Faculty

Associate Professor

Department of Family Medicine

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Dr. Beste grew up in the Eastern US, moving every few years due to her dad's job in retail. She attended Bethel College in St. Paul MN for undergraduate and University of MN for medical school. It was there she met her husband Todd, and they decided to escape the snow and ice for warmer climates and moved to Greenville, N.C. to complete their residencies at East Carolina University and then stayed on as faculty for 9 years. Dr. Beste became the associate residency director in 2002 and residency director there in 2003. Then, in 2007 the once in a lifetime opportunity appeared – the chance to move to Wilmington, North Carolina! She took the position as program director and her husband became faculty in the OB/Gyn residency program. He became their program director in 2009.

On a personal note, Dr. Beste has two kids in elementary school and love to spend time on the water. They can bike to the beach and often have picnic dinners there after work in the summer. "We have learned to kayak and my kids can identify just about every seashell they find. Wilmington has an active arts community and we have enjoyed plays, musicals and lots of concerts, both indoors and out. My husband does triathlons and I run – the highlight last year was participating in the Beach to Battleship Half Ironman right here in town," said Dr. Beste.

Dr. Beste has a special interest in maternity care (having a built in consultant in her husband), children's health and international medicine. Both Dr. Beste's have made five trips to the Dominican Republic, working out of a Dominican clinic there. "We bring residents and students and always return with a great appreciation for all that we have."

Assistant Professor

Department of Family Medicine

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Kevin E. Johnson, M.D. Assistant Residency Director for the program likes to brag about the fact he grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, graduated from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and smartly migrated to the coast with his new bride in tow as quickly as he could.

As a member of the inaugural class of the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Residency in Family Medicine, he served as chief resident from 1999-2000. He has seen the program grow from the dreams of a small but dedicated group of individuals to help improve the health of Southeastern North Carolina to a thriving program that has expanded in size and mission. After graduating from the NHRMC Residency, Dr. Johnson worked at the Mercy Community Health Center in Asheboro, N.C., and then moved back home to Clinton, Oklahoma as a solo practitioner doing full scope family medicine with obstetrics. He rejoined the residency program as an attending physician in 2006, and enjoys practicing and teaching full scope family medicine. His interests are in geriatrics, health informatics and practice management.Dr. Johnson also holds a certificate of added qualification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and is a graduate of the faculty development fellowship in Academic Family Medicine from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He likes to bug his wife about buying a farm so he can have cows at the beach, and loves spending time with his daughter and wife hanging out on or near the water, raising homegrown tomatoes, or traipsing through the mountains of N.C. fly-fishing.  

Associate Professor

Department of Family Medicine

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

After 10 years of private practice in rural Georgia and 11 years of teaching Duke University residents and students the art of Family Medicine, Dr. Al Meyer, a Senior Clinician, has found his home in New Hanover and Pender Counties. Fully involved in the healing mission of the Residency, Dr. Meyer directs the hospital's HIV Clinic, Pharmaceutical and Therapy Committee and is the Medical Director of the Residency's medical practice.

Balancing his clinical commitment with his love of family, Dr. Meyer enjoys spending time with his wife Kim, his six children and his five grandchildren. The Meyers enjoy living in a 175 year-old house in historic downtown Wilmington, as well as spending a lot of vacation and weekend time surfing and swimming at their condominium
on the ocean side of Topsail Beach. 

Assistant Professor

Department of Family Medicine

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Cecile Robes, D.O. hails from Farmington Hills, Michigan, and attended University of Michigan before traded allegiances to Michigan State University for Osteopathic Medical School. Dr. Robes says "I love family medicine because of its diversity and our ability to build long lasting relationships with patients, which fosters optimum care." Her interests are in pediatrics, preventive care and obesity management within the spectrum of family practice. Prior to joining SEAHEC, Dr. Robes served as the Osteopathic Director of Medical Education for the Duke Family Medicine Residency through Southern Regional Area Health Education Center located in Fayetteville, N.C.

