BOARD MEMBERS

Dr. LaGrelius has been a board-certified specialist in family medicine since 1977 and geriatric medicine since 1990. He completed his most recent family medicine board recertification in 2014 and his geriatrics recertification in 2010. Dr. LaGrelius graduated from the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle, serving his internship and residency at the University of Southern California Medical Center. He is a staff member at two hospitals: Torrance Memorial Medical Center, where he served for six terms as chairman of the Department of Family Practice, and on courtesy staff at Little Company of Mary Torrance Hospital.

Being a family physician is a great privilege, and he carries it with great responsibility. It is not a part-time job. It is a full-time calling to which Dr. LaGrelius has devoted his life – a decision he made as a youth. To him, it is the most interesting, challenging and rewarding of all professions.

He was born on April 16, 1943 in Seattle, Washington and now resides in South Bay, Los Angeles County, since 1969. He and his wife, Patti, have three grown children, Piper, Michael and Kimberly, and two granddaughters, Ellen and Nora. Dr. LaGrelius holds a commercial instrument pilot’s license. He is an active aviator and aircraft owner and enjoys flying, photography, exercise, public speaking, medical politics, writing and healthcare reform.

Founder, Forward Focus (Concierge) Medical Care, Chicago

Dr. Schaffel has been an early adopter of concierge medicine in the Northern Illinois area for the past 9 years.  He is the founder of Forward Focus Concierge Medicine in Lake Forest, Illinois.  His clinical practice emphasizes wellness, nutrition, exercise, and the pursuit of life-balance.  His holistic approach has been augmented by the his patient relationships and added time that this model has provided.  He has been able to develop a robust electronic records platform, dynamic and engaged staff to serve the needs of his patients efficiently, and care coordination as a patient advocate in a rapidly changing medical system.  He lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife and three daughters.  He is an enthusiastic bass guitarist and enjoys spending time cycling.

Norcross Family Medicine Inc.

Dr. Norcross is a native of Los Angeles and opened a private family medicine office in a suburb of LA in 2007. Both he and his wife, Dr. Gwenne Norcross maintain a concierge medical practice that focusses on preventative care for the entire family. He maintains staff privileges at the two local community hospitals and cares for his own patients while admitted. In addition to serving on the ACPP board, he also participates as a board member of South Bay Independent Physicians and the Graziadio Board of Integrative Medicine at Torrance Memorial Medical Center

Founder, Choice Care, Long Beach, CA

Dr Marcy Zwelling is one of the premier concierge physicians in Southern California. Her practice, Choice Care, is considered to be one of, if not, THE first concierge practices in Orange County. Dr Zwelling, or “Dr Z” as we all know her, has multiple board certifications but she chooses to practice Internal Medicine. All of this added to her brilliant diagnostic skills and has garnered her the reputation of “Dr House” by her physician peers. She is the physician patients have come to rely on as a resource for the most complex, seemingly unsolvable cases. And she is tireless in her pursuit of answers and advocacy for her patients.

Dr Z’s work in health care politics is equally impressive. She is an advocate for health care reform having personally achieved multiple delays in implementation for ICD-10 and Meaningful Use. She chairs the National Physicians’ Council for Health Care Policy. Sponsored by Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas, this group of free market thinkers is devoted to helping physicians take back their profession in order to function better as the doctors they were trained to be. And in 2016, Dr Z has been a highly influential health care adviser to several Republican Presidential candidates.

Dr Z is known in Southern California as THE “go to person” when anyone needs an advocate. Her goal is simple, to change the healthcare delivery system in the United States. The ACA (Accountable Care Act) is a bill about financing not about care. Patients deserve to NOT sit in an emergency rooms for hours on end. Patients’ families want to know that their family member is in a secure medical community AND with a doctor who cares. And doctors need to know that their relationship with their patients is central to medical decision-making without interference from government or health insurers. In the end, patients need a doctor. Insurance is something that I would hope is used rarely and only for those unforeseeable events.

Indeed, Dr Z is impressive professionally, politically, and socially, but it is her personal, unwavering commitment to her patients that makes her a true stand out in the health care arena. Her proudest moments are the thank you’s she receives from her patients and their families and her best day is when “Mom has a good day”.

Founder, Zia Access Healthcare, Silvery City, NM

Dr. Koury was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He attended Sandia High School and then the University of Notre Dame. After receiving his Bachelor's Degree, he returned to Albuquerque and attended the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Dr Koury then returned to South Bend, Indiana and attended the Family Practice Residency at Memorial Hospital. He had a private practice in southern Indiana for the next several years and during this time built a large practice and was blessed to meet his wife Lori. Dr. Koury has been providing medical care in Silver City since 2003.

