By Sarah Stockman
Staff Writer
Pediatricians Caroline “Mimi” Shim, Alisa Bromberg and A. Etoile Davie have been working together at Pacific Palisades Pediatrics since 2013.
Davie originally opened the practice at 970 Monument St. in 1999. Bromberg and Shim started practicing in the Palisades in 1999 and 2001, respectively, but worked with Dr. David Geller until he closed his practice in 2013.
Dr. A. Etoile Davie
Davie grew up in the Palisades and attended Paul Revere Middle School, then attended University High School because Palisades High didn’t open until 1961, her senior year.
She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting, which was rare at the time. “This was a time when a lot of people didn’t believe girls needed a college education,” she said.
Becoming a doctor wasn’t even on Davie’s radar. “In those days that wasn’t even an option [for most women],” she said. Six months after graduation she was married and living in Princeton, N.J., where her husband was finishing his Ph.D. in physics.
The couple then moved to Texas, where their son was born with a cleft lip and palate. After reading extensively about the condition, Davie decided that she wanted to go into a profession that would help children like him. She enrolled at the University of Texas Austin and spent 21⁄2 years completing her pre-medical requirements.
In 1983 Davie graduated from the Uni- versity of Texas Health and Science Center at San Antonio with her medical degree. She then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her internship and residency at the UCLA Medical Center, completing the program in 1986. After that she participated in a cranio-facial pediatrics fellowship, also at UCLA, where she was trained to work with cleft lips and palates.
After working for two years in Dallas, Davie moved back to L.A. and worked in Santa Monica with Dr. Wesley Smith in the Palisades. When both practices closed, Davie recalls, “I just said, ‘Forget it, I’m just going to open my own practice.’”
Along with serving the children of the Palisades, Davie is also part of the St. John’s Cleft Palate Team.
“Children with cleft disorders require several different doctors,” she said. This includes plastic surgeons, ENTs, speech therapists, nurse coordinators and psychologists. As a pediatrician, Davie’s role is to “look over the whole child.”
When Dr. Geller retired in 2013, Davie opened her doors to Drs. Shim and Bromberg.
Dr. Caroline “Mimi” Shim
Shim grew up in New Jersey and received her B.S. degree in neurobiology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.
She was inspired by her pediatrician father to also become a doctor.“My dad was the first pediatrician in our small town in South Jersey,” she said. “I grew up walking to the hospital with my dad on the weekends to [make the rounds] on newborns and patients.”
Shim attended the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, receiving her M.D. in 1997. She did her internship and pediatric residency at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital in New York City, finishing in 2000.
Shim loves being a pediatrician, thanks to the kids. “They have so many different personalities,” she said. “It makes it so fun and keeps me young.”
She also finds it rewarding. “I love the continuity of care. Taking care of patients and watching them grow from newborn to toddler to child to teen and some even returning from college.”
In 2001 Shim moved to Santa Monica with her husband Dr. Hyan Bae, a spine surgeon. They have three daughters, ages 14, 12, and 10, and a dog named Elvis.
“I feel very lucky and am very grateful to be practicing in the Palisades,” Shim said. “These are great kids and wonderful families.”
Dr. Alisa Bromberg
After growing up in Tarzana, Bromberg attended UC Berkeley, where she focused on English and psychology. She was then accepted to the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.
“I thought maybe I would pursue psychiatry,” she said. “Then when I worked with children it was a very fun and family-oriented rotation . . . I liked my colleagues [because] they were young at heart.”
She graduated from Northwestern in 1993 and moved to L.A. to complete her internship and residency at Children’s Hospital, finishing in 1996.
“Pediatrics keeps me young,” Bromberg said. “It also gives me an excuse to keep up with all the animated movies.”
A Palisadian, she is married to Dr. Roy Shaked, who practices family medicine. They have two boys, 12 and 9, who attend school in Brentwood.
Bromberg loves working in the Palisades. “In pediatrics it’s nice to live where you work because the kids get to see you,” she said.
———
Last November, Pacific Palisades Pediatrics, which has always been affiliated with St. John’s Medical Center, switched to Providence St. John’s electronic records system.
“The move was fairly seamless from a patient point of view,” Bromberg said. “It was a really good move.”
Now all three doctors have immediate access to every patient’s records and can see immediate lab results, any other doctors visited, and any emergency room visits.
All three doctors see patients from the time they’re born until they go off to college, and some they see through college.
The office is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, although there is a doctor on call 24 hours a day. For more information, call 310-454-2296 or visit https://www.pacificpalisadespediatrics.com/.
You must be logged in to post a comment.