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News Release

Media Contact:

Christina Chavira
Communications Specialist
530.332.5589 office; 530.588.4411 cell
christina.chavira@enloe.org

Enloe welcomes colorectal surgeon
R. Douglas Matthews

 

CHICO, Calif., Aug. 2, 2010 – Enloe Medical Center is pleased to announce the arrival of R. Douglas Matthews, MD, a Chico native who will practice colorectal and general surgery in the same office as his father, Enloe Trustee and former Chief of Staff Joseph Matthews, MD. Their physician office number is (530) 891-4523.

“I’m happy to be back and am looking forward to being part of thecommunity,” says Dr.Matthews, who will focus on treating diseases of the colon and rectum with advanced, minimally invasive procedures. “It was always in the back of my mind that Chico would be a good option to practice medicine. It became obvious that if I was going to practice surgery in the North State, I should do it with my father.

“I envision Chico as a center of excellence for the North State in complicated gastrointestinal medicine and surgery. Chico already has two fellowship-trained colorectal surgeons and excellent gastrointestinal [GI] medical specialists. With the addition of myself and two new GI physicians recently out of training, there is a unique opportunity to provide state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic options.”

Dr. Matthews took a roundabout path to joining his father. From 1993 to ’97, he worked as a seasonal firefighter for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (now CalFire), as well as Butte County Fire, where for the following two years he was a fire dispatch officer in Oroville. Feeling that the career path in firefighting would “promote me out of what I loved doing,” he says, “reluctantly I left the fire department and went off to medical school.”

He received his undergraduate degree in biology (with a minor in religious studies) at Santa Clara University and his M.D. at the Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Matthews completed his residency in general surgery at the University of Utah Medical Center and his fellowship in colorectal surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Jersey.

Combining his experience as a firefighter and a physician, Dr. Matthews is a Rural Trauma Course Educator who has taught medical professionals in outlying areas of Utah about responding to emergencies.

He also participated in an educational outreach to Mongolia, where he trained surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures.

Dr. Matthews lives in Chico with his wife, Maureen, a former high school science and math teacher, and their three children: Ellie, 7; Kate, 5, and Patrick, 2. The office Dr. Matthews shares with his father and Dr. Kevin Dorsey-Tyler is located at 2 Governors Lane, Suite A.

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Dr. Matthews  is an independent licensed practitioner who is a member of Enloe's Medical Staff and not employed by the medical center.

 

Enloe Medical Center is a local, nonprofit health care organization. For more information, please call 530/332-7300 or visit us online at http://www.enloe.org.   Enloe Medical Center is located at 1531 Esplanade Chico, Calif.  95926.