Dr. Chenyi is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and specializes in comprehensive care for the entire family including child, adolescent and adult healthcare.

It’s been a long life journey from his native Cameroon in Central Africa to Russellville, Alabama, and Dr. Jeffrey Chenyi has already seen more of the world than many witness in a lifetime.

But Russellville’s newest physician, having lived in Africa, Sweden, the Caribbean island of Curacao, Maryland, Chicago and Flint, Michigan, believes he’s found a home in northwest Alabama.

Chenyi spent one-and-a-half years operating a medical clinic in Lynn, Alabama, before opening Chenyi Family Medicine earlier this month in the medical office complex adjacent to Russellville Hospital.

Chenyi, along with his office administrator Stephanie Jett and nurse Courtney Atkinson, is now welcoming patients of all ages in his new clinic.

Family medicine is Chenyi’s passion. With nine brothers and sisters, the concept of family has always been part of the physician’s life.

Although his training included residency and rotations in several areas of concentration, Chenyi fell in love with family medicine while doing a rotation in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

“I quickly realized I wanted the traditional path in family medicine that most doctors don’t do these days. I wanted to stay with my patients during outpatient and inpatient medical treatment,” Chenyi said. “It’s important to me to really get to know my patients. Your time becomes more efficient then because you know them.

“My attending physician in residency was in his 60s. Four generations of families had been to him.He knew conditions of each family. It’s easier for the family to have medical care available in one location. From babies to parents, in one visit I’m able to see all the family members. That also helps people with transportation and/or financial problems.”

Chenyi Family Medicine offers comprehensive care for the entire family, including child, adolescent and adult healthcare. Chenyi also offers women’s health care; occupational medicine for employers; diabetes, cholesterol and hypertension treatment; adult and child immunizations; baby and child care; and sports physicals.

“That’s one part of family medicine I most enjoy—it gives you a very broad range of care to offer your patients,” Chenyi said.

Raised in Bamenda in northwest Cameroon, a city of 275,000, Chenyi’s mother was a nurse and his father a banker. Chenyi’s secondary education included a Presbyterian boarding schoool and Catholic high school. He earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Cameroon’s University of Buea.

Chenyi earned his M.D. at the picturesque St. Martinus University School of Medicine on the Caribbean island of Curacao. Not only did he earn his medical degree on the shores of the Caribbean’s blue waters, Curacao was where he met his wife-to-be.

His United States medical training came at hospitals in Baltimore and Chicago, and he took a teaching assistant position in Chicago where he did research with the anesthesia department. After a family medicine residency in Flint, he started a medical clinic in Lynn and became the first doctor in the small community in two decades.

One advantage Chenyi now has practicing in Russellville is a large base of physicians available for consult for surgery. With a cardiologist nearby, for example, there is specialized care for patients without having to travel a long distance.

Chenyi sees an increased percentage of diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol in Alabama, as compared to other parts of the world. He attributes much of that to the area’s sedentary lifestyle.

“There is an increased issue of obesity here, and that leads to other serious health issues,” Chenyi said. “In Cameroon we had some obesity, but the lifestyle with more physical activity was much more active than it is here.”

Chenyi recalled a mission trip he took to Jamaica, an ‘uphill’ country as he describes it.

“Few people there have vehicles, and there’s a lot more walking,” Chenyi said. “That lowers the rate of some serious health problems, but there were more renal problems [kidney-related] there, probably because the standard of medical care wasn’t as good as it is here.

“In Cameroon, there’s a low incidence of diabetes and hypertension. Diet is one reason. Secondly is the difference in lifestyle. Less than half the people own cars, so they do a lot of walking. Families are physically active.Diet as a whole makes a difference. The human body is designed like a Pacman game. We’re built to work for food. People in Cameroon, even when they’re eating, do something extra. The typical dish is not one you can eat in 30 minutes. It’s not like processed food, where you can consume a thousand calories on three bites.”

Essentially, developed society lifestyles lead to more medical problems, but the positive is the standard of medical care is higher here than other countries, he explained.

Chenyi was attracted to northwest Alabama in part due to its rural nature.

“I love agriculture. I love to talk with my patients who farm about their gardens, crops, etc. Those patients have a little more control over what they eat,” Chenyi said.

Additionally, when deciding where to establish his practice, the young doctor sought guidance of a higher authority.

“When I was looking for a job, I prayed about the opportunities and felt I needed to be in Lynn,” Chenyi said. “There were a few drawbacks with the history of Alabama, but God led me there.And I’ve found that people in this area, including Russellville, Lynn and Haleyville, are so accomodating and friendly.

“I’ve been to 20 states, and people are different here. It’s been a wonderful place to start a family.”

Chenyi has learned that he can sometimes improve an entire family’s overall health if he succeeds in influencing the woman of the house in making improvements.

“I’m very interested in women’s health. If you’re strong in women’s health, you can really influence that patient population,” he said. “If the woman makes improvements in her diet and health, it positively influences the entire family.”

Chenyi said he quickly developed a respect for the quality of care offered at Russellville Hospital.

“For the services we offer, we absolutely have the technology, staff and equipment needed to provide high-quality medical care,” Chenyi said.

And the young doctor sees northwest Alabama as a home rather than a career steppingstone.

“This setting makes it feasible for me to follow patients through outpatient and inpatient care,” Chenyi said. “I’ve developed a real liking of smaller communities over larger ones, and I’ve been exposed to both. I can see being a part of this community for a long time.”