Cardiologist providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Chiropractor providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Dentist providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Dermatologist providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Family Physician providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
OB-GYN providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Ophthalmologist providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Orthopedic Surgeon providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Pediatrician providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Physical Therapist providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Podiatrist providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Psychiatrist providers include doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They often maintain long-term relationships with you and advise and treat you on a range of health related issues.
Brooke graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies. She then graduated from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences Physician Assistant Program with a Master’s Degree in 2007. She relocated to Santa Barbara and has been working at Alta Orthopaedics since 2008.
Amy Wickman, MD, is an experienced spine specialist with the team at Alta Orthopaedics, with locations in Solvang, Santa Barbara, and Oxnard, California. In the midst of the complexity of spine surgery, Dr. Wickman puts patients and their families in the foreground. Having dealt with sick family members as well as with her own orthopaedic issues, she knows how important it is for patients to feel validated, to feel that they are heard, and for the doctor to be able to see the situation from the patient’s perspective.
Dr. Wickman became a doctor because she wanted to help people have better health. She completed her undergraduate degree in urban planning at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, before graduating with her medical degree from the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago. It was there that she developed her love of spine surgery during her five-year residency, training at a Level 1 Trauma Center, the Hines VA, and the Shriners Hospital for Children. She dealt with everything from traumatic spine and spinal cord injuries to treating children with scoliosis and adults with degenerative conditions such as herniated discs.
Her education and training in orthopaedic surgery allows her to see issues from a broader perspective, to look at the whole person and identify problems that may not be as obvious as they appear on an MRI. At the same time, she avoids surgery when there are other equally effective solutions.
When it comes to the spine, there may be more than one way to handle a problem. Options may depend on goals and lifestyles as well as medical issues. Dr. Wickman takes time to make sure her patients are aware of all those aspects so that each individual finds the best solution for the circumstances. When possible, she includes family members in decisions about surgery and hospital care. In addition to her busy practice at Alta Orthopaedics, Dr. Wickman is an on-call surgeon for the Emergency Room.
Dr. Wickman is a self-described “city girl” born and raised in Chicago. Now she loves the year-round healthy Santa Barbara lifestyle and understands how important it is for her patients to get back to the activities they enjoy. In college, she was captain of her rowing team. Today, she remains active by running and hiking. In addition to spending time outdoors, Dr. Wickman’s great joy in life is her family – her husband and two children.
Dr. Stuart Hutchinson has served the Santa Barbara community as a spine specialist and surgeon since 1980. He practices at Alta Orthopaedics, located in Solvang, Santa Barbara, and Oxnard, California. His grandfather was a doctor and his father was a prominent general surgeon in Seattle. As a child, it was clear to him that he wanted to follow the same path in the medical field.
Watching how his father treated people and how much his patients loved him, taught Dr. Hutchinson the importance of connecting with patients on a very human level. He believes that part of the art of medicine is to treat them with care and compassion, and to be sensitive to their needs. That means he takes time to listen carefully to his patients’ concerns and to discern whether issues in other areas — not always physical — are affecting the patient’s overall well-being and ability to heal.
During his 5 years of medical training in South Africa he learned that, given time, patients can often heal without surgery. Some situations require immediate surgery. It’s important to recognize those. But he favors a less invasive approach that steers away from the current trend of offering surgery as the first treatment option.
In 1985 Dr. Hutchinson teamed up with Dr. William Dunbar, to establish the first local center for orthopaedic surgeons who wanted to specialize in more focused areas, such as spine surgery or foot and ankle surgery. Their center grew into what is today Alta Orthopaedics.
Dr. Hutchinson draws inspiration and energy from nature and being outdoors. He likes to play golf and hike the beautiful Santa Ynez mountains. He has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Whitney, and Mount Rainer, and has snow skied in Utah and Colorado. Dr. Hutchinson’s family is close by in Southern California and Arizona.
VOLUNTEERING Dr. Hutchinson has a deep personal connection to the world of volunteering. His father founded the non-profit Fred Hutchinson Research Cancer Center in Seattle, after his uncle, a Big League pitcher, died of lung cancer at age 45. Today it is renowned as one of the best cancer centers in the country and the best place in the world for bone marrow transplants. It has produced three Nobel prize winners over the last 20 years. Dr. Hutchinson serves on their Board of Ambassadors and MCs their annual fundraiser in Palm Springs.
SPECIALTY WITHIN SPINE SURGERY: KYPHOPLASTY Dr. Hutchinson was the first surgeon in the Tri-Counties to perform kyphoplasty to treat compression fractures of the spine. Today he is the only surgeon in Santa Barbara who uses this procedure. Pain goes away immediately and patients get great results. They can return to daily activities much more rapidly than with more invasive methods of treatment.
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS Participating physician in the Summer Olympics 1984
Co-founder of Orthopaedic Specialists, Santa Barbara, which later became Alta Orthopaedics
EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Arizona.
Completed his medical training at the prestigious Stellenbosch University in South Africa where he spent 5 years
Certification by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, September 1982
Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons since 1985
Active member of the North American Spine Society since 1985
Member of the South Africa Orthopedic Association since 1990
Anand Shah, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and board-certified orthopedic hand surgeon and the owner of Valley Orthopedic Institute in Palmdale and Ridgecrest, California. In addition to treating patients of all ages with general orthopedic problems, Dr. Shah specializes in hand and upper extremity trauma and reconstruction.
Opening the doors to Valley Orthopedic Institute marked a homecoming for Dr. Shah, who went to Quartz Hill High School in Lancaster, California, which is just a few minutes away from Palmdale in the Antelope Valley.
Dr. Shah graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in physiology and neuroscience. He excelled in earning his medical degree at Chicago Medical School in North Chicago in 2002, graduating first in his class and gaining election to the prestigious Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.
Next came an orthopedic residency at the University of Miami, Florida, and then Dr. Shah returned to UC San Diego for a fellowship program for hand, upper extremity, and microsurgery.
During his fellowship, Dr. Shah also contributed two chapters in a medical textbook, “Master’s Techniques in Orthopaedic Surgery – The Wrist,” one on hamate hook fractures and the other on radial styloidectomy.
Dr. Shah is affiliated with two hospitals where he also treats patients: Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster and Palmdale Regional Medical Center in Palmdale.
Mehul Taylor, MD, is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon at Valley Orthopedic Institute in Palmdale and Ridgecrest, California. In addition to treating male and female patients of all ages who have general orthopedic issues, Dr. Taylor specializes in diagnosing and treating athletic injuries and arthroscopic surgeries.
Dr. Taylor has firm roots in Southern California, having grown up in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County and graduated from Calabasas High School in Calabasas. Dr. Taylor earned his Bachelor of Science in physiological sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Dr. Taylor then earned his medical degree at Chicago Medical School in North Chicago, where he graduated with honors in 2002. He was also elected to the noted Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.
Next came an orthopedic residency at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, before Dr. Taylor traveled to Minnesota for the University of Minnesota’s sports medicine fellowship program. There, he received advanced training in arthroscopic surgery and served as an assistant team physician for the university’s football team.
Dr. Taylor is affiliated with two hospitals where he also treats patients: Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster and Palmdale Regional Medical Center in Palmdale.
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