Merrimack Valley Hospital and Holy Family Hospital are pleased to announce that board-certified endocrinologist Neil Ravin, MD, has joined Steward Medical Group, a part of the Steward Health Care System, and began his practice this week.
 
“Dr. Ravin brings a wonderful breadth of experience and knowledge of endocrine and diabetes care to the Merrimack Valley,” said Merrimack Valley and Holy Family Hospital President Lester Schindel. “In analyzing the health care needs of the communities we serve, Steward Health Care found a real need for endocrinology in general, and a particular need for diabetes care. Dr. Ravin is an experienced provider who will support our primary and specialty care physicians in caring for this population.”

As part of the Steward Merrimack Valley Endocrinology Center, Dr. Ravin will spearhead a diabetes care program. The program will be part of the Steward Diabetes Care Program which helps patients better manage their disease. Nationally recognized by the American Diabetes Association, it already exists at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen.

“Endocrinology involves caring for not only the disease, but the person,” said Dr. Ravin. “With the right medical education and guidance, most diabetic patients can learn to understand their diabetes well enough to manage it themselves and reduce its complications.”

Endocrinology deals with disorders of the endocrine glands and their associated hormones. Disorders occur when a hormone is either deficient or excessive in the bloodstream.  Typical endocrine disorders include diabetes, disorders of menopause, PMS, low testosterone levels, pituitary disorders such as growth hormone deficiency, adrenal disorders such as Cushing’s or Addison’s disease, and thyroid disorders such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism,

By far, the most common disorder is diabetes and its incidence is growing.  According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.8 million adults and children in the United States have diabetes and an estimated 1.9 million new cases are diagnosed in people 20 and older each year.

Dr. Ravin brings significant experience to his new role at Steward. He attended Cornell University Medical College and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Cornell–New York Hospital Medical Center. His fellowship in endocrinology was at Yale School of Medicine, Yale- New Haven Hospital, in New Haven, CT. Dr. Ravin was on the clinical faculty of Georgetown University Medical School for 27 years, and for the past five years he served as director of the Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, NH.

Dr. Ravin will provide care in Haverhill at Merrimack Valley Hospital, and Methuen at Holy Family Hospital, where he will join Board Certified Endocrinologist Naaznin Lokhandwala, MD in the Steward Holy Family Hospital Endocrinology Center.

For more information or to make an appointment with Dr. Ravin, please call 978.912.7450 for his Haverhill office, and 978.659.6059 for his Methuen office.