Healthy Hall Awards

Our honoree was born in Macon, Georgia and is an alumna of the University of Georgia. She graduated at the top of her class from Medical College of Georgia before completing her Internal Medicine Residency and Endocrinology Fellowship at Emory University. She moved to Gainesville with her family in 2005 and brought Endocrinology back to the local community along with her partner Dr Cacia Soares-Welch. She has over 20 years of experience in general Endocrinology providing comprehensive care to patients and has held multiple leadership positions both with her clinic and NGHS. Currently she serves as managing partner for the Northside Hospital Diagnostic Clinic and the President of the Hall County Medical Society. Please congratulate Dr. Matthey Harris.

**Dr. Harris is out of town on a big family trip and unable to be with us. Kristin Crea, the CEO for the Diagnostic Clinic, will accept the award on Dr. Harris’ behalf.

I am so sorry I cannot accept this award in person. I am currently celebrating my parents 60th wedding anniversary in Hawaii – a first-time trip for all of us—and there was no way I could reschedule.

The Hall County physician of the year award is an enormous honor for me. We have an outstanding medical community in Hall County, and I consider myself fortunate to be in the company of so many skilled and dedicated medical professionals. I am grateful for all my colleagues—both at the Diagnostic Clinic and with the other groups in Hall County. Recognition like this prompts me to reflect on some of the many things that I am grateful for over the course of my medical career.

1. First, I am grateful to God for my mind and the path He set me on for medical school to become a physician. As an undergraduate biology major, I couldn’t have imagined that path would lead me to medical school, to serving as chief resident at Grady and eventually here to the place I feel privileged to call home. I am grateful for the decisions that led me to move from Emory to Gainesville, Georgia in 2005 and establish an Endocrinology practice with my partner Dr. Cacia Soares-Welch that has grown to thirteen Endocrine professionals across our Clinic.
2. I am also grateful to my husband, Rob, who has been there for me through sleep-deprived years of Internship, Residency and Fellowship. It is a blessing and a joy to be a wife and a mother of two wonderful sons – my husband’s presence and support have made it possible for me to balance “normal” life with my busy clinical practice.
3. I am grateful to my parents - they never doubted my journey to be the first physician in our family, even when I might have. Their support has been unwavering then and now.
4. Finally, I am grateful to the wonderful people who live in our area who I have been blessed to call my patients. Some have now been with me for over 20 years, and they are a central reason why I love practicing and living in Hall County. As a native Georgian who has spent her entire education, training and practice in our incredible state, I couldn’t have found a better community to serve as a physician.

Finally, I would like to leave everyone with a bit of lighthearted wisdom I often share with my patients. I heard it from a physician retiring from a long academic career as head of the Cleveland Clinic department of medicine:

When asked “what is the key to a long and healthy life,” the physician answered easily:

“Number one: choose parents with good genes. And number two: exercise every day you eat something.”

Thank you again for this honor. I am so proud to be a part of our wonderful medical community in Hall County and I hope to serve here for many more years.

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