Meet the Doctor
Dr. Larimer, FAAFP
From trade school to medical school, and eventually, a clinic of her own.
In her words
Why I Became an Obesity Medicine Specialist
As a kid I wanted to be a doctor, teacher, or architect. I was poor, so I did trade school and became a medical assistant. Ten years later I started junior college night classes, and then went on to upper division at UC San Diego.
At UCLA School of Medicine I loved my psychiatry and ER rotations, and felt the best direction for me was family medicine. After my UF Family Medicine residency I took a teaching position at the University of Florida as the medical director of a rural clinic in Dixie County, a busy teaching clinic covering family medicine, urgent care and emergency care for the whole county. The position included teaching UF medical students and UF Family Medicine residents. Over several years I worked in ER, urgent care and hospital medicine while raising my daughter here in North Central Florida.
Age 20
Santa Fe, New Mexico
1987
UCLA School of Medicine
About 1989
North Central Florida
Christmas 1997
With her daughter
The years between
How the Weight Went On
Working emergency rooms, as a single parent, as a Girl Scout troop leader and a “cookie mother” for my daughter’s troop, I put on more and more weight, made worse by multiple attempts at quitting smoking, with cookies replacing tobacco. I worked too much, slept too little, and gained 60 to 70 extra pounds over the course of those years.
I successfully quit smoking in 2006 and aggressively pursued a regimented diet and exercise program, losing about 40 pounds. Only to regain much of it in 2007, when my best friend was dying of cancer over Christmas and I stress-ate amazing amounts of food.
“I finished baking ginger cookies to find I had eaten most of the six dozen during the process.”
The turning point
Why I Opened GMOS Clinic
After hearing a lecture series on weight control as a medical specialty, I was hooked. I wanted to know more about this complex disease, so I studied the textbooks, joined the two national scientific obesity societies, and attended extra sessions at conferences. I started weight-loss medical care with the help of Lake Butler Hospital.
My lifelong dream of a private practice came true in 2016 when I opened Gainesville Medical Obesity Specialty Clinic. I chose this name because we are not a weight loss clinic. We are a medical specialty clinic providing broad-based treatment for the chronic disease known as obesity, built on the Obesity Medicine Association’s four core pillars.
The events of my medical career and my personal weight-loss experiences set me on this path, to give people with obesity a supportive, understanding medical home. I want to help each patient see their weight in a different way: not as a behavior, but as a complex, multi-factorial, lifelong recurrent disease.
Cindi Larimer, M.D.
2002
Hawaii
Her 50th birthday
About 2018
Lake Butler
Meet your physician
Cindi Larimer, MD, FAAFP
“I have been there. I have struggled, and I still do. If you have done diet after diet and still the weight returns, I understand, and I am honored to work with you.”
Dr. Larimer provides obesity specialist care that addresses the medical, nutritional, behavioral, and psychological sides of treatment. She sees you for your visits and care planning, with quick rechecks occasionally done by our staff.
Credentials
- M.D.UCLA School of Medicine
- ResidencyFamily Practice, University of Florida
- FacultyAssistant Clinical Professor, Family Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Florida, 7 years
- FellowAmerican Academy of Family Physicians (FAAFP)
- MemberThe Obesity Society · Obesity Medicine Association · Obesity Action Coalition
- 1990Board Certified in Family Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine
- 2008Began practicing obesity medicine
- 2014Board Certified in Obesity Medicine, American Board of Obesity Medicine
- 2016Founded Gainesville Medical Obesity Specialty Clinic
Career
Thirty-Five Years of Medicine in North Central Florida
- 1983–1990M.D., UCLA School of Medicine (1987), followed by Family Practice residency at the University of Florida and Alachua General Hospital, where she was Co-Chief Resident
- 1990–1997University of Florida, Department of Community Health and Family Medicine: Assistant Professor, then Clinical Assistant Professor · Medical Director, Cross City Rural Clinic · Medical Director of two skilled nursing facilities
- 1995–2010Emergency physician across North Central Florida: Nature Coast Regional Hospital in Williston, Shands at Live Oak, Lake City Medical Center and Doctors’ Memorial Hospital in Perry
- 1999–2020Lake Butler Hospital: Chief of Staff; Medical Director of the Rural Health Clinic, the ER, Inpatient Services and Step-Down Rehabilitation; and the Lake Butler Weight Loss and Wellness Clinic
- 2010–2020Malcom Randall VA Medical Center: chest pain unit, urgent care and emergency medicine
- 2016Opened Gainesville Medical Obesity Specialty Clinic, LLC
As featured on CBS4
As Seen on Local Discovery
CBS4’s Local Discovery visited GMOS Clinic to talk with Dr. Larimer about why obesity is a real medical disease. It is not laziness or lack of willpower.
Local Discovery, CBS4 · 2018
The Clinic She Built
Read about GMOS Clinic’s mission, values and team, or send a request and our staff will call and email you to schedule your introductory session with us at GMOS Clinic.