Dr. O'Brien is Medical Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at South Shore Health. 

As a Maternal-Fetal Medicine physician, I am dedicated to caring for women and families navigating high-risk and medically complex pregnancies with expertise, compassion, and individualized attention. 

I strive to integrate evidence-based medicine with a holistic approach that recognizes the physical, emotional, and social factors that shape each patient’s experience. 

I am also committed to advocating for equitable healthcare and improving access and outcomes for marginalized and underserved communities.

I enjoy getting to know patients and treating the whole person. I focus on preventative care and supporting patients to reach their health goals.   

The doctor-patient relationship is at the center of your health care, and I strive to provide care that is collaborative and inclusive. I have a holistic approach, working with patients to treat the cause of medical problems, and reducing prescription medicines when it is safe to do so.   I am also pro-active, coordinating care and advocating for patients as they navigate the health care system. I enjoy caring for newborns, children, and family members of all ages, as well as helping with stress management and healthy lifestyle changes. 

When not working, I enjoy spending time with my family and my extra-large dog, reading, running, cooking, and playing flute, piano and guitar.  

I have been a vascular surgeon for more than 25 years since completing my training at the then Deaconess Hospital in Boston. A native New Englander, I returned to my home state to practice, and was Chief of Vascular Surgery at Brown/Rhode Island Hospital until I left to join the team at Brigham Vascular Surgery in October 2016. Having led an academic department for many years, I sought to bring that level of experience with state-of-the-art vascular care to the community hospital setting and was recruited specifically to lead the division at South Shore Hospital. Since my arrival, South Shore Health has supported this vision for vascular care, opening a new Endovascular OR Suite for complex aneurysm repair; developing a multidisciplinary limb preservation team together with Podiatry, Plastic Surgery, and the Wound Care Center; and organizing community outreach and education events to allow for screening and prevention of vascular disease.

In my occasional free time, I am an avid boater and the South Shore has proven to be the perfect environment for me to pursue my other passion!

I look forward to helping patients and members of our community navigate unexpected and stressful health events with extra attention to the patient and their most immediate loved ones, family, and friends. 

I look forward to providing care and service to the community that my wife and I have called home since 2010. We have two beautiful children who lovingly occupy the majority of our free time when not providing healthcare at South Shore Health. 

I partner with women to provide education, resources and choices regarding their bodies, healthy pregnancy, labor and birth. It is a privilege to care for women and families and to be present at their birth. Each labor and birth are unique. Even after 33 years as a midwife, I am amazed at the beauty of birth and the strength of women.

I started the first midwifery practice at South Shore Health in 1987 and have enjoyed being director and now co-director of the midwifery group and watching our program grow over the years. Outside of work, I love spending time with my husband and children. I also love running my dog on the beach, paddleboarding and gardening.
 

My philosophy is to have each patient feel safe and comfortable during their visits as we work together to obtain optimal women's health. 

I enjoy seeing patients on an ongoing basis and strive to develop long-term relationships that will allow me and my nurse practitioners to tailor our medical care for each individual patient's needs. We see patients in a setting that tries to foster a relaxed and friendly approach to patient care.

I am certified in menopause management as well as robotic surgery. I value being able to offer women information to assist them with transition through menopause. In addition, I have worked hard to make sure that women in the South Shore area have access to minimally invasive surgery and all it's benefits by offering robotic surgery to my patients. My nurse practitioners are especially adept at handling the needs of youth with their contraceptive needs, etc. 

Before becoming a midwife, I was a labor and delivery nurse at South Shore Hospital for 14 years. Women's health is my passion, and it is a privilege to return as a provider. I am honored to care for women during pregnancy, labor, birth, and throughout the lifespan. My care focuses on a team approach with the patient as the leader. Beyond midwifery, I enjoy hiking and yoga and love being a mom most of all.     

My goal is to help patients and families manage the acute illness that lead to hospitalization and transition to a healthy life outside the hospital environment.

I am passionate about effective management of acute medical issues while providing clear and concise medical information. In addition to clinical practice, I am interested in using technology innovations to improve patient health.

Outside of work, I am an avid SCUBA diver. 

I started practicing primary care at Boston Medical Center in 2001 and was part of the Faculty of Boston University's School of Medicine. In 2010, I transitioned to the Quincy and Braintree area to continue serving as a primary care physician and urgent care provider. I graduated from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and completed my residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of Saint Raphael/Yale-New Haven Hospital.

I believe that the relationship between patient and doctor should always be collaborative; it is the providers role to imbue knowledge and guidance, but concomitantly, give the patient agency in a combined decision-making process.

I believe wholly in health equity and the belief that we all deserve a fair and equal chance at leading a healthy life - a chance that should be unfettered by socioeconomic status, culture or creed. I believe that the treatment of an individual should be holistic in approach and because of this, I tend to build deep and lasting relationships with my patients. Even the highest medical acumen is deemed useless without rapport and essential communication with the patient. Having the opportunity to live in many different areas of the world has exposed me to different demographics, cultural settings and clinical maladies. Because of this, I think I am able to provide a unique scope of medicine that can better serve my patients. I have worked in both urban and suburban settings - providing health care to some of our communities most underserved - and I have also provided medical support in the international setting. Prior to medicine, I worked in academic research as a virologist studying Ebola virus. My time doing science research helped further cultivate my love and understanding for disease processes from a fundamental and physiological standpoint, allowing me to better understand and identify treatment modalities in the clinical setting. I originally hail from New York but I have been many places since. I have a vast sneaker collection that only out preforms my record collection, I love riding my bike and I am almost a blue belt In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I travel as much as possible, cook whenever I can, and I love staying active with surfing, snowboarding, and running. Occasionally, I even read book here and there, and I love my two cats Roger and Tio.