She/Her

Founder, Head of HōttoCare

Dr. Taylor has dedicated her career to caring for aging adults, beginning as a caregiver in a community group home and later as a primary care physician. Her first role was in her rural hometown delivering care across the full continuum—hospital, rehab/post-acute care, home visits, nursing homes, free clinics, Medicaid clinics, and her office. This hands-on experience, typical of small-town doctors serving predominantly aging adults, gave her a deep understanding of the broken model of care.

Seeking to tackle system improvements, Dr. Taylor returned to academics at Stanford for executive training in healthcare management and technology. From there, she led a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, engineers, and designers at Sutter Health, a large healthcare system, innovation center, and health plan to develop a modern, virtual, team-based primary care model called Tera that exceeded quality benchmarks and patient experience metrics. While originally designed for younger, healthier patients, the model became a lifeline for family caregivers of aging adults losing independence.

The team leaned into diagnosing dementia in existing primary care practices, providing flexible communication with family caregivers, and removing high risk medications.

Recognizing the need for a more comprehensive approach, Dr. Taylor founded HōttoCare, a wrap-around clinical and social support model for individuals with dementia and their family caregivers.

Dr. Taylor loves being outdoors and exploring new foods with her family which includes 2 teenagers and an unforgettable wiener dog.

Medical Training: UPenn, Stanford

Practice Experience: 19 years

Board Certification: Internal Medicine, Clinical Informatics

Dementia CME: Harvard, UCLA/Alzheimers Association

She/Her

Physician

Sharon Tapper is a physician with a passion for helping seriously ill people, their families, and caregivers. She is dedicated to improving the quality of life of those in her care. After losing family members to cancer and surviving cancer herself, Dr. Tapper switched her focus from Primary Care to Palliative Care and Hospice.

Dr. Tapper created a Bay Area home-based Palliative Care program designed to meet the needs of seriously ill people wherever they reside. She understands the critical role caregivers play in supporting those with dementia and the needs of people with memory loss.

In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Tapper was chosen as a Medicare Innovation Advisor.

She is also an American Red Cross Hero.

Dr. Tapper enjoys nature, reading, gardening and traveling. Her greatest joy is seeing her children and grandchildren some of whom live in Norway and the Netherlands.

Medical Training: University of Maryland, UC Davis

Practice Experience: 35 years

Board Certification and Fellowship Status: Internal Medicine, Palliative and Hospice Medicine

He/Him

Physician

As a physician with extensive experience in asynchronous care, Dr. Huang brings a unique perspective when it comes to aging populations and patients with dementia. From his experiences in remotely managing adult patient panels, and seeing the types of follow-up that are required for different kinds of patients, he has seen first-hand that traditional office-based visits are inadequate to meet the multiple and complex needs that arise in elder and dementia care. He believes that more and more, technology can help to patch some of these deficiencies as it continues to evolve, with oversight from multidisciplinary teams such as we have at HottoCare.

Dr. Huang is California-licensed, board certified Family Medicine physician with over ten years of practice experience in the San Francisco Bay Area. A California native and an undergraduate of University of California Berkeley, he obtained his medical doctorate at the University of Toledo, OH, and did his Family Medicine residency training at University of South Florida in Clearwater, FL. The latter being an area of high median age, Dr. Huang was exposed early on in his training to the unique trials and tribulations when it comes to elder and dementia care. He returned to the Bay Area and practiced five years of clinical medicine, focusing on adult primary care, before shifting his focus to asynchronous care.

In previous lives, Dr. Huang was an aspiring journalist and an aspiring academic biologist. Now he is happily married with one child on the way. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, gaming, sports/sports journalism, and anime.

Medical Training: University of Toledo (OH), University of South Florida

Practice Experience: 10 years

Board Certification: Family Medicine

Dementia CME: Harvard

He/Him

Physician Assistant

Gunnar enjoys working within the Hōtto team to help patients and family caregivers navigate through challenging moments of their lives. He understands each patient is unique, so it is important to him that patients know their personal story is heard. From there, patients and providers can work together to implement a plan that both satisfies their personal desires, as well as meets their medical needs. This is especially beneficial for our dementia community.