Dr. Koury and Lori built a successful practice in Silver City based on the philosophies of an old country doctor, combined with the technology of medicine. Dr. Koury's scope of medicine was once described by a patient as "womb to tomb." Dr. Koury continues to provide newborn, pediatric, and adult medical care. Minor surgeries, including male circumcision and adult vasectomy. Hospital based newborn and pediatric medical care. He also provides home visits.

John T. Kihm, MD, FACP

Dr. John Kihm practices concierge internal medicine in Durham, NC. His background and professional interests have prepared him to help ACPP in its mission.

He completed his BS degree with honors from Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI, then medical school at Wayne State University, in Detroit, MI. His undergraduate training in psychology has proven immeasurably valuable in his understanding and caring for his complex primary-care patients. His medical school experience, in downtown Detroit, exposed Dr. Kihm to a broad set of patients with complex medical and social problems.

His postgraduate training included internship and residency in primary care internal medicine, at Wayne State University, where he also served as chief resident. In addition to the usual inpatient, ward and ICU training, he rotated in surgery (Detroit Receiving Emergency Room “Gun and Knife Club”), Ear Nose and Throat, Ophthalmology, Gynecology, Adolescent Medicine and Dermatology departments. Thirty years later, every bit of this training, including IV starts and blood draws, is used in his medical practice, Priority Medicine.

Following residency, Dr. Kihm completed a fellowship in general medicine, at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, focusing on research, teaching residents and faculty, and practicing clinical medicine. His training included faculty development, teaching doctors how to teach, at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, under Kelley Skeff, MD, PhD. Dr. Kihm will head the educational efforts of ACPP, including the ACPP fellowships in clinical excellence.

Dr. Kihm served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, where he saw patients, taught and performed research.

In 1990, Dr. Kihm opted for the private sector, moving back to Durham, NC, to practice general internal medicine. His focus is on his patients, but he also teaches medical students and residents, and he will be starting the United States’ first fellowship in concierge medicine , under the auspices of ACPP. Dr. Kihm successfully converted his traditional internal medicine practice to concierge in 2009, after two years’ study on the business of concierge medicine.

Believing strongly in “giving back,” Dr. Kihm volunteers at Durham’s homeless shelter clinic, www.samaritinhealthcenter.org and Appalachian clinics through Remote Area Medical, www.ramusa.com. A multiengine, instrument-rated pilot with over 2,000 hours’ flight time, Dr. Kihm flies to the remote Outer Banks of North Carolina to see patients in a mission capacity.

Dr. Kihm thanks the ACPP Board of Directors for the opportunity to help lead ACPP in its mission to help the many private physicians who work directly for their patients.

Founded First Concierge Practice in Florida

Dr. Gary Price created the first concierge practice in Florida and one of the first in the country in 1997. His practice has been a resounding success and has expanded to four locations in SW Florida over the years.

Dr. Price is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology (practicing primary care exclusively), is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and is a member of the Florida Medical Association and numerous other professional organizations, as well as being a Castle Connolly Top Doctor and member of Phi Beta Kappa. From 2007 to 2014 Dr Price served on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Private Physicians in various capacities including President and Chairman of the Board. In 2015 Dr Price was elected to the Board of Directors of the American College of Private Physicians, where he will strive to be part of the movement to elevate the quality of healthcare at a national level.

On a local level, Dr. Price has been in practice in Fort Myers, Florida since 1987. He is on staff at all the major hospitals in Lee County, where he has distinguished himself as Chief of Medicine at Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center, Primary Care Division Chief at Lee Memorial Health System, Medical Director for Internal Medicine at Lee Memorial Health Systems, and numerous other medical staff positions.

Scottsdale Private Physicians

Dr. Wechsler was the co-founder and medical director of Scottsdale Holistic Medical Group, a multidisciplinary group offering conventional and alternative medicine. In 2004 Dr. Wechsler converted her practice to a “concierge” model, thereby limiting her practice to a few hundred patients and giving each her undivided and unhurried attention. 
                                              
“Even though I regularly employ conventional medicine in my practice, I am not shackled by it and will often suggest a more natural and less toxic alternative before trying a stronger pharmaceutical.”

Dr. Wechsler comes from a family with a long tradition in medicine. Her maternal grandparents, both parents, two brothers, two nieces and her youngest son are all medical doctors. Dr. Wechsler’s oldest son has a doctorate in Psychology and specializes in Neuropsychological testing in children and adolescents. His wife is a nurse educator at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. Most importantly, they have gifted her with her first adorable grandson. Dr. Wechsler’s husband, Nick, is a Greek chef and author. They both enjoy hosting large family dinners prepared by Nick. Dr. Wechsler’s favorite outdoor activity is hiking, swimming, and gardening. Indoors, she enjoys reading mystery novels and jigsaw puzzles.

Dr. Wechsler was selected as a “Top Doctor” in the Vitals Patients’ Choice Award, and a “Regional Top Doctor” by Castle Connolly.