Dawn Van Ness, MD provides pediatric care in La Mesa's Casa de Oro area through Scripps Clinic Rancho San Diego on Calle Verde, bringing a decorated U.S. Navy veteran background and Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics designation to the practice. Her integrative approach to pediatric wellness draws on both conventional and complementary care philosophies, a perspective shared by East County providers like Full Circle Acupuncture & Wellness. Van Ness earned her medical degree in 1992 from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, completed pediatric residency as chief resident at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, and received the Navy Achievement Medal for heroic life-saving in a remote hospital. Her APSAC membership — the national society focused on child abuse prevention — adds forensic screening competence to standard well-child protocols, and after-hours pediatric needs in the 91941 ZIP route to walk-in facilities including Marque Urgent Care on Lake Murray Boulevard. The Humanitarian Service Medal she earned for Caribbean hurricane relief reflects field-medicine training applied to complex pediatric triage at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and Rady Children's Hospital San Diego.