Denise Annie Way, MD, MS, F.A.A.F.P., a board-certified family medicine doctor with 20 years of medical practice experience caring for patients, has joined the direct primary care movement. She strives to be inclusive of all people and looks forward to caring for you and your family.
Dr. Way did not begin her life with a direct path to medicine. In her earlier life, she was a professional dancer based in New York City and traveled the world. After that, with a love of science and medicine, Dr. Way began her career in cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She obtained her master’s degree in molecular and cell biology, and later attend medical school near her hometown at Albany Medical College. Dr. Way completed her residency at the University of Virginia Department of Family Medicine.
Knowing that prevention and lifestyle are key to good health and medical management, Dr. Way pursued and completed an integrative medicine fellowship at the University of Arizona. In addition, she is a certified yoga teacher and yoga therapist and incorporates these ideas to help patients improve their well-being when applicable.
Dr. Way spent seven years on faculty at the University of Virginia department of family medicine where she was fortunate to have incredible colleagues. Many of her UVA colleagues have guided her into Direct Primary Care and she is thankful for their mentorship.
Instead of continuing with the unsustainable healthcare system of the previous half-century, Dr. Way chose to “vote with her feet” and find another way to practice family medicine that steps away from our broken models of healthcare. She found the direct primary care model to be an alternative and progressive model that aims at providing better access to high-quality healthcare at an affordable cost that often saves patients money.
When away from work Dr. Way enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She loves many performing and visual arts and you will find her at theater shows and museums. She is often happy reading historical fiction, and she has many hobbies such as singing, dancing, bird watching, zumba, gardening, yoga, travel, film, hiking, and swimming. She is married to husband and artist, Warren Craghead, and has two wonderful daughters, Violet and Ginger. She also has two chi-poo pups, Coco and Zip, who follow her around everywhere.