Marla R Conger, MD, FAAP

I have wanted to be a doctor since I can remember but the deal was sealed when I cut the tip of my finger off with a paper cutter while making a menu for my high school french class.  The basketball coach told everyone that I picked up my finger (with my teeth, not exactly true) and drove myself to the emergency room.  I was fascinated watching them sew it back on.

After medical school and residency, I turned to Texas where my sister and her husband relocated.  I worked in Lewisville and Flower Mound and I established Kids First Pediatrics in 1991.  My common sense pediatric knowledge increased tremendously after having twins, one girl and one boy! They continue to teach me about parenting even now as adults!

Over the years I have become very interested in the mental health of our children and teens.  I have joined WATCH (Wellness Alliance for Total Children’s Health of Denton County, watchdenton.org). This organization has prioritized mental health to identity and catch all children with needs from Flower Mound, Lewisville, Lantana and all of Denton County.  I also joined MRC (Medical Reserve Corp of Denton County).

Kalpana Kelkar, MD, FAAP

I’ve been a biology nerd since the 7th grade when we dissected a sheep heart. There would be a pig and a cat dissection in the years to follow that only reinforced my love for biology. After reading a Readers Digest story about a child with cystic fibrosis I was convinced that medicine would be in my future–I was convinced I would be a pediatrician.

I lived in Colorado for most of my life. I studied molecular biology in fruit-flies at the University of Colorado in Boulder. After medical school in Denver, my husband and I moved to Texas so I could do my residency at UT Southwestern at Children’s Medical Center. Both my boys were born in Irving, TX. When my oldest son was 6 months old, I started working at Kids First Pediatrics. Flower Mound has been our home since 2005.

Tricia Sias, MD, FAAP

Coming from a family of several teachers, it is not surprising to me that I ended up specializing in Pediatrics. I too, fell in love with working with kids! One of the things I love most about my job is providing education and guidance during each new and exciting stage of a child’s life. As a pediatrician, I have the opportunity to educate my patients to lead healthier lives – both physically and emotionally – and build relationships with them.

After earning my medical degree from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, my husband I ventured out to the great state of Texas for my residency training at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. This was a very busy, high volume residency program, and I feel fortunate to have had the experience of caring for so many children with such a wide variety of medical conditions. During my training, I realized that when I cared for children in the hospital, I would often feel disappointed that I would not be able to follow up with them again as an outpatient to see how they were doing. This is one of the reasons I knew I was meant to be a general pediatrician!

Zafreen Momin, DO, FAAP

As a kid, I was all over the place in terms of what I wanted to be when I got older.  Sometimes a teacher, sometimes an astronaut, but mostly a dentist.  Each time I went to the dentist, I was amazed by the fact that the office had videogames and a play area.  How cool was it to be able to be a kid at work?  Not realizing that the dentist didn’t get to actually play the games themselves, I decided I wanted to be a dentist!  One day, however, as the dentist was cleaning my teeth, a thought entered my mind—what if someone bit him and he lost all his fingers?  The thought terrified me, enough to make me no longer want to pursue a career in dentistry.

Samina Munis, MD, FAAP

When I was little, I wanted to be an actress. I loved taking plots out of the books I read or movies I watched and putting myself and my little sisters in the lead roles, the more dramatic the better. During one of our “career building” sessions of watching music videos and copying the dance moves, my middle sister somehow slipped, fell, and dislocated her knee. As if by reflex, I knelt next to her and pushed it back into place. After that I remember thinking to myself, “If I don’t become an actress, maybe I should become a doctor.” Well, clearly the acting thing didn’t work out and here I am!

I was born in Plano and have lived in Dallas my whole life, from high school to college to medical school at UT Southwestern and residency at Children’s Medical Center. I’ve always been drawn to children from the start of my career and I absolutely love being a pediatrician. My husband jokes that it’s the perfect fit for me since I’m very much a child at heart. My specific areas of interest within pediatrics include preventative medicine and mental/behavioral health.

Rachana Parikh, MD, FAAP

At age 12, my plan was to become a storm chaser. Unfortunately, all of the hours I spent watching the weather channel and the movie Twister didn’t prepare me. As my family drove through a terrible thunderstorm during a road trip to the beach, I found myself covering my ears, wrapping a pillowcase around my eyes like a blindfold, and tucking my head into my lap. My fear eclipsed my fascination, and I realized I needed a different career plan.

Missy Nicholson, RN, MSN, CPNP

While I have not always liked going to the doctor, or been the most cooperative patient, I have always wanted to work in the medical field.  I still clearly remember hiding behind the couch in my pediatrician’s office and having to be pulled out kicking and screaming!  Coming from a family of nurses, I started playing with stethoscopes at a young age and everyone was my patient – family, friends, dogs, and even my pet duck!

In high school, I worked as a Volunteer Candy Striper in the local hospital.  I loved being around kids so I babysat as often as I could. After high school, I attended nursing school at the University of Texas in Austin.  Pediatrics was where I wanted to be.  I worked as a floor nurse, then charge nurse in Austin before I got married and moved to Dallas.  I began working at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas on a general peds floor, followed by liver transplant floor and ending up in Oncology.   This was a very wonderful and satisfying job, but I wanted a little more autonomy.  While working full time I went back to school at UT Arlington and got my Master’s degree and Nurse Practitioner license.  And that brings me to where I am today.

Sarah Caudle, MPAS, PA-C

I was born and raised in Plano, where I competed with my two sisters for attention. I was always in “high-gear” and strived to be “perfect” in and out of school. I was a natural athlete and competitor in multiple sports growing up, but in high school I played volleyball all year round. I worked extremely hard in school to graduate in the top of my class as I always knew I wanted to pursue a career in the medical field. I played college volleyball while getting my bachelors from Austin College and taking all my pre-med prerequisites. I also worked as an athletic trainer on campus giving me an edge on my sports medicine and orthopedics interest. I finished college in 3 years so you can imagine how “busy” I was. I received my bachelors in biology, minor in exercise sports science in May 2008. I got into the PA program at UT Medical Branch in Galveston and finished my masters in Physician Assistant Studies in Dec. 2010.

Leigh Gistinger, RN, MSN, CPNP

Looking back on my life and the path that led me here, I know that I am exactly where I am meant to be. I actually started life in a foreign country but ended up in Texas marrying a man from Marlin who only speaks Texan. Of course a lot happened in the interim. The middle child of an Army officer, I was born in Stuttgart Germany, spent my childhood living in multiple locations across the United States and was back in Germany the first three years of highschool. We transferred to Killeen, Texas my senior year. That was very hard. I can certainly identify with the pains of change in childhood-new places, new schools, leaving and making new friends, uncertainty, depending on my family in times of transition and so on. Although there were challenges, many positives came from our frequent relocations and in retrospect, I’m thankful for all of them.