NEOGENIX STEM CELLS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Patient Care, NeoGenix, Lake Norman
Dr. Chris Goodwin was born in Annapolis, Maryland but has lived in Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina before moving to North Carolina. He grew up spending most of his time enjoying outdoor activities and playing sports. He ran track and raced motocross in high school before rowing for the University of Maryland Men's Crew team and racing mountain bikes while in college. A love for animals initially lead him to the Veterinary field as a Veterinary Technician where he worked with one of the busiest veterinary clinics in Annapolis for 6 years while in high school and college. Although he entered the University of Maryland as a Pre-Vet Animal Sciences major, continued exposure to collegiate athletics and a growing passion for exercise made changing his major an easy decision to focus more on health and human performance.
After graduating with his BS in Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, Dr. Goodwin attended Palmer College of Chiropractic in Port Orange, FL where he completed his Doctorate of Chiropractic in 2013. During his time in Chiropractic college, Dr. Goodwin continued to exercise and eventually began using what he learned about the human body to help him succeed in the sport of competitive power lifting. His experience with a wide variety of sports has proven invaluable in helping him provide individualized care for patients of all age groups with an emphasis on promoting an active lifestyle. Outside of the office Dr. Goodwin spends most of his free time on the water competing in the growing sport of kayak fishing and has become one of the top tournament anglers in the Charlotte area.
Before joining NeoGenix, Dr. Goodwin spent over 3 years working alongside Dr. Altizer in an integrated setting that incorporated pain management, chiropractic, physical rehabilitation and regenerative medicine. The power of regenerative medicine caught his attention from the start and he is excited to continue helping Dr. Altizer provide one of the most revolutionary forms of medicine to the Carolinas.
Job Titles:
- Owner and Director of Regenerative Medicine
Dr. James Altizer grew up in Stanton, Virginia. His father was a manager at a natural gas utility company and his mother was a nurse. Ever since Dr. Altizer was 5 years old he knew he wanted to be a doctor.
Dr. Altizer graduated from Davidson College in 1981 and immediately entered the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. After receiving his MD degree in 1985, he traveled to Augusta, GA to complete a 3-year internship and residency in Internal Medicine. To pay back his naval scholarship to medical school Dr. Altizer entered the US Navy and worked as an Internist at the Navy hospital in Beaufort, SC and subsequently as teaching faculty at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, CA. He also served in the first Gulf War during Desert Storm and received a total of 5 decorations prior to leaving the US Navy in 1992.
Dr. Altizer spent 11 years as a board-certified Internist. During his 17 years as a Phlebologist (vein disease specialist) he became Board Certified in Phlebology. He is also doubly credentialed in ultrasound. Being skilled at surgical and injection techniques from his work with vein disease, Dr. Altizer quickly learned stem cell harvesting techniques and in late 2015 decided to dedicate the remainder of his career to stem cell and regenerative therapies. He received expert training from recognized leaders in the regenerative medicine field, training on bone marrow aspiration with Duke University affiliated physicians. In 2017, he was asked to be guest faculty at The Orthobiologics Institute (TOBI) Annual Meeting in Las Vegas where he taught the liposuction workshop for adipose tissue harvesting.
Since he started treating patients with stem cell therapy at his old practice in January of 2016, he has performed thousands of regenerative medicine injections, making him by far the most experienced and well known medical doctor performing stem cell and regenerative therapies in the Carolinas. He has appeared countless times on the TV program Charlotte Today, usually taking with him grateful patients who love telling their success stories. Dr. Altizer loves research and is constantly looking for new ways to improve his craft and provide a higher quality of care for his patients.
His greatest strengths are his integrity, ethics, and honesty. If he does not feel like you are a good candidate for a procedure, he will tell you. There is no question Dr. Altizer has become the face of stem cell and regenerative therapies in the Carolinas. In January of 2020, he opened his new stem cell clinic, NeoGenix, in south Charlotte that focuses entirely on regenerative medicine. In April of 2023, NeoGenix opened a second location in the Lake Norman area of Charlotte. In addition to stem cell and regenerative therapies, Dr. Altizer also performs Independent Medical Exams (IMEs) and impairment ratings.
Dr. Altizer currently lives in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte. He has 2 children and spends much of his time with his longtime girlfriend. One of Dr. Altizer's biggest hobbies is collecting antique medical equipment, much of which is currently displayed at the NeoGenix Ballantyne clinic. Dr. Altizer also loves riding motorcycles. He currently has 4 of them so if you are looking for him on a sunny Charlotte afternoon, that is mostly likely where you will find him.
Job Titles:
- Director of Patient Care, NeoGenix Ballantyne
Dr. Ken Bauer attended North Carolina State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Anatomy. He then went on to chiropractic school at Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas, Texas. Upon receiving his doctorate degree from Parker in 1995, he moved back to Charlotte and opened two Chiropractic clinics and started two medical supply companies that he operated for 15 years, before working alongside NeoGenix.
Dr. Bauer has advanced training in exercise physiology and rehabilitation with an emphasis on sports-related injuries. He was the Chiropractor for musicians such as, Jimmy Buffet, Sting, 38 Special and Sara McLachlan, He was also the Chiropractor for numerous Washington Redskins football players. He is excited to expand his knowledge in the field of Regenerative Medicine and help patients achieve the lifestyle they deserve without surgery.
Job Titles:
- Medical Director at NeoGenix Lake Norman
Dr. Richard Kuzma grew up in southeast Michigan. His mother was a librarian and his father did manufacturing sales. As a child, he loved science and the idea of fixing things and making them better. One of his mentors in high school was his wrestling coach, who was a physician when he was not coaching. Dr. Kuzma was the high school state runner-up at 189 pounds.
