New Doctor At Overton Medical

A new doctor specializing in internal medicine is taking over the reins of Overton Medical, LLC, 461 N. Moapa Valley Boulevard, from Dr. Cyclopea Anakwa who will be leaving in December.

Dr. Gladys Kodjoe, a board certified physician in family medicine, moved to Southern Nevada at the end of August and has been working at Overton Medical in Moapa Valley since September. She moved to the U.S. from Ghana in 2004 with her husband Emanuel and son Cameron. She completed residency in Cleveland.

“It would be wonderful to have other fulltime doctors here,” she said, “including perhaps an OB/GYN and a pediatrician.”

Presently, Dr. Juliana Ofori-Mante, a board certified pediatrician, works at the clinic Tuesday and Thursday and until December, Anakwa will continue working Tuesdays and Fridays.

In addition to other doctors, Kodjoe said she would like to be able to make the clinic more accommodating for patients.

“Currently if a patient needs certain types of medical procedures such as stress tests, we refer them to other doctors and they have to travel to Las Vegas or Mesquite,” she said. “It would be great if we could do more of these procedures locally. There are no immediate plans but it’s something we’re looking forward to in the future.”

Kodjoe lives in Las Vegas and commutes to work. She said she and her family are thinking hard about possibly moving to Moapa Valley. Kodjoe’s husband is a molecular biologist who attends pharmaceutical school in Las Vegas.

“This place is exactly what I was looking for,” she said. “This is a wonderful community; the sort of place where you are accepted for who you are and what you can do. Everyone has been very nice.”

The new doctor is slowly building her patient base in Moapa Valley and she said she would like to take on as many of Anakwa’s patients as possible when he leaves in December.

Kodjoe’s move to Moapa Valley is part of the J-1 Visa Program in which certain residency requirements are waived for international medical graduates (IMG) who agree to work three years in a federally designated health professional shortage area or a medically underserved area. J-1 physicians licensed in primary care specialties such as family physicians, general internists, OB/GYN, pediatricians and others are encouraged to participate in the program.

Moapa Valley has been designated by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services as a medically underserved area (MUA).