Our Team

Dr. Pounds is the founding physician and Chief Medical Officer of Baptist Community Health Services. She has grown up in New Orleans and attended LSU Medical School where she specialized in Internal Medicine. She has worked with BCHS since the doors opened in 2014 and currently she sees patients two days a week at the Mandeville location and focuses on clinical leadership the rest of the week. Dr. Pounds believes that every patient who walks through the doors of BCHS deserves the most excellent care and attention and she works to ensure that's the case.

Dr. Charlene Chan completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University. During medical school at Loyola University Chicago, she was drawn to family medicine because of its continuity of care and comprehensive care. Dr. Chan joined Baptist Community Health Services in 2019 after completing her residency at East Jefferson. She primarily works out of the BCHS clinic at the Andrew P. Sanchez Center Monday through Friday but has also worked out of the BCHS pediatric locations. Dr. Chan brings excellence to all that she does at BCHS and provides her patients with the highest level of care.

Dr. White is a board-certified primary care internist at Baptist Community Health Services (BCHS). She completed her medical education at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. She completed her internal medicine training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.  She specializes in adult care, with a focus on chronic disease management.  She is passionate about delivering high-quality, culturally competent care to all her patients. Dr. White currently sees patients Monday through Friday at our Sanchez location. Originally from Virginia, she now calls New Orleans home!

Robert “RJ” Jemison, FNP-C has been at Baptist Community Health since 2017. After receiving an Associate in Applied Science in Nursing from Theodore Alfred Lawson State Jr. College in Birmingham, AL, he completed a Registered Nurse internship at the University of Alabama Hospital. Later, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Nursing from Louisiana State University. With over thirty years of experience in critical care, he became board certified in family practice and primary care, two of his greatest passions, through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. His additional interests include integrating primary care into behavioral medicine, critical care, and emergency medicine. As a New Orleans Baptist Association Commissioned Medical Missionary, his heart for our mission to provide high-quality care in underserved communities truly flows into all he does.

Beth Browning is a Physician Assistant at Baptist Community Health. She trained at the LSU Physician Assistant program in New Orleans and specializes in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. She has worked at BCHS since 2020 and currently sees patients 3 days a week at the Mandeville location while serving our New Orleans patients the other 2 days. Beth is a caring, thorough provider who is eager to care for the whole person through primary care.

Behavioral Health

Megan Thiel is a licensed clinical social worker and board approved clinical supervisor. She received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from Tulane University. Megan has had a variety of social work experience. She first began working in a mental health rehabilitation program where she worked with children and adolescents in the community, home, and school settings. She later worked in school settings, contracted for the department of defense at the joint reserve naval base in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, and worked as a clinical administrator for a mental health rehabilitation program where she also provided direct clinical services to children, adolescents, and adults. Before becoming the director of behavioral health at Baptist Community Health Services, she worked as an LCSW at a different primary care and integrated behavioral health clinic in New Orleans. She is also a member of the National Association for Social Workers. Megan works with ages six and older. She specializes in depression, anxiety, ADHD, mood disorders, relationship issues, grief and loss, life transitions, trauma processing and recovery, and the LGBTQ+ community. Megan has a passion to uphold social work ethics and advocate for individuals and communities in order to help those reach their goals.

Dr. Rigamer is a clinical psychiatrist for the Mercy Health System and Baptist Community Health Services and a consultant to international academic exchange programs. He was formerly the Medical Director for Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans where he was responsible for increasing access to quality health care for vulnerable populations. Among his current projects were Health Guardians, a program that reduces unnecessary emergency room visits and hospital readmissions for people with multiple chronic diseases. Under the auspices for Catholic Charities he has directed several disaster relief programs for victims of Hurricane Katrina and opened the first Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) in New Orleans. 

Prior to joining Catholic Charities, Dr. Rigamer served the U.S. Department of State as Medical Director advising the Secretary of State on international health issues and overseeing the healthcare of Foreign Service diplomats and their families.  He also served the Department of State as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Medical Affairs.

Dr. Rigamer has held positions with Kaiser Permanente HMO in Washington, DC and Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer Physician in Monrovia, Liberia.

Dr. Rigamer is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a member of Physicians for a National Health Program and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. 

Dr. Rigamer received his medical degree at LSU School of Medicine New Orleans, his training in psychiatry at the New York Hospital-Cornell University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He received his MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University.

Beth Browning is a Physician Assistant at Baptist Community Health. She trained at the LSU Physician Assistant program in New Orleans and specializes in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry. She has worked at BCHS since 2020 and currently sees patients 3 days a week at the Mandeville location while serving our New Orleans patients the other 2 days. Beth is a caring, thorough provider who is eager to care for the whole person through primary care.