Dr. Kuzma completed his undergraduate degree at Oakland Community College and Oakland University in Michigan. While at college he joined the Michigan National Guard Military Police directly after 9/11 where he served until 2008. He graduated from Oakland University in 2005 with a degree in biochemistry. Over the few years while he worked as an organic chemist, he took night classes at Wayne State University for a degree in biomedical engineering focused on stem cell research. He graduated from Wayne State University in 2009.
Dr. Kuzma again stayed close to home attending medical school at Michigan State University and he completed his residency in the historic city of Detroit. During his community based residency in Detroit, Dr. Kuzma further showed his desire to help people, and in this case underprivileged people, by working at low income clinics and federally qualified healthcare centers. He graduated medical school at Michigan State University in 2013.
In 2016, Dr. Kuzma moved his family to the Charlotte, NC area and began working at Atrium Health as a Board Certified Family Physician. Dr. Kuzma established himself as a trusted physician for many families in the Lake Norman area. Dr. Kuzma would often treat patients of his with musculoskeletal issues with injections himself, but using traditional steroid injections with limited efficacy. He had begun to explore using PRP and stem cell therapy on his patients instead as he knew from his days at Wayne State University doing stem cell research, that cortisone was only masking the pain and regenerative medicine would actually address the underlying cause.
After mutual friends introduced Dr. Kuzma to Niko Miles and Dr. James Altizer, Dr. Kuzma knew that was the next step in his career: having his own stem cell clinic. After months of stem cell and PRP training with Dr. Altizer, to go along with his already expert injection experience, NeoGenix Lake Norman opened in April of 2023 with Dr. Kuzma as the medical director.
Dr. Kuzma currently lives in the Lake Norman area with his wife and blended family of 6 children. Along with spending time with his family, he enjoys day trips to various locations in the North Carolina area, working with wood and playing video games with his kids. One of Dr. Kuzma's biggest passions is mixed martial arts. He currently holds a brown belt in Judo and is currently a Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and competitor.
Julie was born and raised in Rutland, VT. She earned a bachelor's degree in social work from Castleton State University in 1997. Julie spent most of her career in Vermont in the food and beverage industry in various roles managing teams and overseeing operations. Julie relocated to Charlotte, NC in January of 2023 along with her fiancée to join the NeoGenix team. Julie brings extensive customer service experience to the NeoGenix team. Her ability to work with different groups of people over the years taught her the importance of compassion, empathy, and effective communication, which she strives to bring to every interaction with her colleagues and patients.
During her downtime, you can find Julie enjoying the great outdoors, whether it's taking walks, playing golf or fishing. She loves being near the water, whether it's a river, lake or ocean, as she finds peace and tranquility in nature.
Job Titles:
- Director of Operations
- Owner, A2Z Healthcare Management
Niko is a highly energetic, detail oriented, accomplished team leader with over 17 years of experience in health care management and operations. He is native of Rutland, VT and a graduate of Siena College in Albany, NY in 1999. After spending a little over a year as an account executive for Clear Channel Communications, Niko began his career in healthcare in May of 2001 as the funding and billing manager at the Center for Disability Services in Albany, NY. Over the next 8 ½ years, Niko moved up the ranks at the Center becoming the manager of clinical services in October of 2005 and the manager of business operations in May of 2008. At the Center, Niko developed key billing and operational skills along with his keen ability to work side by side with all type of clinicians. Most importantly, working with the disabled population instilled a "patient care above all else" approach to his managerial style that has remained his principle characteristic throughout his entire career.
In March of 2009 after relocating to Charlotte, NC, Niko became the general manager and operations manager of a local rehabilitation and pain management clinic. Under Niko's leadership, the clinic quickly became the largest and most successful medically integrated clinic in the Carolinas. In late 2015, Niko facilitated the integration of stem cell and regenerative therapies into the practice and managed all operations of the program. For the next 3 1/2 years, the clinic overwhelmingly provided more stem cell and regenerative therapy injections than any other clinic in the Carolinas. Niko has a perceptive ability to work with numerous departments simultaneously to continue process improvements and meet defined company goals. He continuously develops, coordinates and implements process and protocol advancements with internal departments, patient care and vendors. He has outstanding team, client and patient care management skills with the ability to effectively communicate at all levels of an organization. Niko is exceptionally skilled in providing optimal patient care, problem solving, analytics, marketing, budgeting, vendor supply management, compliance, recognizing and documenting solutions based on evolving business demands, research, auditing, billing, coding, patient financials, accounts receivable and collections. In July of 2019, Niko formed A2Z Healthcare Management as a way to share all of his non-clinical knowledge and operational skill sets with medical clinics requiring his services. A2Z Healthcare Management was hired by NeoGenix in December of 2019 to provide all of the non-clinical operations necessary for the success of NeoGenix.
Job Titles:
- General Manager
- Operations Manager
Sarah graduated from Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She has been an RN for 15 years specializing in emergency medicine for 12 years, with 6 years of travel nursing. After that she transitioned into the field of Health Optimization doing IV hydration therapy for 2 and half years before joining the team here at NeoGenix. Her patients know her for her compassionate and caring nature, and drive to help make a difference in their lives. She has a passion for the holistic and functional approach to medicine, getting to the root cause of her patients' problems and helping them to heal. Sarah currently lives in South Charlotte with her wife Melissa and their dog Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. They love going for walks on the greenway, rafting at the Whitewater Center and adventuring around the world.