By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Nov. 23, 2017) Chesapeake Pediatrics and Adolescent Associates P.A. recently opened an office in Berlin, offering pediatric and adolescent care to children and teens in the Worcester County area.

Dr. James Peipon, who has since retired, founded the practice in 1982 in Salisbury. Today, the staff includes Dr. William Taylor, Dr. Andras Kovacs, Dr. Mohan Thummalapalli, Dr. Nicole Merritt and Dr. Mithila Jegathesan.

Taylor joined Chesapeake Pediatrics in 1992. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and attended medical school at State University of New York in Buffalo. He completed an internship and residency in pediatrics at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.

Kovacs was born and raised in Hungary and graduated from the University of Debrecen. He worked as a pediatric resident in Hungary before moving to the United States.

He interned and performed a residency at the University of Minnesota, then joined Chesapeake Pediatrics in 2002. Kovacs has developed a large patient population in Worcester County and lower Sussex County, Taylor said.

Thummalapalli joined Chesapeake Pediatrics in 2013. He graduated from J.S.S. Medical College in Mysore, India in 1991. Before coming to the United States, he spent 10 years in Jamaica working for the Ministry of Health. During his stay in the Caribbean, he trained in pediatrics at the University of West Indies, Kingston.

He immigrated to the United States and completed his pediatric residency at the Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York. Prior to joining Chesapeake Pediatrics, he practiced for a short time in Pocomoke and has a significant number of patients who live in Worcester County, Taylor said.

Merritt, who was born and raised in Worcester County and attended Snow Hill High School, joined Chesapeake Pediatrics in 2014. She received her undergraduate degree from Salisbury University and then went on to complete graduate school at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She entered medical school at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and attained her D.O. in 2010.

She completed her pediatric residency at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia University at the Charleston Area Medical Center, Women & Children’s Division.

Jegathesan is a board-certified pediatrician and joined Chesapeake Pediatrics in 2017. She was employed with Chesapeake Health Care for four years after practicing on the Navajo Reservation with the Indian Health Service for two years in Shiprock, New Mexico.

She completed her pediatric residency at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, serving as chief resident there before entering clinical practice. Jegathesan completed her medical training at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine with honors. She is fluent in English and Spanish and has been a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics since 2007. She lives in Berlin with her husband and two children.

Taylor said Chesapeake Pediatrics also includes Carrie Dawes, CRNP, and Lisa Tayman, CRNP.

“Dawes … will be practicing out of both locations, Berlin and Salisbury, with Lisa Tayman … practicing out of our Salisbury location only,” he said.

With three key members of the staff living in Worcester County, Taylor said opening a second office there was a no-brainer.

“The idea fell into our laps, so to speak, that we should take this opportunity to open an extension of our pediatric practice in Berlin,” he said. “We have many thousands of patients in that area stretching from lower Sussex County to Pocomoke City. Our hope of opening the satellite office is that we may better service the needs of our patients there and to make their access to pediatric care more convenient.”

Visit Chesapeake Pediatrics on 29 Broad Street, unit 201 in the Midtown plaza.

For more information or to make an appointment, call 410-543-1616 or visit www.chesapeakepeds.com.