He has significant experience caring for persons living with dementia. For the past several years, he has worked as a physician assistant in the emergency department. During this time, he has personally witnessed the complexities associated with dementia care. Not only is the patient's health an utmost priority, but you must also factor in their overall wellbeing, the caregiver and family wellbeing, and the resources available. Even relatively minor issues can become much more complicated. Successful dementia care certainly benefits from a team approach that takes into account all of the little things. Prior to his PA career, he worked on an ambulance within the EMS system. He has seen first hand the challenges and nuances that dementia care can bring for patients, caregivers, and family members, alike. It is because of this firsthand experience that he is so encouraged about the wrap-around services provided by HōttoCare!

In his free time, he enjoys hiking, surfing, and spending time with family and friends. He is from the Bay Area and completed his PA training in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a big Bay Area sports fan!

Medical Training: South College (Atlanta GA)

Practice Experience: 2 years

Board Certification: CA Physician Assistant Board Licensed

Dementia CME: Harvard

She/Her

Social Worker

Ann is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 35 years of experience working with older adults and their families. She facilitates several support groups for caregivers coping with the challenges of dementia, Parkinson's Disease and grief.  Ann develops training for volunteers and caregivers and education for older adults in the community.

Ann was the Director of the Adult Day Health Center at the San Francisco Institute on Aging for 10 years and she later developed and  implemented Memory Assessment Clinics at Kaiser Permanente. Ann enjoys working with the diverse population of older adults in the bay area and learning how culture informs our caregiving.

Ann received  her Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her master's degree from the University of Chicago.

Ann is proud to be a San Franciso native, enjoys the parks, museums and theater in The City. She loves to travel, read and her new interest is watercolor painting. She admits that she has much more enthusiasm than talent!

She/Her

Care Navigator Lead

Allow us to introduce Joanna, the team's healthcare enthusiast! Armed with a recent biology degree, she's been hard at work in the medical field and supporting Hōtto. But wait, there's more to this story. Joanna's superhero alter ego is the dementia care guru, navigating the twists and turns of previously caregiving for her grandmother with grace and empathy.

Joanna's experiences have given her a unique perspective on the challenges faced by caregivers and knows the world could use a simpler way to coordinate resources. When she's not wearing her medical and caregiving hats, she enjoys some downtime. You'll often find her lost in a good book, crafting with knitting needles, or exploring the world one destination at a time. In short, she's the well-rounded gem of our team!

She/Her

Care Assistant

Claris has a background in patient-centered care, with experience advocating for patients through roles at Stanford University and various community health clinics. She studied Public Health and Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley and has always felt strongly about helping people access the care and resources they deserve. Claris comes from a Spanish-speaking household and has worked closely with bilingual patients, so she understands how important it is to feel heard, respected, and supported—especially when navigating complex healthcare systems.

Caregiving is also deeply personal to her. When her father had a stroke last year, she became one of his primary caregivers during his long recovery. Claris experienced firsthand how overwhelming and emotional the process can be—from coordinating appointments to managing at-home care. That journey gave her a deep appreciation for the work caregivers do and the compassion it requires every day.

Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, being near the water, and exploring new trails. She’s truly honored to be part of your caregiving journey and looks forward to supporting you with empathy, understanding, and care.

He/Him

Care Assistant

Ben Perez is a valuable member of the HōttoCare team, working as a dementia Care Assistant expert. What makes Ben particularly insightful in his role is his personal experience as a dementia caregiver for his father. This firsthand understanding of the challenges caregivers face is incredibly beneficial to our work.

Adding to his expertise, Ben also has experience as a medical interpreter in Spanish and English. This unique background gives him a deep awareness of the specific difficulties encountered by caregivers who are supporting patients with dementia, who may also have limited English language skills.

Outside of his professional life, Ben is actively involved in caring for his mother's healthcare appointments and needs. He also enjoys an active lifestyle, often hiking and biking with his wife and their dog, Cachito. Ben's blend of professional expertise and personal experience makes him a great asset to our team, and we're fortunate to have him.

She/Her

Care Assistant

Meet Amina, your Care Assistant! She possesses a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and has been working in the field of education for 8+ years.

She enjoys spending time with friends and her cat, finding new hikes (especially ones with a water feature), going kayaking, and cooking delicious meals.

Before joining HottoCare, she worked as a special education teacher at a school for students with autism. During that time, she witnessed how challenging it can be for families to access vital social, legal, and community resources. That experience sparked her commitment to supporting individuals and families navigating complex care systems.

She is excited to be a Care Assistant with HottoCare as part of Medicare’s GUIDE program, and work to take away the barriers that many families face.

Amina enjoys doing direct work with her community and is excited to get to know present and future patients!