MEDICAL TEAM
Dr. Kongoasa is a parishioner of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church. He and his wife are devoted parents to their 5 children. A native Chinese Indonesian, he was educated in Singapore. He received his medical degree from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Following a research appointment at the Mayo Clinic, he did his OBGYN residency training at Saint Peter’s University Hospital in New Jersey. He completed his Fellowship in Minimally Invasive and Endometriosis Surgery in Atlanta in 2014 and has been in practice since. In 2019, Dr Kongoasa established Reproductive Health Medicine & Gynecology focusing on gynecological care, infertility and reproductive health. He has completed the FEMM Medical Professional and NaProTechnology Medical Consultant (auditor) training. He is also the medical director of RHM’s sister practice, the Center for Restorative Reproductive Surgery, a surgical practice that focuses on reproductive surgery and endometriosis excision. In his spare time Dr. Kongoasa is an avid badminton player and loves to cook for his family.
DR. NICHOLAS KONGOASA
MD, FACOG Gynecology
Chief Medical Officer
Laura is a wife & mother of three beautiful children. She is a native of TN and, after moving to Birmingham, AL for her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Samford Unverisity, she now calls AL home. During nursing school, she felt a call to learn more about natural family planning in order teach women and couples the truth about the woman’s cycle and gift of the couple’s fertility. While obtaining her Master’s of Science in Nursing from University of Alabama at Birmingham, her passion for learning more about FABMs (Fertility Awareness Based Methods) and women’s health only grew. She is now a Family Nurse Practitioner with training as a Creighton model FertilityCare Practitioner and Naprotechnology Medical Consultant. She has also received training with FEMM (Fertility Education & Medical Management) from the Reproductive Health Research Institute. When not working, she delights in all the joys of being a wife and mother of young children, dancing, singing, playing outdoors, and, if given the opportunity, going to a coffee shop with a good book and journal. She is active in her parish at Our Lady of Valley & enjoys speaking about NFP and/or women’s health with her husband at engaged encounter, youth groups, and other events. Laura is so honored and excited to be offering this restorative approach to women’s healthcare alongside the amazing team at RHM and to serve the women of the southeast in this way!
LAURA DUCOTE
F-NP, FCP, MC
Nurse Practitioner
ELIZABETH DINH
Elizabeth is a second-generation Vietnamese-American and is native to the metro-Atlanta area. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology at Georgia Tech and her Physician Assistant degree at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale. As a Physician Assistant, Elizabeth splits her week between working at RHM Gynecology and at a Pediatrics office. Apart from her passion for serving families, she also loves spending time with her family and friends, good food and books, and exploring. Some interesting facts about Elizabeth are that she has never broken a bone, she hates ketchup, and she once backpacked through Europe alone.
PA-C
Physician Assistant
Medical Director
Originally from Denver, Colorado I met and married Dennis McCarthy. We settled in California and raised 4 children who now have flourishing families themselves. I began as a RN in Neurology, but took some time off to raise my children. I returned to the public health sector as a visiting nurse and later as a high school nurse where I was in a supervisory role for the past 15 years. During that time I observed many struggles, not only with some of the females in my own family, but many adolescents with various metabolic issues. After becoming very interested in research for PCOS, I embarked on a degree as a Nurse Practitioner. A portion of that time was working with an Endocrinologist, enhancing my interests in functional medicine and pursuing the valuable approach that FEMM has to offer. I am very honored and excited to join Dr. Kongoasa and his team in a Fellowship for Women’s Reproductive Health that will enable me to complete my learning towards optimizing female health.
MAUREEN MCCARTHY
Nurse Practitioner
RHM NP Fellow
Sharon is joyfully married to her husband Kyle, a parishioner at the Cathedral of Christ the King, and a Registered Nurse. While in nursing school, Sharon kept herself very busy by externing in Emergency Medicine, serving on the Georgia Association of Nursing Student’s Nominations and Elections Committee as the Chair, and training for several road races with the Atlanta Track Club. Since graduating from Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer University in 2017 and prior to joining the RHM team, she has worked in School Nursing in the Atlanta area. When Sharon isn’t working, she, along with her husband, enjoy hosting people for dinner, going for long walks on the Emory University Campus, where her husband is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering, learning about and discussing church theology and philosophy, decorating her home, and doing Barre3. She is a closet aspiring theologian and interior designer with a deep appreciate for Catholic iconography in addition to neogothic and gothic architecture. Sharon loves all things Theology of the Body, fertility awareness, and women’s health and is convinced the female body is the most beautiful creation in the universe!
