Candidate for
Board Member; Santa Maria Joint Union High School District

I was born and reared in Santa Maria and attended the local schools, graduating from Ernest Righetti High School in 1981. I continued my education at Occidental College in Los Angeles, graduating in 1985 with an AB in Biology. Throughout my high school and college years, I participated in cross country and track. I met with success as I consistently qualified in CIF as a high school student and finished in All-America positions in collegiate NCAA Division III Nationals meets.

My parents moved to Santa Maria in 1962 from the Midwest. My father, the late Dr. John Karamitsos, was the first in his family to graduate from college. He instilled his commitment to public education in his children citing to us in conversation that his parents would have not been able to afford to send him to school. My family's education extended beyond the classroom as our parents exposed us to art, theater, music, travel, and the beauty of nature. As I became an adult, I grew to fully appreciate the gifts they gave to us. I realize that not all children are as fortunate as I have been.

After college, I matriculated at George Washington University in Washington, DC, for medical school. This was a very exciting time in life with the beginning of my career while being able to live on the East Coast with its rich history and sites. My husband, John Hollinshead, and I were married in 1987, just before I began my clinical rotations in medical school. We had been together since 1983 when we met on the Occidental track team.

From 1989 to 2003, I worked in my residency program in Obstetrics and Gynecology at White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles. Residency training upholds its name as one quite literally lives at the hospital. But the program gave me a wealth of knowledge and experience about many things even beyond the practice of medicine. The patient population was largely Spanish-only which allowed me to become proficient in speaking Spanish. This continues to be important in my medical practice in Santa Maria.

I had my first baby at the end of residency in 1993. She is now an eighth grader at Fesler Junior High School. My husband was completing his last year in Physical Therapy at Long Beach State, so I worked for a year for CIGNA in Redondo Beach. After his graduation, we relocated to Santa Maria so that I could practice with my dad.

My father and I were in the Marian Hancock multispecialty group as the OBGYN's until 1999 when the group disbanded. My dad and I together with a third physician, Dr Beth Hutson, joined together with Drs. Cusack and Bradley to form a new OBGYN group, Central Coast Women's Health. Dr Kerri Wiltchik was a new physician in this group shortly thereafter. In 2004, due to a change in liability insurance rates, Drs. Cusack and Bradley retired, and my father, Dr. Wiltchik, and I decided to transition to a GYN only practice. Later that year in September, my dad died. It's the deepest loss and pain I've ever experienced. I continue in gynecology practice with Dr. Wiltchik.

I have served on the Board of the Marian Foundation from 1999 to 2006 and am currently on the Marian Medical Center Community Board as an original member since 2002. I was the Chief of Staff of Marian from January 2003 to December 2004, the first woman to hold the position.

My husband, John Hollinshead, is a physical therapist at Santa Maria Valley Physical Therapy. He has been active in Miller School as a school site council member and as the cross country and track coach. We have three children. Karen is at Fesler as aforementioned. Ellie is a fifth grader, and Sean is in second grade, both at Miller. We are continuing the cycle of travel and arts with our children. This year we are hosting a high school student from Japan. She is a junior at Santa Maria High School. I had been an exchange student to Holland and wanted to reciprocate the experience for a young person.

In addition to family and work, I serve as an elder and Sunday school teacher at the Community Prebyterian Church in Pismo Beach.