Allina Health

Ann O'Donnell, MD: I focus a lot with my patients on education and prevention. I also like to work with adolescents and younger women, but I do also take care of many women through all spectrums of their lives. I like to focus on minimal invasive-type procedures, so I try to keep people out of the operating room if at all possible, but I also do offer surgical intervention for my patients if needed. I like to do obstetrics and gynecology, and the whole spectrum.

What I like the most about my job are probably just my patients. I really enjoy getting to know the women that I work with. I like working with women, specifically, so it was nice to take that half sector of the population, and really getting to know them; not just during their deliveries or with their pregnancies, but throughout their entire lives, from when their teenagers to menopause and beyond.

My practice philosophy actually centers a lot around teamwork. I have trained for many years to get information but my job is to provide that information to my patients because each and every one of my patients is very different, so what we do with that information is also very different.

My health tip for my patients, I think, is probably just a general recommendation to be preventative, to try and take care of things before they become a problem, because number one, they are easier to deal with, they're less of a headache for my patients, and a lot of times it's actually kind of fun because you learn a lot of good information. So being preventative, whether that be in your care or learning something new each day.

Assen Chekerdjiev, MD: Internal medicine is fascinating because of the intellectual challenges of the field, because of the variety of cases we see and because of the everyday patient contact. That's probably the best thing about it.

Seeing an ill patient recover to a good, normal quality of life is extremely rewarding. The everyday interaction, the counseling, the lifestyle changes, the progress, all of this is very interesting.

I strongly believe in a patient-centered model of practice. I'm here to be an advisor, a partner in care; someone who is going to help with the prevention of bad things happening in the future, with helping out and treating existing diseases. I'm here to help you out, make proper decisions, provide necessary resources, and again, center your care around your preferences.

Enjoy everything in moderation. It's very important. Get enough sleep. Surround yourselves with positive people. That helps a lot.

Eydie Edberg, CNP: My particular focus and interest lies in women's health, and really all aspects of women's health, from teaching adolescents about contraception and preventing sexually transmitted infections; things that they can't discuss with their parents or things that they can discuss with their parents. And general health care throughout your life transitions, from infertility to general health maintenance, quality of life, menopause, I love it all.

At the end of our visit, I want patients to think of me as someone who has listened to their needs, and respected their ideas, and together we make a plan so that it's something that we both can work with in the best interest of their care.

Anne Furuseth, MD: OB/ GYN started for me when I was about 15 years old. My mother had remarried and had a couple of babies, and I was gifted and allowed to be there at those deliveries. And there was something about it; and at that moment my plan to be an English teacher changed to being an OB/GYN.

The best part of what I do is definitely the patients. I think that surgery is great and medicine itself is a very exciting and fulfilling career, but without the women we work with and work for it just wouldn't be the same thing.

My goal for my practice and my philosophy is that women, for the most part are strong, they are the center of their families, and they're perfectly able to take care of themselves as long as they are given the tools to do so. My goal is to make those tools available and that education present for women so that they can be strong advocates for their own health care; and live well and be well.

Evan Griffiths, MD: I basically pretty much looked at all of the options and OB/ GYN kind of fit best with my personality. Back in the day when I went in to OB/ GYN, there were more men that were in OB/ GYN; and it provides an opportunity to work in the reproductive area, and then you'll be involved with families at a time when there are very positive things going on in their lives.

I think that my philosophy, obviously, is to get to know the patients and make sure that I come to appreciate what it is that they want and what they need. And having been in private practice for many, many years, and owning my own practice where it was important that you did basically have to do a little bit of selling of yourself, and making sure that the patients did feel comfortable that you were going to meet the need that they had. I think our perception is our truth and, you know, if someone has a perceived need you need to come to know what that is. I think that listening to patients and appreciating that is probably the most important thing that I could say that I've come to know over the years.

I think that, you know, especially doing obstetrics, that it's very critical for couples and families when they are thinking about having a child or a baby that they get in to see their physician beforehand, because there are so many things that can be addressed prior to conception. I think pre-conception counseling is something that I think a lot of families don't do, and a lot of women don't do. It's something that I think is critical, that it's done and it's emphasized, and it's promoted.

I've been working on a couple of products that have stemmed from my years of practice and years of being in OB/ GYN. My wife, also, is a retired OB/ GYN so together we formulated a couple of patent-pending products. One of them is a feminine hygiene product and the other one is an antiperspirant/ deodorant. And we're working currently with some of the big companies in the country to try to bring those to market. It's been a very rewarding process and a very long, lengthy process, but we've enjoyed doing that kind of as a little bit of a hobby for a time here.

Gabor Joo, MD: I'm practicing internal medicine, mainly focusing on diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol; but we’re dealing with a full range of other problems and medical conditions, too.

What I value doing most is my relationship with my patients, and at the end of the day, that gives me the most satisfaction: that I can call some of my patients' friends.

I like to treat chronic medical conditions. It's nice to see patients over the years that their numbers are improving, their medical condition is improving, and gives us a long-term relationship.

My practice philosophy is that, as everybody else at the clinic, we practice evidence-based medicine. On the other hand, I think every patient is special.