SHARON COWDRICK
Registered Nurse
Clinical Director
Frankie is a native of the mountains of eastern Kentucky, where she grew up with a love for nature, family, and small towns. She graduated with her BSN from the University of Kentucky, where she worked in the Emergency Department. Upon graduation, she pursued missionary work with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), moving to various campuses and sharing the Gospel with college students, before settling in Birmingham and beginning her ministry as a nurse. She has worked on Med-Surg and Labor and Delivery units, the latter of which inspired the call to shift into RHM’s mission for women’s health and fertility care. In her free time, she enjoys going to local coffee shops with a new book, hiking, and spending time with her family and friends. She and her husband, David, are expecting their first child in February. Although she still misses the Bluegrass, she is very excited about working with RHM in her new home in Birmingham.
FRANKIE WEST
RN, Registered Nurse
Leigh was born and raised on the Rhode Island coast and currently lives there with her husband. She graduated nursing school from Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island and soon after moved up to Boston to pursue a calling in hospice and palliative care. This was an extremely formative experience as she watched patient after patient die from preventable causes. It was during this time that she learned how important a healthy lifestyle can be in the prevention of many disease processes and decided to make a change. After moving back home to Rhode Island, she began working as a medical-surgical nurse and pursued
a master's degree in nutrition from Lasell University. Through her own personal experience and listening to the stories of women around her, she became increasingly interested in women's health; specifically, fertility and prenatal well-being. Leigh is also a National Board-Certified Health Coach and when she is not working at RHM, she works as a health coach to help women improve their lifestyle for overall health, fertility and to prepare for a healthy pregnancy.
In her free time, Leigh enjoys baking, running, hiking through New England and being on the water. Leigh and her husband are currently expecting their first child and could not be more excited for the journey ahead!
Leigh Carroll
RN, Registered Nurse
Francesca Payne
Francesca was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, IL until she moved to Alabama following the completion of her Associates’ degree in General Studies in 2019. After moving to Alabama Francesca worked at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in a variety of roles for the next couple of years. Francesca is a born Chicago Cubs fan, and despite being far away, still cheers them on every opportunity she gets. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her nieces and nephews, or hiking and long runs with her dog, Heidi. Francesca enjoys exploring new places, both inside and outside of the country, as well as curling up with a good book or just listening to music. Francesca has always had a passion for the medical field is very excited to be joining RHM Team in their important work in the field of Women’s Health.
Medical Assistant
CHARTING EDUCATION TEAM
FertilityCare Practitioner, is a business owner, Office Manager and Health Educator. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Management Information Systems in 1999. Her dream of becoming a mom right after getting married didn’t quite pan out like she’d hoped – yep, she’s been through the ringer with infertility, adoption, and surprise pregnancy. Finally, after several years of being a stay-at-home mom, she became a FertilityCare Practitioner and provides natural family planning/fertility awareness education using the Creighton Model FertilityCare System as well as FEMM to adolescents, women, and couples. Kelly also offers the Organic Conceptions program to her infertile clients. She volunteers at the Pregnancy Aid Clinic, at her church, and in her children’s school. Kelly also enjoys attending Yacht Rock concerts and sporting events. Kelly resides in Dunwoody with her loving husband, where they are devoted parents to their son and daughter, along with their two dogs.
KELLY CASTLEBERRY
BBA, FCP
Health Educator Director
Kayla Glenn is a wife to Connor and mother to Cyrus and Nico, who keep her active and filled with joy. Living in Iowa, she works as a FEMM Educator from her home and absolutely loves what she does. After years of hormonal birth control use, Kayla had a feeling that she might feel better off of it. After researching different options, her and her husband decided that a fertility awareness based method would probably be a good fit for them. Turns out, it absolutely was. Not only did Kayla and her husband successfully avoid and achieve pregnancy while using the Creighton Method, Kayla found a new passion for holistic living and informed choice. When the opportunity to take the FEMM Certification course was offered to her, Kayla immediately accepted and pursued it head on, knowing this was the path God wanted her on. She now teaches women from all over how amazing and unique their bodies are, along with traveling to her surrounding areas to educate and build a network among providers. Aside from learning all that she can about women’s reproductive health, Kayla loves to spend time with family and friends, go thrift shopping, spin yarn, and learn new crafts, all with her boys in tow!
