Madeline Huber, MD

Bio

I was born at Kaiser Redwood City and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. My parents were both immigrants to San Francisco as adults, my father from Switzerland and my mother from Nicaragua. They met on a blind date, each of them at the time speaking very limited English. They were married for over 50 years. I grew up in a wonderfully diverse household where different cultures and languages were celebrated. My upbringing was a great opportunity to see first-hand how cultural attitudes and beliefs affect the way people approach health care. I try to practice medicine in a style that respects the beliefs that each individual brings to our encounter.

I moved to Boston for my undergraduate studies, and received my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Massachusetts. I returned to California for medical school, and received my medical degree from UCLA School of Medicine. In 1990 I completed my residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Los Angeles. I have enjoyed a career with Kaiser Permanente since then, first at Kaiser Bellflower in Southern California, then here at Kaiser Santa Rosa since 1991. It is truly a pleasure to work in a health-care system where the common goal is providing the highest quality health care and service to our patients. My colleagues are an amazing group of personable and dedicated physicians. I feel very lucky to be both a Kaiser Permanente member and a Kaiser Permanente physician.

I have an office-based practice in Obstetrics and Gynecology. I enjoy treating a wide variety of general OB/GYN conditions and have a special interest in adolescent health, dysplasia and menopause. I am fluent in Spanish and enjoy a bilingual practice.

On my time off, I enjoy a very full and rewarding family life with my husband, Bruce, and our two boys, Andrew and Nate. As a family we enjoy swimming, backpacking, and watching old episodes of Cheers. I'm an avid reader who finds a good book to be both a source of relaxation and rejuvenation. Two years ago I started studying T'ai Chi. This noncompetitive martial art has since become an integral part of my daily life, and is a wonderful source of tranquility. I have two beautiful golden retrievers. The three of us can be found most early mornings walking along the streets of Sebastopol.

My Medical Specialty

More details about my specialty:

The last two years of medical school consist of clinical rotations in the hospital through the various medical services. I did my Ob-Gyn rotation early on and chose to do it at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where I knew I would get lots of hands-on experience. As a medical student on Labor and Delivery, I first watched residents deliver babies and do C-sections, then I got to do low-risk deliveries on my own under supervision. I did not plan on being drawn to this field; Ob-gyns keep notoriously terrible hours! But I absolutely loved it. Taking care of mothers in labor and delivering their babies was exciting, moving and about the most life-affirming experience there is.

I was hooked. I followed up my rotation with two sub-internships in Ob-Gyn in my senior year, one at Harbor-UCLA and one at LA County-USC Medical Center. I then got to develop the surgical skills of operative gynecology and the knowledge base of office gynecology in my residency training. I loved it all. I currently focus on an office-based Ob-Gyn practice, and find that it's the relationships that I get to develop with my patients that are the most rewarding and fulfilling. It's definitely what keeps me ever-intrigued by the practice of medicine.

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

I chair my department's Quality Assurance program, and have recently taken on an administrative position as Assistant Chief of Quality for the medical center. I am also the facility champion for cervical cancer screening and for breastfeeding. I am a mentor in Santa Rosa's new physician mentoring program.

Interests

Currently reading:
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, by Gail Tsukiyama: historical fiction around WWII Japan; Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall: A Parent's Guide to the New Teenager, by Anthony Wolf

My favorite book or author:
Favorite authors: Barbara Kingsolver, Anita Shreve, Khaled Hosseini, Gail Tsukiyama; Favorite book: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Great movie:
IMAX: Coral Reef; An Inconvenient Truth; Notting Hill

Hobby Photos & Links:

Backpacking at Point Reyes

Family & Friends

My children and people I care about:

People who know me well know that my greatest joy is being a mom. My kids are a never-ending source of wonder, joy, and, as we enter the teenage years, frustration and challenge! Kids are wonderful teachers of patience and humility. My boys are great at keeping me grounded.

I had complications with both of my pregnancies. My youngest child was a critically ill newborn and spent eleven days in the neonatal ICU at Kaiser Oakland. Living this experience as a patient rather than a health care provider was life-changing. I am grateful to the health care team that helped my child survive. I am also wiser for the insight into the emotional roller coaster that people experience when they go through times of medical uncertainty. I carry a bit of this experience with me always and hope that it is a positive influence on my own doctor-patient relationships.

I have two golden retrievers, Jazz and Cleo.

Pet Photos:

Cleo and Jazz

Jazz

Travel

An adventure I've had:

I've always found the diverse cultural backgrounds of my parents fascinating, and harbored a desire to explore my roots. About twenty years ago when I was in medical school, I took a solo trip to Switzerland to meet and visit my father's family. With Eurail pass in hand, I traveled through this beautiful country, hiking in the Alps and, by a coincidence of timing, attending the wedding of my cousin Stefan. We had never met previously, but have stayed in touch ever since then. The experience of being welcomed by family in a foreign country was amazing.

In February 2007, I finally had the opportunity to visit my mother's birthplace, Nicaragua. I found a Spanish immersion program in my mother's hometown of Granada via a Google search, and after some research and a big leap of faith, signed up for it. I spent an incredible 2 weeks living with a family affiliated with the school and taking Spanish classes. I discovered a wealth of natural beauty in this developing country. There are 56 volcanoes within this small land mass, many of them active. I went on a breathtaking hike up the slopes of "Volcan Mombacho", where coffee plantations flourish on its rich soil. I went swimming in a volcanic crater lake, and toured "las isletas" by boat - small islands that were formed by a volcanic eruption some 20,000 years ago. I rode in vehicles that seemed held together by string and a prayer, and met some of the warmest and most welcoming people that I've ever encountered. I could only bring myself to leave by starting to plan my return visit (next time with my teenage sons in tow!).

Favorite place in the world:

My family and I love traveling to the north shore of Kauai. It's beautiful and lush and unfailingly relaxing for us. We love to boogie board at Hanalei Bay and ride inner tubes down the sugar cane irrigation ditches and flumes in the island's interior. We reserve plenty of time for walking on the beach, reading and enjoying great food. It's our favorite way to experience life at a slower pace.

Travel Photos:

burial urns depicting fertility and rebirth; excavated in Ometepe, Nicaragua

volcano artwork, Masaya, Nicaragua

Mombacho Volcano, Granada, Nicaragua

Fountain in Granada's central plaza