Carmen Gota, MD

I am Dr. Carmen E. Gota, MD,  an experienced internal medicine, rheumatology, and weight-loss specialist and the founder of SlimWell Health. I am double board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology  and care for adults aged 18 and older.

Here are a few facts about me. 

I  was born in Transylvania, in Romania.  I completed my  medical training at Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, România, where I graduated as a valedictorian. After graduation I did an Internal Medicine Residency at my alma matter school and joined the University staff as an Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine. In that capacity I taught medical students the discipline of semiology, or how to recognize the signs and symptoms of diseases.

By an unexpected twist in my life, as it often happens, I came to America and had to start all over again. I completed my  Internal Medicine residency at Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. There I learned how different the American healthcare system was from the one I just left. I also noticed that being curious,  kind and compassionate matters the same no matter where you practice medicine.

Because I was interested in arthritis and autoimmune diseases I decided to continue my training in rheumatology and I completed a two year rheumatology fellowship  at Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

The two years I spent there were formative for who I became as a physician. The program was rigorous and demanding as our mentors were accomplished physicians who cared about finding what was really wrong with the patient. I loved the intellectual curiosity and the open minded approach so much that after graduation I joined the Cleveland Clinic faculty.   As a Cleveland Clinic rheumatology staff for 16 years I had the privilege to take care of thousands of patients with various rheumatic problems from simple to complex both in clinic and hospital settings. As a member of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Vasculitis Care and Research I took care of patients suffering from various types of vasculitides, which are some of the most complex and challenging  conditions in rheumatology. I also had the opportunity to join the Case Western Reserve and Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Medicine. In my teaching capacity I helped train many generations of students, residents and fellows how to think critically,  and recognize and manage properly rheumatic conditions.

Throughout all these years of practice I also struggled with the frustrations related to the limits of our care. I felt something was missing and that often we  were not addressing  the root causes behind our patients problems.  For example  I wondered  about the wisdom of treating arthritic knees  without treating the disease of obesity which caused the problem in the first place. 

So I decided that I need to learn more about why people gain weight and how to help them lose it. This is how I developed a passion for Obesity Medicine. I discovered that by treating the disease of obesity we can achive major and significant health results.  By losing 5-10% of body weight, we can help improve or even cure in some cases diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholestherol, improve mobility and eliminate arthritis pain, cure sleep apnea and many others.  

I always believed and tried to help my patients comprehensively. I do not support the sliced and limited problem approach in health care. That is why I kept my Internal Medicine board certification active and continued to help my patients with the management of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, fatty liver, sleep apnea, depression and other medical conditions. As obesity is the root cause for many of these conditions as well, I realized that managing weight could be the key to more effective comprehensive health care for a lot of my patients.

 SlimWell Health is the product of this vision for a healthcare model that delivers comprehensive integrative care by targeting weight loss with the goal of major downstream health benefits.

What makes me happy is being able to help people. I  believe that caring for patients  is a  partnership and I enjoy working  together towards improved health. 

Your success is our success so join us today!