Dr. Aleea Gupta

Dr. Aleea Gupta is a board-certified family physician who completed her undergraduate education at Duke University, medical degree at University of Florida and residency at Overlook Hospital/ Columbia University. She worked in multiple settings in the past 25 years, including an academic practice, an HMO practice and an immediate-care facility, before opening Family First Direct Primary Care in 2018. In 2018, she learned about the direct primary care (DPC) model from a colleague and decided to open the first DPC practice in her county. She did not have a patient or referral base in her town, and thus had to build her DPC practice from the ground up. Dr. Gupta used in-person and social media marketing to successfully fill her DPC practice in three years. Through trial and error, she discovered the key steps that DPC physicians need to take to in order to use social medial to get patients to join their practices. Dr. Gupta is also passionate about spreading awareness about the DPC model to medical students and residents. She has used social media to showcase the strengths and values of DPC, and has lectured about DPC to several future physician groups, both virtually and in-person. Her goal is to help further the Direct Primary Care movement in Chicagoland, the state of Illinois and beyond.

Dr. Clodagh Ryan

Dr. Clodagh Ryan is a board-certified family medicine physician based in La Grange, IL. Originally from Ireland, she earned her medical degree from Trinity College Medical School in Dublin before moving to the United States to continue her medical career. After working in private practice, Dr. Ryan founded Cara Direct Care in 2017, the first Direct Primary Care (DPC) practice in Chicago’s western suburbs. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Ryan is dedicated to teaching. She serves as adjunct faculty and course director at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine (CCOM), where she leads the “Introduction to Clinical Practice with Telemedicine” course. This course covers topics such as the U.S. healthcare system, health insurance, the corporatization of medicine, telemedicine, and medical business ownership. From 2021 to 2023, Dr. Ryan served on the advisory board of the Direct Primary Care Alliance, advocating for the DPC model and its role in managing chronic illness and improving patient outcomes. She has also presented at national medical conferences, including the AAFP DPC Summit, AAFP FMX, and DPCA Grand Rounds. In 2021 and 2022, Dr. Ryan hosted back-to-back Direct Primary Care Alliance Mastermind conferences, guiding other physicians in establishing their own DPC practices. Dr. Ryan is also a founding member and current Executive Board Member of the Association of Professional Trichologists, where she serves as a Member-At-Large. Dr. Ryan enjoys playing Irish music with her husband and four children, working out, reading, and traveling.