Billie Atwood, ARNP, received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, and her Masters of Nursing, Family Practice from Brigham Young University in Utah. Her clinical experience includes working for a number of specialty clinics, including orthopedics, neurology, family practice and urgent care. Prior to joining the Rheumatology Clinic, Ms. Atwood managed Valley Medical Center's nationally recognized Joint Center and served as a staff nurse responsible for the care of surgical patients emerging from anesthesia.

Dr. Matthew Bremmer is originally from Oregon. After attending Oregon State University for undergraduate degree, he attended medical school at the University of Maryland. After graduating in 2008 he completed a year of Internal Medicine training at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. He returned to Baltimore for training in Dermatology at the University of Maryland. After completing his training he worked in private practice in rural Pennsylvania, prior to joining Valley.

Dr. Bremmer is Board Certified in Dermatology, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. His interests are in medical and surgical dermatology, and he enjoys seeing adult and pediatric patients.

Dr. Bremmer and his wife live in Maple Valley. In his spare time he enjoys camping, hiking, boating, and triathlon.

Undergraduate: Oregon State University
Medical School: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Residency: University of Maryland School of Medicine

Education
Ohio State University - BS Nursing, 1981
University of Illinois-Chicago - MS Nurse-Midwifery, 1986

Midwifery positions: North Central Bronx Hospital, Bronx, New York; Bay Area Midwifery Service, San Francisco, CA. Prior to coming to Valley Medical Center, Laura was a member of the Highline Midwifery Service for 13 years.

Laura made nurse-midwifery her career goal very early in life and, after 25 years of attending women in labor and caring for them before, during and after their pregnancies, she still says she's very happy with her decision. She remains awed by the power of birth and motherhood, and feels privileged to provide healthcare and education to women throughout their childbearing years.

Laura lives in Burien with her husband, two teenage sons and two cats. She enjoys reading, gardening, walking early in the morning with her friends, and exploring the beach at low tide.

Surafel Gezahegne, MD, is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine. He believes a strong patient-physician relationship is vital to patient care. He strives to provide the highest standard of care to his patients.

Dr. Gezahegne takes care of patients with lung diseases including asthma, COPD, sarcoidosis, pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung disease and lung cancer. He performs bronchoscopy including endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) to diagnose and stage cancer. Dr. Gezahegne also works in the intensive care unit (ICU) taking care of critically-ill patients.

Dr. Gezahegne was born and raised in Ethiopia. He moved to Washington State in 2001. He received his bachelor’s degree in microbiology and his medical degree from the University of Washington. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, California and his fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. In his spare time, Dr. Gezahegne enjoys playing soccer and racket ball as well as hiking and biking.

Amitoj Marwaha, MD, has an interest in general and preventive cardiology, coronary artery disease, valvular disease, and heart failure. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine, Nuclear Cardiology, and Echocardiography. He has been elected as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, as well as the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Marwaha grew up in Bothell Washington, after graduating from University of Washington, he received his medical degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at Brown University and returned to the Medical College of Wisconsin for his fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease. He was then on the faculty of the Medical College of Wisconsin as a staff cardiologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine for three years. Outside of work, Dr. Marwaha enjoys running, hiking, weightlifting, and cheering on the Seahawks.

HOURS

Renton Location
Monday, Tuesday, Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM
Wednesday from 8 AM to 11:30 AM

Covington Location
Wednesday from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM

Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC)

Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP)

Jocelyn Ramirez, CNM, ARNP earned her advanced nurse practitioner education at the University of Washington in 2005 and is a board certified in Midwifery. She was introduced to the role of Midwives when volunteering in public health and women's health clinics during college. After obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in Biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Jocelyn went on to complete an Accelerated, one-year BSN program at Regis College. For the last eight years, she lived in Southwest Colorado and worked for a community hospital midwifery group that predominantly cared for the under-served Latina population. Jocelyn is amazed at the power and strength that women have during pregnancy and birth, and is honored to be able to share that experience with her patients.

Other Interests

Jocelyn has four children all delivered by midwives. She spends most of her free time watching her kids play soccer, lacrosse, hockey, gymnastics and skis in the winter. In her alone time enjoys yoga, hiking and running.

Amritpal Sandhu, MD, is board-certified in Rheumatology, and treats patients with inflammatory arthritis and systemic lupus erythematous (SLE), and he also has a special interest in osteoporosis.

Dr. Sandhu completed his medical school training at Christian Medical College, Ludhiana,India and did his internal medicine residency at St. Joseph hospital, Chicago. His fellowship in Geriatrics was completed at University of Illinois, Chicago. He completed his Rheumatology fellowship at University of Mississippi and stayed on as assistant professor for four years prior to moving to Washington. He is a Fellow of American college of Rheumatology.

Patient Philosophy: “Treatment of inflammatory arthritis has changed significantly in last 15-20 years. My goal is early diagnosis of the type of arthritis and initiation of treatment to prevent further damage to the joints. I believe in empowering my patients with the latest knowledge and research about different disease states which helps in medical decision making and keeping them functional to enjoy life to the fullest.”

Personal Interests: I enjoy gardening, music, watching Seahawks games, and spending time with my family.

Tatyana Sidor, ARNP, received her doctorate degree as a nurse practitioner from University of Washington, specializing in adult-geriatric medicine. Her clinical experience involves home care and critical care. Her goal is to provide wholesome patient-centered care to achieve the best possible outcomes for her patients.

Other Interests

She enjoys gardening, outdoor activities, and spending time with her family during her free time.

Remy Van Sanford, MD, has special interests in high risk obstetrics, adolescent gynecology, and minimally invasive gynecologic surgery. Dr. Van Sanford was born and raised in Boston, MA. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Emory University in 2011 with a BS in neuroscience and behavioral biology. She was inducted to the Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies her freshman and junior years respectively. While at Emory, she was a four-year member of the women’s rowing team. Dr. Van Sanford went on to obtain her medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine, where she graduated in 2015. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at University of Cincinnati where she did research in obstetric ultrasound and resident training in minimally-invasive laparoscopy.

In her spare time, Dr. Van Sanford enjoys rowing, running, traveling, and spending time with her friends, family, and dog Sawyer.

Board certified in cardiovascular disease, Ting-Wei Yang, MD, is skilled in invasive cardiology. Dr. Yang’s strong interest in preventive cardiology fuels his desire to partner with patients to help them achieve a path to healthy lifestyle. After 20+ years of proud active duty service in the Navy, Dr. Yang joined Valley Medical Center in 2018.

Outside work, Dr. Yang enjoys Washington’s great outdoors and on weekends is frequently seen jogging trails with his dog. He takes great joy in showing his family the world and embodies the spirit of “Yang can cook” in his pursuit of culinary excellence. While Dr. Yang is a trained classical pianist, he finds teaching his kids the piano much more painful than his own early musical education.

Education, Training & Experience

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Dr. Yang proudly claims New Jersey as his adopted home. He studied chemical engineering at Columbia University in New York City. Commissioned as a Naval officer after college, Dr. Yang attended medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He continued his training at the naval medical centers in Bethesda and Okinawa, Japan. He served his Internal Medicine residency at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia and his Cardiology Fellowship at Walter Reed National Capital Military Medical Center. As a cardiologist, Dr. Yang practiced three years in Naval Hospital Jacksonville where he was recognized for exemplary patient satisfaction throughout the Navy’s cardiology community. In 2012, Dr. Yang relocated to Naval Hospital Bremerton, where he spearheaded the integration of cardiology services with Madigan Army Medical Center.