Charlene DeLuca, M.D.
Internal Medicine physician with a fellowship in Primary Care Sports Medicine, more than 20 years of experience and caring for patients in Naples since 2006.
Training and experience
Dr. DeLuca completed her Medical Residency and Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship at Brown University School of Medicine. Before coming to Naples, she practiced Internal Medicine and Primary Care Sports Medicine at a private practice in Arlington, Virginia.
Residency and Sports Medicine Fellowship
Brown University School of Medicine. Team Physician and Consulting Physician for the AHL Providence Bruins and NHL Boston Bruins.
Private practice in Arlington, Virginia
Seven years in Internal Medicine and Sports Medicine. Volunteer emergency room physician at Virginia Hospital Center during the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Physician for the FBI Washington Field Office, CIA, Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture and Police and Fire, performing annual executive physicals and managing job injuries.
Hospitalist in Naples
Hospitalist at NCH Healthcare System and Physicians Regional, then partner in a local hospitalist company, then Medical Director and hospitalist with Hospital Physician Partners at Physicians Regional Medical Center’s two Naples locations, then a solo hospitalist practice that developed into a concierge hospitalist practice. Served as Chairman and then Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Physicians Regional.
Concierge practice opens
Opened her Naples concierge practice in the fall of 2014.
Naples Illustrated Top Doctors
Honored in the field of Concierge Internal Medicine in 2018 and 2019.
Team physician experience
A letter from Dr. DeLuca
I am excited about introducing my concierge practice to you.
I spent enough time as a child in the back seat of my father’s car while he took me on house calls and on rounds in the hospital, to know that I wanted to become a doctor when I grew up.
My father was a well-known pediatrician in Rhode Island. He loved his job… went to work whistling every morning. He had the pleasure of taking care of several generations of children.
Through the years, his patients developed a strong bond with him and put their trust and their children’s trust in him.
It was the days of “Marcus Welby”…
It was the “glory days” of medicine…
After finishing my training in Internal Medicine and Sports Medicine, I moved to the Washington, DC area. While I was in DC, I had a traditional outpatient Internal Medicine practice, with a subspecialty in Sports Medicine. After 7 years in the Northern Virginia / DC area, I decided to move to Naples, Florida in 2006, to be closer to my parents.
At this time, I had the opportunity to work as a Hospitalist at both hospital systems in Naples. This was a major reality check, because I was able to acquire a different perspective of practicing medicine from an in-hospital standpoint, which helped grant me great insight.
As a Hospitalist, we see patients, while they are in the hospital, for other physicians who work in the community in an office-based practice. Thus, we do not develop that same connection with the patients that they do with their primary care physician. Hospitalist medicine (in-hospital medicine) is a valuable contribution to hospital care and was very rewarding to me. However, I reached a point where I missed the ongoing patient/doctor relationship. I missed the important piece that included that connection between the patient and the doctor.
Having experienced both worlds, in-hospital and primary care medicine, I observed enough to understand the pros and cons of both, and what I felt was in my control that I could improve upon.
In the fall of 2014, I decided to open my own concierge practice using the lessons I learned over time in both hospital medicine and primary care medicine. Access and communication seemed to be most important for a successful patient/doctor relationship. By limiting the number of patients that I take to between 150 and 250, I am able to offer much more personalized care than I was able to offer in traditional practice, where I was seeing thousands of patients.
The most valuable asset I can offer you, the patient and your families, is peace of mind, which I have come to appreciate, is priceless.
I am looking forward to getting to know you on a much deeper, more intimate level, helping to coordinate your care and making sure you live a healthy, active life.
Book an appointment with Dr. DeLuca
The practice is intentionally limited to between 150 and 250 patients. Call the office or send a message to schedule your first appointment.