She moved to Wilmington after visiting her mother who has lived in the area for 15 years and loves it. Dr. Robes and her husband enjoy traveling within North Carolina as well as visiting the beautiful local beaches here in the Cape Fear region. The newest member of the Family Residency Program, Dr. Robes looks forward to a wonderful collaborative relationship between New Hanover Regional Medical Center, SEAHEC and Coastal Family Medicine. "I'd like to work towards further strengthening the Family Medicine Residency and putting us at the forefront of medical change. The ability to encourage growth and flexibility is what our medical students find so appealing about our program, not to mention, that we graduate stellar Family Physicians!" 

Assistant Professor

Department of Family Medicine

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

When choosing a career path, Dr. Reddick chose family medicine because he couldn't find an area of medicine that he was willing to let go of. "Seeing many different age groups and disease processes keeps things interesting," says Dr. Reddick. Some of his areas of interest are broad-spectrum family medicine (including obstetrics & procedures), medical student & resident education, health disparities, global health and preventive medicine.

Dr. Reddick moved to Wilmington August 2010 with his wife and two children. His wife is also a physician. She is a perinatologist who is involved with teaching residents in the OB rotation from time to time. One of the things that drew Dr. Reddick to Wilmington is its size. "It's small enough that I can get anywhere in town in 15 minutes, which allows me to enjoy my kids' extracurricular activities & take lunch breaks with my wife," says Dr. Reddick. In his spare time, he likes to spend time with his family and...Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! (running, triathlons, basketball, core exercises). Dr. Reddick's wife and kids love the beach and he personally loves the seafood.

In Dr. Reddick's opinion, some of the strengths of this residency program are the close working relationship between the residents and attendings, the high academic standards and the education curriculum. "If you want a rigorous academic environment, but still want to receive substantial support and mentoring from the attending physicians, consider this program for your training. If you want to learn all aspects of family medicine while developing personally and professionally, Wilmington is the place to be," says Dr. Reddick. 

Clinical Assistant Professor

Department of Family Medicine

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

I joined the Family Medicine faculty in October 2003 and currently serve as Director of Pharmacy Education as well maintain a clinical practice in association with the Family Medicine Residency Program. I provide direct patient care in collaboration with physicians for patients with a variety of chronic disease states including: diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, COPD, asthma, pain, venous thromboembolism and peripheral arterial disease. I also participate on weekly rounds with the Family Medicine inpatient service. Additionally, I am the Program Director for the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Residency through the Department of Pharmacy at New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

I received my Doctorate of Pharmacy from Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC, and completed a Family Medicine Specialty Residency at Moses Cone Family Practice Center in Greensboro, NC. I have 2 miniature schnauzers named Reddick and Pacer and enjoy taking them to the beach, especially in the off season. I love to participate in outdoor activities. This could involve anything from listening to a band at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, attending local festivals, and running. I previously allowed friends to talk me into local 5K races, I recently allowed a friend talk me into a half-marathon and actually can't wait until my next one. I also enjoy traveling, Duke basketball, and spending time with my growing family.   

Professor

Department of Family Medicine

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

After doing graduate work in counseling psychology at Michigan State University, Kertesz began teaching behavioral medicine in family medicine at Duke University. In his words, "I fell into it absolutely by the seat of my pants, but, it has been an amazing gift." After spending many years at Duke's residency, he had the opportunity to move to Wilmington to help start up a brand-new family medicine residency program. "It was so exciting, and continues to be. It really is a blessing to be able to spend your life doing work that you really love. The combination of teaching and clinical work is the perfect one for me," says Kertesz.

He believes that behavioral medicine is such an integral part of family medicine. Every patient that is seen has some behavioral component affecting their health and/or their illness. It is often the role of the family physician to tease out how much of this needs to be addressed and in what ways. That is the challenge that Kertesz loves to address on a daily basis. He finds family medicine residents eager and able to live up to this task. "That's the real joy in what I do."

Kertesz says he's had the opportunity to become familiar with many family medicine residencies across the country, and feels he has a good perspective for what's out there. Whenever anybody asks him about the strengths of the residency program here, he says, "If someone is looking for a University affiliated, community-based, family medicine residency, it doesn't get any better than our program. Enough said."