Meet Our Team
First Last Name
Title
First Last Name
Title
First Last Name
Title
First Last Name
Title
Title
Title
Title
Title
When you join Merced Faculty Associates Medical Group, you become part of a physician-owned organization that has served the Central Valley since 1988. The 12 current physician shareholders represent family medicine, pediatrics, and OB/GYN, creating a multispecialty primary care group that functions as a cohesive team rather than isolated silos. These physicians chose partnership in MFA over employment elsewhere, and many have practiced in Merced for decades. That longevity reflects genuine satisfaction with the practice environment and community.
Your closest colleagues in obstetric care will include physicians who understand the rewards and challenges of full-scope family medicine. The Sugimoto husband-and-wife team, Brian Sugimoto, MD, and Twylla Cox-Sugimoto, MD, practice at MFA G Street and share your commitment to continuity-based care. Brian Vierra, MD, an OB/GYN at MFA Gateway, provides subspecialty consultation and collaboration. These relationships develop naturally over shared deliveries and hallway conversations, creating the collegial environment that makes practice sustainable.
MFA operates 16 clinic locations throughout Merced County, from the main Merced facilities to satellite offices in Atwater, Livingston, Delhi, and Hilmar. Each location has assigned physicians and advanced practice providers, though coverage flexibility allows collaboration across sites when needed. The physicians listed below represent your potential colleagues, each bringing distinct training backgrounds and clinical interests to the group.
MFA G Street (Primary OB Site)
MFA Gateway (OB/GYN Specialty)
MFA North
MFA @ El Portal
MFA Atwater
MFA Parkside
MFA Lifetime Health Care
MFA Livingston
Delhi Medical Clinic
Hilmar Family Medical Center
The organization operates under physician governance with strong administrative support. Dr. James Rabago serves as President of the shareholder group, providing clinical leadership while CEO Becky Shaw manages operations. Shaw, a CPA who has led the organization for 23 years, brings financial expertise and institutional knowledge that creates stability rare in healthcare organizations. Her tenure means she understands physician needs and has navigated the practice through healthcare's constant changes.
Each clinic location includes medical assistants, front desk staff, and administrative support designed to maximize provider efficiency. You will work with one to two consistent medical assistants who learn your workflow preferences and anticipate your needs during patient encounters. The support staff ratio reflects MFA's understanding that physician productivity depends on adequate support.
The centralized business office handles billing, collections, credentialing, and administrative functions that burden solo practitioners. You focus on patient care while professional staff manage the paperwork that can consume physician time in other practice settings.
MFA employs family nurse practitioners and physician assistants across multiple locations, extending the reach of physician care into areas where additional access benefits patients. These APPs work collaboratively with physician colleagues, handling routine visits while escalating complex cases appropriately. The APP presence reduces physician burden for straightforward encounters while maintaining continuity within the MFA system.
Beyond primary care and obstetrics, MFA offers specialty services that enhance comprehensive patient care. Podiatry services through Peter Herr, DPM, and Maiya Thao, DPM, address foot and ankle conditions common in agricultural and diabetic populations. Wound care specialists manage complex wounds that might otherwise require specialist referrals outside the organization. The Fountain View Urgent Care provides same-day access for acute conditions, reducing emergency department utilization and keeping patients within the MFA system.
The physicians who choose MFA partnership value autonomy within a supportive structure. Shareholders have genuine input into practice decisions through voting rights, and the flat organizational hierarchy means concerns reach leadership directly. The practice culture emphasizes mutual respect among physicians, realistic expectations about workload, and recognition that sustainable careers require work-life balance.
You will find colleagues who cover for each other without resentment, who provide thorough sign-out when handing off patients, and who genuinely want new physicians to succeed. This culture develops over years of shared experience and cannot be manufactured by administrative mandate. MFA's longevity, with many physicians practicing together for over a decade, reflects a work environment where physicians choose to stay.