“PA, Friend, Advocate”

Vanessa Candare was born and raised in San Diego. She was a Navy dependent and lived in Okinawa, Japan for 5 years. She graduated from University of California, San Diego and worked in clinical research for 6 years in Alzheimer’s disease research, Cardiovascular Surgery, Infectious Disease, and Women’s Health. After working with many research patients, she wanted to focus on patients holistically, therefore, she pursued a career as a Physician Assistant. She moved to Norfolk, Virginia and graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School earning a Masters of Physician Assistant degree. As a PA student, she volunteered with the Medical Spanish group and free student-run clinic to increase access and provide healthcare to the medically underserved Spanish speaking community. Although east coast living was an amazing experience for her and her family, she was excited to return home and enjoy the sun in San Diego again. She has a solid foundation and strong interest in acute care medicine, outpatient procedures, family medicine, women’s health, pediatric and adolescent medicine. She has basic knowledge of Spanish and Tagalog, but continues to improve her conversational skills to be a better listener and strive for better communication with patients. When she is not spending time and watching sports with her husband and 3 children, she enjoys coffee, traveling, pilates, yoga, biking, swimming, reading, and learning new languages.

Languages: Spanish, Tagalog, ASL