Meet Dr Ati Hakimi MD MBA

I became a physician not simply to treat illness, but to help people live healthier lives.

After more than 20 years in Family Medicine, including residency training at Northwestern University and fellowship training in Geriatric Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, I realized the traditional healthcare model was limiting my ability to practice medicine to the full scope of my training. Short visits and increasing administrative demands left too little time for what matters most—listening, educating, preventing disease, and providing thoughtful, individualized care.

My work with Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada helped shape a different vision. Without the pressures of billing and coding, I experienced how much more I could accomplish when I had time to focus entirely on the person in front of me. It reinforced something I strongly believe: time is one of the most powerful tools a physician has.

I founded Vegas Direct Primary Care to practice medicine that way every day. The DPC model gives me the time to truly know each member and provide holistic care, combining evidence-based medicine with lifestyle medicine and prevention. By looking beyond symptoms to nutrition, movement, sleep, hydration, mental well-being, and the factors that influence long-term health, I can care for the whole person while making clinical decisions based on quality medicine.

With an Executive Healthcare MBA from UC Irvine, I also understand the complexities of our healthcare system and help members navigate it while keeping the physician-member relationship at the center of their care.

Beyond my practice, I serve on the Board of Directors of Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Nevada and as a mentor for UNLV pre-medical students and Family Medicine residents, helping support the next generation of physicians.

My mission is simple: to bring medicine back to what matters most—time, trust, prevention, and a meaningful relationship between a physician and each member.