Our Providers

To care for the diverse needs of our patients, we have assembled a team of skilled medical professionals for all your primary healthcare needs.

Meet the FirstChoice Primary Care providers:

Our skilled providers take a collaborative approach to your wellbeing and ensure that your healthcare concerns are heard and addressed. Listening to you is the very best way for us to work together.

Airelle Rucker-Smith DNP, CRNP

“To achieve the ultimate level of health, it is important to address our physical, mental, and spiritual health.”

Dr. Rucker-Smith is a compassionate doctoral prepared Nurse Practitioner. She graduated from the University of Maryland with a Doctor of Nursing Practice specializing in Adult Gerontology Primary Care. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Penn State University. Her post-graduate experience includes primary, urgent care settings, and telemedicine.

Her passions include health promotion, geriatric population, and effective communication. It is her belief that every patient has a unique set of needs and their care should be tailored to those needs.

She has more than 10 years of healthcare experience and is an Adjunct Professor at Prince George’s Community College. For fun she likes to dance, travel, and spend time at the beach.

Monica Patel-Gandhi DNP, PNP

“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” – Oscar Wilde

Dr. Patel is a pediatric nurse practitioner who received her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She completed her pediatric clinical training in both rural and suburban areas of Maryland, focusing on school-based health and pediatric primary care. She received her Bachelor of Nursing from Queens University of Charlotte.

She completed her training at Novant Health Medical Center, then went on to work for Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a focus on ortho-trauma pediatric patients. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and has special interests in childhood obesity and serving at-need populations.

She resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband. In her free time, she enjoys being active with her husband playing flag football, hiking, traveling, and trying new vegan recipes.