Irina Gavryutina, MD, Ph.D.

We love Dr. G, And all of the staff. You have the most pleasant staff.

I very much appreciated Dr Gavryuntina's evaluation and direct input. I am a mom who likes direct and clear information. She was also open to listen and hear what I had to say pertaining to what I know about PURA Syndrome. While PURA Syndrome is ultra rare, with roughly 800 in the world, my daughter is even more rare since she is roughly 1 in 5 that actually walks, talks, and appears to be lessor impacted by the syndrome than the others diagnosed. While she has lessor impacts, she still checks the boxes on several indicators and I was so relieved that I was not dismissed by our new doctor (as I had with the previous endo provider and a few other drs). From past experiences, it becomes tiresome to continue to question or bring up symptoms that have been dismissed due to my daughter appearing drastically different than others. I know I already forgot to re-bring up old concerns (from when they were listened to the last visit) that I have since jotted down for our 6-month follow up. Since this genetic mutation is so rare, with minimal information and since my daughter also Is impacted differently, I like that we can look at things at all angles to ensure we are providing the right formula to help my daughter! As silly as It sounds to me to be on a facebook group (because I truly do not like facebook groups), the PURA family facebook group is our only true source for information and gaining knowledge throughout the year. We have access to the original doctor who discovered this gene mutation and he too gains knowledge through collabing on what we are all experiencing, and Dr. Gavryutina was receptive that I had questioned the parents on the facebook page prior to our appt. Thank you Dr. Gavryuntina for listening and talking with me - you will get a brand new list for our next appt! Helpful site if she ever wants to reach out to various drs who too have patients. There are a handful of PURA kids in a 90 mile radius to Knoxville as well and I know that 2 others also go to our Childrens, so this might be helpful in learning about it for all of us. Especially since they are the true classic case as shown in the medical journals. Https://purasyndrome.org/clinician/Main PURA site that has medical journals and facts. Https://purasyndrome.org/

Dr. Gavryutina has been absolutely wonderful with our son and our family. She is very thorough, shows us where he is at on his insulin therapy, and listens to our questions/ concerns. She has never rushed us or dismissed us in any way. We are grateful for her time and care of our son.

Extremely thorough

This was our first appointment with Dr. G. She was polite and professional. She explained things to my daughter and seemed like she genuinely cared for my child and her well-being.

I will be switching providers. While she is knowledgeable in the field, wants to jump to most invasive measures. When asking for other options, she definitely is set to her way is the best way' and then charts that we declined treatment when that was not what occurred. As a medical provider myself, these are concerning things that need to be addressed before kids are pressure into treatment that is not medically necessary. I shouldn't be leaving an appointment wondering if the provider is only recommending years of traumatic events on my child for finanical gain.

Dr. G was very thorough and very sweet with my daughter. I especially appreciated her telling my daughter, "I'm a Dr, and I will only check your private areas when your parents are here too. No one else is allowed to look at them." I had just told my daughter that same thing right before her appointment, so I loved that Dr. G reiterated that same sentiment. My daughter felt very safe and comfortable with her.

We saw a new endocrinologist Dr G. She made assumptions that my son wasn't taking his medication- which he does every night faithfully. And she made assumptions that we regularly miss appointments and just don't show. We have never missed an appointment in the 3+ years we've been coming to ETCH endocrinology group.

Dr G does allow us to participate in our child's care. She has already clearly made up her mind about treatments and options and does not listen well to concerns but she does try to negotiate. She gives the impression of "her way only" but so far has actually let us agree or disagree and pivot as needed.

She seemed extremely knowledgeable in her field but unfortunately she didn't seem to listen to me when I spoke told her about my child's diet. He eats extremely healthy for a child his age. Him being autistic I tried to add in different types of foods he's willing to eat when we have the money we'll get a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets (not often with the amount of kids on one Income) and once a week will have a pizza as a reward for the kids we never eat out and we normally eat chicken and pork and good healthy for every meal. That only once a week for one meal out of all of our meals will have an unhealthy Pizza but apparently if I cut all of that out my child will gain weight. I agree with her that it most likely is a GI problem but lack of listening to what I said it made me feel like she had already made a decision on the case before we even walked in and that this could have just been a phone call if she didn't think it was anything. To give me Financial advice after I said we couldn't afford the PediaSure and said if I just cut out the pizza once a week we could afford that or chicken every night. Im not sure how getting rid of 2 of the store bought cheapest 4 dollar pizza could afford chicken for my whole family for a week will help. But at the end I felt very disrespected and I will follow up with labs like was said and will wait for an appointment for somone else if it comes up. I do not feel as if my child's case is the right case for this doctor. I truly hope this isn't the normal for this doctor and it was just an off day but it definitely caused me to lack confidence in the medical field and the respect and consideration I may get Within this practice. I'm only coming to try to help my child and make him better or assist him in ways to make him feel better, thats why I drove 45 minutes for the earliest appointment at a last minute cancelation with less than 24 hour notice I almost never review negatively but this appointment definitely left me feeling horrible afterwards

Not our best experience at etch.