Alana A. Kennedy-Nasser, MD
Our Founding Pediatrician
Alana Kennedy-Nasser, MD, well known as Dr. Alana, is the founder of purePEDIATRICS. Her goal is to change the way children, adolescents and young adults receive medical care through personalized medicine, integrative wellness and a healthy dose of prevention. She has vast experience in all aspects of pediatric care, from healthy newborns to the most complicated and chronically ill children.
Dr. Alana holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from SMU and earned her MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. She completed her Pediatrics residency at Tulane University and completed her Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital. While she is double board certified in Pediatrics & Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, her primary passion is the prevention and early recognition of disease.
Prior to private practice, Dr. Alana was an Assistant Professor on the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Texas Children’s Hospital for five years. This experience gave her tremendous insight in to the care of chronically ill and immunocompromised children, as well as acknowledging the importance of prevention.
In her spare time, she has completed the Boston Marathon and multiple Ironman triathlons, including the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Dr. Alana is a mother to four amazing children, who have grown faster than she ever imagined. She and her husband, Dr. Dean Nasser, who recently joined the practice to treat all of the parents and grandparents, have called Houston home for over 18 years.
In addition to authoring or co-authoring over 15 publications, Dr. Alana has been named a Texas Rising Star in 2012 and 2014 and a Super Doctor by Texas Monthly Magazine in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Visit Dr. Alana’s SuperDoctors profile here.
Visit Dr. Alana’s article in Voyage Magazine here.
Visit Dr. Alana’s article in ShoutOut TX here.
Kelly Hodges, MD
Pediatrician
Dr. Kelly Hodges is a Board Certified Pediatrician originally from Maui, Hawaii. She earned her medical degree from LSU Health Sciences Center and moved to Houston to complete her Pediatrics Residency at Texas Children’s Hospital. After residency, she relocated to Malawi, Africa, where she practiced medicine as a medical missionary for 3 years.
While working in Malawi, she focused on improving children’s nutrition, implemented CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) treatment for premature and sick infants and cared for underserved children with epilepsy. As a result of her training and experience afar, she is a strong advocate for preventive and personalized medicine.
On a personal note, Dr. Kelly is active in her community as a member of Rice Temple Baptist Church and chair of the church’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program. She and her husband, Donald, have three young and active boys. Most importantly, she is a Christian and strives to honor God through her practice of Medicine. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening vegetables with the hopes of one day eating her home-grown organic produce.
Check out her Blog documenting her adventures practicing medicine in Malawi: malawihodges.blogspot.com
Alexander Injac, MD
Pediatrician
Dr. Alexander Injac is a Board Certified pediatrician who has been practicing in the Houston area for over 20 years. Born in Belgrade, Serbia, Dr. Alex began his medical education at the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria prior to moving to the United States where he graduated from the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. After residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Dr. Alex moved to Houston, where he has been caring for children ever since.
In addition to general pediatric care, Dr. Alex has a particular interest in child development and care of medically complex patients. He is fluent in multiple languages including German, French, Spanish and Serbo-Croatian and enjoys the opportunity to interact with the diverse Houston international community. Dr. Alex is one of the lead pediatricians at our Memorial/Tanglewood office, located at 7700 San Felipe, Ste 470.
Dr. Alex is the father of a college-aged son and elementary-aged twins and his wife, Sarah is a native Houstonian and neuro-oncologist. In his free time, Dr. Alex enjoys traveling with his family particularly if it gives him as an avid skier an opportunity to hit the slopes.
Charlotte Zuniga, MD
Pediatrician
dr.charlotte@purepediatrics.com
Dr. Charlotte Zuniga is a board certified pediatrician who has been practicing in the Houston area for almost 20 years. She has vast pediatric experience from premature newborns to children and young adults with complex medical problems. Her passion for preventive medicine and child development makes her a strong advocate for personalized care. She is one of the lead pediatricians at our Memorial/Tanglewood office, located at 7700 San Felipe, Ste 470.
A native Houstonian, Dr. Charlotte graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and earned her BA from Cornell University in Neuroscience and Behavior. She earned her MD from the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas at Houston. Prior to graduating, she spent a year at Harvard Medical School and Tufts Medical School in Boston to broaden her training. She completed her Pediatrics residency at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine and has remained in Houston since 1999.
Dean A. Nasser, MD, FCCP
Internal Medicine, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
Dr. Dean Nasser is a Board Certified Pulmonary and Critical Care physician who has joined the practice to provide adult medical care. As a specialist, Dr. Dean knows the importance of prevention and his goal is to spend the remainder of his career helping to shape the health of patients so that they may live their BEST lives today and tomorrow through preventive, personalized care that focuses on nutrition, weight management, hormone management and improved general care. Dr. Dean sees patients in our Bellaire and Memorial/Tanglewood locations.
Dr. Dean completed his undergraduate training at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he earned a BA in Economics. After college, he decided to follow in his physician/father’s footsteps and completed his premedical studies at the University of Miami. He then earned his MD at the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio before heading to New Orleans to complete his pulmonary and critical care fellowship at Tulane University.
Since that time, he served as the medical director of the ICU at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas for 17 years, as well as maintaining privileges as several large medical institutions in Houston. Prior to joining our team, he was an associate physician at Texas Chest and Sleep Disorders.
In his spare time, Dr. Dean enjoys hiking, spending time with family and traveling the world. Dr. Dean is married to Dr. Alana Kennedy-Nasser and they have four children.
Claudia Rivera, BA
Director of Finance
Claudia hails from Bogotá, Colombia and has called Houston home since 2004. She earned her BA in Economics, Globalization and Entrepreneurship from the University of Houston. She handles all financial matters of the practice, as well as works with new families that are joining the practice. In her spare time, she loves to travel abroad and exercise.
Destiny Jordan, CMA
Certified Medical Assistant
Destiny is a Houston native. After high school graduation, she attended Everest Institute, where she became a Certified Medical Assistant. Destiny is the mother of a beautiful daughter, Ariya, and has a fun-loving fur baby. She happily resides in Houston with her significant other, Andrew.
In her spare time, she spends a majority of it with her family, especially in the great outdoors. She also enjoys cooking, reading, watching movies, listening to music, and various other family-oriented events.
Samantha Rivera, CMA
Certified Medical Assistant
Samantha is a Houston, Texas native. After high school graduation she attended Bradford School where she became a Certified Medical Assistant. Samantha is the mother to three beautiful children: Ayleen, Nathan and Felix. She also has a fur baby named Benji.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time outside with her children. She also enjoys watching movies, listening to music, and attending various family-oriented events.
Leslie Reyes
Medical Assistant
Leslie is another Houston, Texas native. She graduated from Westbury High School in 2008. After, she went to the Texas School of Business where she graduated as a CMA in 2010.
She has 3 beautiful children that are her biggest joy. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and cooking. She is also a huge sports fan and supports all of our home teams: the Astros, Texans and Rockets!
Sophia Esper Ivo
Medical Assistant
Sophia is the smiling face who greets you when you come into the office and our new medical assistant. She was born and raised in Brazil and is fluent (of course) in Portuguese. She is a recent Texas A&M graduate with a B.S in Biology who plans to attend medical school.
She recently got married and now calls Houston her home. In her spare time, she loves to play tennis with her husband, run, cook delicious meals and take weekend trips with family. When you see her, give her a big smile and maybe a “WHOOP!”.
Find us in: