Meet Dr. Perry
What makes Dr. Perry so effective is not just his outgoing personality and simple joy of life. He brings his dogs to work because it makes him happy; it makes the patients happy: and somehow it just makes everything seem like it’s going to be ok. His attitude is infectious to all his staff and his reputation continues to flourish.
Dr. Perry first trained as a phlebotomist back when simply having an attitude to try got you in the door. He applied for a job in a small hospital in Augusta Georgia back before Google existed. So when he was offered a job as a phlebotomist at Doctor’s Hospital in Augusta, Georgia; a small, private hospital, he accepted, not knowing what a phlebotomist even was. He couldn’t Google it up and didn’t find out until he showed up for work on a Monday afternoon after classes. The difference then as to now is that as long as he was willing to put forth the effort, they were willing to train him. This began a long term relationship with medicine and the hospital. He learned to draw blood and soon advanced to starting IV’s. That put him in the ER as an ER tech. When he showed an aptitude for the Lab Testing itself, he studied and took the exams to become a lab tech. If that wasn’t enough he caught a few ride alongs with the ambulance service and soon took the training to become an EMT and then Paramedic. He continued to work at the hospital in various positions for over eight years; throughout his college and graduate school education. Finally leaving when he graduated with his PhD is Biochemistry and set off to Charleston SC for a fellowship in Laboratory Medicine.
He had had earned his PhD in Biochemistry with the hopes of becoming a laboratory director for a hospital or larger national Laboratory chain. After completing his fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in Laboratory Medicine he set off working for, and soon directing, several medical laboratories and through a quirk of fate became an expert in Forensic Toxicology. Unfortunately, this relegated him to the basement of most hospitals or large commercial medical laboratories and he missed the simple patient interactions he had when he was a simple phlebotomist or ER tech. His only solution was to go back to Medical School for that precious MD degree.
At that time in his life he was at the top of his field. Creating and operating two Federal Toxicology Labs, a divisional vice president of one of the top nationwide clinical labs when he made the decision to give it all up and move back to Augusta Georgia and apply to medical school at the Medical College of Georgia (where he had also earned his PhD years before). While applying to medical school he worked in the Neurology department as a Research Fellow doing stroke research in the sickle cell population. He was soon accepted into medical school and finished top of his class with straight ‘A’s to follow with a residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Whether through chance or design, he experienced every aspect of Emergency Medicine and Trauma in Philadelphia even to the point of being shot during a mugging coming off a late shift in the ER. Another story for another time.
His first “real” job as an Emergency Medicine Physician was in Greenville South Carolina where he worked for several years covering eight hospitals within the Greenville Hospital System. But he also was moonlighting, working at the Clemson Urgent Care. It was there he kept thinking about opening his own clinic. One that would do things his way; putting patient care at the forefront of the clinic’s operation. After a few more years, that dream became a reality with the opening of Gwinnett Urgent Care. It wasn’t long before he realized that his way of patient care was appreciated by the community. A second Clinic was opened in Gainesville and now he operates the Number One Urgent Care in Georgia where they see at times over 30,000 patients a year between the two clinics.
As the clinics grew he soon discovered that due to insurance issues he was limited to Urgent care and could not qualify as a Primary Care Physician. Never one to be deterred, he contacted the General Practice Board of Medicine and Surgery. While they agreed he was very experienced he proved the point by passing both their written and oral board exams and in February 2025 was awarded Board Certification on General Practice and Surgery; which is essentially Family Medicine. He has finally become the epitome of the old Family Doctor; he has delivered over 100 babies, saved heart attack patients, treated sore throats, broken bones, and when called on has eased a patient’s life to its very end.
With all that, He still enjoys going to work, seeing patients, making them smile, adding a little to their day and making patients feel better. Plus, he still brings his dogs to work; if for no other reason than they make people happy, and that’s what it’s all about after all. Voltaire said it best when he penned “the physician’s role is to keep the patient in a good mood until nature does the healing.”