KAYLA GLENN
FEMM Educator
Carolina is a Nurse and Midwife from Universidad Católica de Chile and she is a professor at the Obstetrics School in Universidad de Los Andes, Chile. She’s been giving women care for the last 10 years focusing on teaching and natural improvement of women and couple's reproductive health. She worked in RHRI for 6 years, the reproductive research institute that collaborates with FEMM. Carolina and her husband recently moved to the United States, Denver, Colorado, where they both enjoy singing together at their local Church choir, and outdoor sports such as climbing, hiking, and running. Now she is working at the RHM as a FEMM Teacher and her main goal is to help couples understand and improve their ovulation and fertility. She is also very interested and actively working in perinatal mental health. Carolina is applying to have an RN license in the USA to be able to continue her work in women's care at RHM.
Carolina Lyon
FEMM
Health Educator
After pursuing her Master's degree, Caitlin became a Certified FertilityCare Practitioner of the Creighton method. She has taught for many years and she enjoys working to educate and empower all women, especially those coming off of hormonal contraception or looking for root causes of infertility. As of 2021, she is also able to instruct in the FEMM method. When not teaching, she is working with RHM to develop a health education program for teen girls. She lives with her family in Birmingham, AL and works with clients from all over the world.
Caitlin Estes
CrMS & FEMM
Health Educator
ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
JULIA KENNEY
Originally from Livonia, MI, Julia graduated from Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame, IN) earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance.
Prior to her role at RHM Gynecology, Julia served as a headquarter and a regional staff member for World Youth Alliance (NY, New York), a non-profit organization and an NGO to the United Nations. Her roles with World Youth Alliance included serving as the program manager, regional director of North America, and regional director of operations of North America. Julia’s roles at World Youth Alliance involved her in the management of international programming for educational, cultural, advocacy, and healthcare initiatives.
Julia also interned within hospital administration where she supported the department of finance at Saint Mary’s Hospital (Livonia, MI) and the department of community outreach at Saint Joseph Hospital (Mishawaka, IN)
Human Resources
CAROL GARRISON
I was born in Chicago but my family relocated to Decatur, GA when I was 6 and that is where I grew up. I moved to Roswell 6 years ago. I have 2 wonderful children and 3 precious grandchildren who also live in Roswell. I worked in my family's businesses most of my life. I decided in 2000 to do something different so I accepted a job with Dr. Kathleen Raviele, a well known NFP only gynecologist. I worked for Dr. Raviele for 18 years. I came on board with Dr. Kongoasa a year ago filing claims and doing his bookkeeping. I am so blessed to be a part of his team
Billing Coordinator
Brigid McEneany
Front Office Director
Brigid McEneany is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, but lived in Hanceville, Alabama for over twenty years. She has recently moved to the Atlanta area to work for RHM Gynecology. Brigid most recently worked as the main receptionist for St. Vincent’s cardiology clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. Before that, she worked for six years in the giftshop, at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama. Brigid is currently working on obtaining her Associates Degree in Liberal Arts, with hopes to eventually get a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She loves spending time with family and friends, reading, music, and traveling. Brigid is very excited for this opportunity to join the team of RHM Gynecology, to be able to have a part in helping women with their reproductive health in an uplifting, God-centered environment!
MARY TERESA CABRERA
Mary Teresa was born in Dearborn, MI, but has lived in Alabama most of her life. In 2015 she married her husband who is from the Philippines. They now have two little boys who definitely keep her running! She spent six years working as the housekeeping manager at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, AL. She has also worked as the weekend Girls Dorm Director at St. Bernard Prep School in Cullman. Mary Teresa completed her associates degree in medical administrative assistant at Wallace State Community College in 2021. She loves spending time with her family, reading, gardening, learning new things, experiencing other cultures and traveling. She has been privileged to visit both Asia and Europe and she highly recommend both! Mary Teresa prayed that she would find a career that had a purpose and would allow her to help people and RHM was placed in her path. She is so excited to be a part of RHM and be able to serve women on their women's health and fertility journey!
Billing Assistant
Laura Fuchs
Originally from the Midwest but growing up in Alabama, Laura has spent the last three years working at St. Bernard's Prep School in Cullman, AL as the Girls Dorm Director. Previously working at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament and now working for RHM, she has had a good combination of work experiences! Laura is always ready for an adventure and has been able to travel to a few different countries ,as well as many states around the US. However, a road trip out West is still on her bucket list! She also has a variety of other interests and hobbies that she enjoys including gardening, reading, evening walks to view the sunset and playing sports. Laura is known for making the best chocolate chip cookies. She is excited to be able to work for RHM and to help women with their health. She can't wait until the new Gardendale clinic opens in 2022 to be able to serve patients in office in Alabama!