy). I was quite frankly blown-away by her manner and professionalism with both me and my child. Though we have not worked with her regularly, I strongly urge you to check her out.
+1 for the Oakland One Medical office! We've seen Emily Caro-Bruce, Sarit Silver, and Kate Murray at that location, and all have been sweet and knowledgable. Very reassuring for us as first-time parents!