"Stay away from medicine." My physician father advised me repeatedly. "Medicine is just not what it used to be."
I clearly didn't follow his advice and pursued a medical career anyway. Medicine challenges me intellectually while also allowing me to use my emotional strengths for the healing of others. My introduction to primary care was through international experiences during medical school and residency. With each interaction, it became more tangible to me how precious is the relationship between patient and doctor. The typical barriers brought on by language, culture and social etiquette were broken down for the simple truthfulness of the exchange between a physician and a patient. I've learned to cherish these relationships. As years go by, it is truth that pulls me to experience that interchange ever more deeply and effectively. For it is in truth, and with trust, that healing begins.
I earned my MD from Northwestern University Medical School in 2002 and then completed my Residency in Internal Medicine. For the first 2 years of my career, I practiced both as a Primary Care Physician and as an Academic Hospitalist in Madison, WI.
In 2007, I moved to Eugene, Oregon and settled down in this beautiful and unique town. I was a PeaceHealth Hospitalist - all my patients were in the hospital. Though I cherished the many individual moments with my patients, the job itself left me feeling like an employee of the health insurance companies and the corporate offices, rather than a physician. I moved to primary care clinics. However, I still found incomplete career satisfaction because I often felt I couldn't spend the amount of time my patients deserved. Over and over, I would hear, "Medicine is just not what it used to be."
I realized I needed to declare independence from Big Box Medicine. I also needed to set up my practice in a way so as to honor that health care is a basic human right. I opened the first official Direct Primary Care practice in Eugene in 2015.
You may have heard of Direct Primary Care. Outside the box. Honoring what health care should be by allowing access to high quality physician-patient relationships. It is quite evident that the ideal medical clinic not only still exists, but thrives with happy doctors and equally happy patients.
I envision a community - a place where all is respected and where cultural, language and social barriers are brought down so that we can learn from and support each other during times of good health and illness.
A place where all of us can heal each other. Back to "the way it used to be".
Dr. Priya Carden (she/her/hers) Credentials:
I'd like to acknowledge some of my privileges before listing the traditional credentials: I am a cis woman with caste and class/economic privilege, straight sized, able bodied, neurotypical, and college educated. I am of South Indian (Malayalee) heritage born to immigrant parents in Chicago, IL. I acknowledge that I am currently living and practicing on the traditional territory of Kalapuya Nation.
College Education: University of Illinois at Chicago BS 1997
Medical School: Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago MD 2002
Residency: University of Wisconsin at Madison, Internal Medicine 2005
Primary Care Chief Resident University of Wisconsin at Madison and Veterans Affairs Hospital - Madison 2006
Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine 2005, Recertified in 2014, 2017
Board Certified by American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine 2010, Recertified 2023
International Medical Experience: Nicaragua, Peru, Nepal, India
Work Experience in Eugene: Priya J Carden MD LLC - MapleTree Healing LLC - Opened 2015 - current
WhiteBird Medical Clinic, Primary Care 2016 - current.
Lane County Community Health Center, Primary Care 2013 - 2015
PeaceHealth Hospitalist and Palliative Care Consultant 2007 - 2015
Clinical Teaching Experience in Eugene 2016-current: U of Oregon premed students, University of Washington premed students, Good Samaritan Family Medicine Residency
Executive Board Member of Lane County Medical Society 2017-2022.
RISE (Regional Intersections Systems-change for Equity) Leadership Committee member 2024
Eugene DesiFest Committee member 2023-2024
My Hobbies:
When I'm not doctoring, I spend much of my time with my husband and 3 children ages 17,14 and 12. I enjoy ceramics, dancing Bharatanatyam (classical South Indian dance), hiking, sewing, and cooking. I believe that a healthy diet should be well balanced, and rich in fresh food and probiotics and therefore have taken time to include gardening, brewing and fermenting foods into my home kitchen routine. Read more about me at this local medical society article, (pages 11 & 13): https://cdn.ymaws.com/lcmedsociety.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/files/january2019condensed.pdf
I clearly didn't follow his advice and pursued a medical career anyway. Medicine challenges me intellectually while also allowing me to use my emotional strengths for the healing of others. My introduction to primary care was through international experiences during medical school and residency. With each interaction, it became more tangible to me how precious is the relationship between patient and doctor. The typical barriers brought on by language, culture and social etiquette were broken down for the simple truthfulness of the exchange between a physician and a patient. I've learned to cherish these relationships. As years go by, it is truth that pulls me to experience that interchange ever more deeply and effectively. For it is in truth, and with trust, that healing begins.
