ABOUT NORTHERN PLAINS FAMILY MEDICINE AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH, P.C
Our office in International Falls, Minnesota, specializes in providing family medicine, addiction medicine and mental health evaluation and treatment services. We are committed to addressing an individual’s unique health care needs. We evaluate and treat co-occurring substance abuse and mental health issues. In particular ADHD, Bipolar Disorder and Depression. We also evaluate people with issues of chronic pain.
In our practice, we believe that addiction is never a sign of a person’s weakness or lack of willpower. Many factors exist that lead to a person’s decision to experiment with substances and develop an addiction. We will strive to determine these factors and develop the best treatment approaches for the individual patient.
Our Mission Statement
Our office is committed to offering high-quality family medicine and behavioral healthcare services. We are responsible for providing accurate diagnoses and treatment for every patient seeking our expertise. We promise to offer accessible healthcare services using up-to-date strategies and technologies.
Our Vision Statement
Our office aspires to become the premier addiction treatment provider in Minnesota. We want to render our expertise to our patients and become the most trustworthy office for family medicine and behavioral healthcare.
Meet Our Owner
Scharazard Gray, M.D.
Board Certified Family Medicine, Fellowship Trained Addiction Psychiatry
Dr. Gray can be described as an “Old School Country Doctor with 21st Century Skill Set”. Often, the problems a patient has must match the solutions available. However, Dr. Gray’s approach is to adapt and adjust to the problems of the individual patient. Patients are the experts about living with their conditions and if we listen and learn they will teach us how to treat them. Flexibility, adaptability and humility are key. Human relationships are not always linear affairs and taking care of patients is not a multiple guess test where there is always a tidy answer. I’m not here to fix, but to learn and help.
Dr. “Shah” Gray Grew up in Tampa, Florida, where he attended Catholic schools. Before graduating high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, serving as an independent duty hospital corpsman. Subsequently, Dr. Gray earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Washington in 1982 and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in 1991. Following a surgery internship program in Pennsylvania, he became a physician with the Indian Health Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Anchorage, Alaska. After a painful divorce and other traumatic events in 1994, Dr. Gray found himself drinking too much and experimenting with drugs. He became addicted, stopped practicing medicine, and worked as a laborer while undergoing treatment. In 2002, Dr. Gray returned to medicine as a Family Medicine Resident in Pennsylvania. Immediately after completing the residency in 2005, he began an Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program at the Oregon Health Sciences University-Portland Veterans Administration Hospital, which he completed in 2006. Dr. Gray sees the practice of medicine as a calling and has always been interested and committed to helping people who suffer from all types of medically related issues, especially addiction. He then spent four years as an Indian Health Services Physician in South Dakota, followed by one year with Wishek Community Hospital in North Dakota, before establishing his private practice in the Bismarck-Mandan area in 2013. Dr. Gray has an office in International Falls, Minnesota.
Professional Associations/Memberships:
- American Association of Addiction Psychiatry
- American Academy of Family Practice
- American Board of Family Medicine
- American Geriatrics Society
- American Medical Association
- American Medical Association Private Practice Physician Section
- Florida Medical Association
- Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians
- Minnesota Medical Association Public Health Policy Committee Member
- Minnesota Medical Association
- Minnesota Medical Association Illicit Drug Harm Reduction and Decriminalization Work Group
- Together With Veterans (TWV)-Koochiching Warrior Initiative Steering Committee Member
Schedule a Consultation Today
Are you experiencing symptoms that need immediate addressing? Scheduling a consultation with our doctors is just a click away.