First Year Residents
Carlos Hernandez-Torres, M.D.
Dr. Hernandez-Torres was born and raised in the border town of Juarez, Mexico. He attended medical School at the Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez (UACJ), graduating with honors. After Finishing Medical school and a required clinical year at a local private hospital, He did a social service year in the rural clinic of Ascension, a small agricultural based town about one hour away from Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, where he served as a local rural physician alongside with other health care providers, and states that working with such limited resources helping a wide group of indigenous people is an extremely rewarding experience. After this, he worked in small clinics in various peripheral underserved areas for about 7 months while he completed the board examinations to start residency in the United States, for which he is very excited. After he graduates, he wishes to pursue a fellowship in rural medicine or geriatrics and is interested in academic medicine in general, and thinks of Las Cruces as the ideal work environment to start a practice in the future. Interests and hobbies include literature, martial arts, hiking, watching movies and listening to music.
Pierrette Lenoir, M.D.
Dr Lenoir was born in a small village in France. She graduated with a degree in physiology at SF State University and went to Medical School at St George’s University, Grenada. There she completed her basic sciences, and she opted to go to the UK and California to complete her medical training.
During her basic sciences years, Dr Lenoir experienced Hurricane Ivan, which devastated the Island of Grenada; instead of evacuating, she enrolled in a relief ambulatory clinic, which served the remote corners of the island. She liked it so much, that she wants to eventually be part of a disaster relief team in the US.
Her interests, beside family medicine are: cooking international dishes, shopping for local produce at the farmer’s market, watching scientific shows (especially astronomy.) When time permits, she likes to travel. Her dream destinations are the Greek Islands, Tahiti and the South Pole.
Jie Luo, M.D.
Dr. Luo was born and raised in China. She went to Beijing Medical University where she received her medical degree. She then came to the USA following her husband and worked in different medical research labs. She wants to be a family medicine physician because she feels this way she can better serve her community. She is interested in Endocrinology, Geriatrics, Pediatrics and OB in particular. She really enjoys the Las Cruces community, weather, and nature scenes.
She is married and has one daughter. Her hobbies include crafting, reading, traveling, movies and watching TV.
Omar Naji, M.D.
I've been around medicine all my life and so I developed a love of medicine at a very young age, and as such the image I always had in my head of what a doctor should be was a simple one - the guy with the black medicine bag and a stethoscope, who just goes around treating people. Not just treating one type of disease or organ system - but virtually anything that made his patients sick. The ability to be the trusted physician to a grateful patient and their family is a privilege and one that makes me happy I'm in family medicine. Also, I'm a person who always get tired of things, constantly looking for change and variety, always on the move, having lived in places as diverse as the Amish town I grew up in, to NYC, London, LA and DC and now New Mexico. I've lived in 3 countries and visited about 30. (My goal is to see 100 before I die!) I'm so grateful to be in a field than can keep up with my short attention span! I look forward to being a family physician, and to at one point do everything this wonderful field has to offer, including being a cruise ship doctor, being a race physician at the Indy 500, traveling the world practicing relief and disaster medicine, and all the while being able to come home to my community patients that I run into at the super market.
Kalpana Phadnis, M.D.
Dr. Phadnis graduated from University of Bombay (now Mumbai), India and completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. After working for a few years in the Middle East, she moved back to India and worked in private practice as an Obstetrician and Gynecologist.
In 2005, she moved to the US with her husband, who is a chartered accountant, and her two sons. She loves doing Family Practice because it gives her a chance to expand the scope of her knowledge beyond Obstetrics and Gynecology and get wider clinical experience.
She speaks medical Arabic and is interested in learning Spanish. She loves listening to Indian music, reading and traveling.
Saba Sajid, M.D.
Dr. Sajid recently moved from Farmington, NM. She is a graduate from Dow Medical College, in Pakistan. After completing her internship in Pakistan, she married and moved to Farmington, NM She is a mother of 3 wonderful kids including twins. She is deeply attracted by beautiful differently colored mountains and cultural diversity of NM. Dr. Sajid completely agrees that NM is the "Land of Enchantment". She enjoys watching movies and spending quality time with her family. She has particular interests in Geriatrics and Children's Health.