I earned my MD from Northwestern University Medical School in 2002 and then completed my Residency in Internal Medicine. For the first 2 years of my career, I practiced both as a Primary Care Physician and as an Academic Hospitalist in Madison, WI.
In 2007, I moved to Eugene, Oregon and settled down in this beautiful and unique town. I was a PeaceHealth Hospitalist - all my patients were in the hospital. Though I cherished the many individual moments with my patients, the job itself left me feeling like an employee of the health insurance companies and the corporate offices, rather than a physician. I moved to primary care clinics. However, I still found incomplete career satisfaction because I often felt I couldn't spend the amount of time my patients deserved. Over and over, I would hear, "Medicine is just not what it used to be."
I realized I needed to declare independence from Big Box Medicine. I also needed to set up my practice in a way so as to honor that health care is a basic human right. I opened the first official Direct Primary Care practice in Eugene in 2015.
You may have heard of Direct Primary Care. Outside the box. Honoring what health care should be by allowing access to high quality physician-patient relationships. It is quite evident that the ideal medical clinic not only still exists, but thrives with happy doctors and equally happy patients.
I envision a community - a place where all is respected and where cultural, language and social barriers are brought down so that we can learn from and support each other during times of good health and illness.
A place where all of us can heal each other. Back to "the way it used to be".
Dr. Priya Carden (she/her/hers) Credentials:
I'd like to acknowledge some of my privileges before listing the traditional credentials: I am a cis woman with caste and class/economic privilege, straight sized, able bodied, neurotypical, and college educated. I am of South Indian (Malayalee) heritage born to immigrant parents in Chicago, IL. I acknowledge that I am currently living and practicing on the traditional territory of Kalapuya Nation.
College Education: University of Illinois at Chicago BS 1997
Medical School: Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago MD 2002
Residency: University of Wisconsin at Madison, Internal Medicine 2005
Primary Care Chief Resident University of Wisconsin at Madison and Veterans Affairs Hospital - Madison 2006
Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine 2005, Recertified in 2014, 2017
Board Certified by American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine 2010, Recertified 2023
International Medical Experience: Nicaragua, Peru, Nepal, India
Work Experience in Eugene: Priya J Carden MD LLC - MapleTree Healing LLC - Opened 2015 - current
WhiteBird Medical Clinic, Primary Care 2016 - current.
Lane County Community Health Center, Primary Care 2013 - 2015
PeaceHealth Hospitalist and Palliative Care Consultant 2007 - 2015
Clinical Teaching Experience in Eugene 2016-current: U of Oregon premed students, University of Washington premed students, Good Samaritan Family Medicine Residency
Executive Board Member of Lane County Medical Society 2017-2022.
RISE (Regional Intersections Systems-change for Equity) Leadership Committee member 2024
Eugene DesiFest Committee member 2023-2024
My Hobbies:
When I'm not doctoring, I spend much of my time with my husband and 3 children ages 17,14 and 12. I enjoy ceramics, dancing Bharatanatyam (classical South Indian dance), hiking, sewing, and cooking. I believe that a healthy diet should be well balanced, and rich in fresh food and probiotics and therefore have taken time to include gardening, brewing and fermenting foods into my home kitchen routine. Read more about me at this local medical society article, (pages 11 & 13): https://cdn.ymaws.com/lcmedsociety.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/files/january2019condensed.pdf
