Our Team
North Florida Kidney Care's Doctors are highly-trained, experienced and dedicated to your well being
Melvin Seek, M.D.
Dr. Seek earned his medical degree and performed his residency within the University of North Carolina Department of Medicine at Chapel Hill.
By 1986 he had earned board certifications in both Internal Medicine and Nephrology while practicing at the North Carolina Memorial Hospital.
He joined the Ocala Critical Care and Kidney Group, and has been in private practice in our community since 1987. The National Kidney Association of Florida honored Dr. Seek in 2000 with the Exemplary Practice Award.
He currently serves as the Medical Director for the DaVita Home Division Dialysis Center (Peritoneal Dialysis and Home Hemodialysis programs) here in Ocala, and as a Group Medical Director for DaVita in the Southeast.
Dr. Seek’s work in the community is wide ranging – he has held leadership positions with Munroe Regional Medical Center, the Central Florida YMCA, and other groups, as well as being a visionary for better utilization of communications and technology to improve medical care in Ocala.
He and his wife rode in the 2013 “Tour DaVita” bicycling event in South Carolina.
Don Henry Esprit, M.D. FASN
Dr. Don Esprit is an Associate Nephrologists at North Florida Kidney Care located in Gainesville, FL. He was born and raised in the Island of Dominica before becoming a US citizen.
He received his medical degree from the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences, Villa Clara, Cuba in 2003 and then returned to his home land where he did an internship at the Princess Margaret Hospital and later worked as a primary care physician in the Castle Bruce Health district of Dominica. In 2012 he completed his Internal Medicine residency at the North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Massachusetts. He then moved to Gainesville, Florida where he completed his nephrology fellowship in June 2017 from University of Florida Shands hospital.
Dr. Esprit is an expert in the management of hypertension, chronic and acute kidney disease, end stage renal disease, all modalities of dialysis, and renal transplantation. He has a special interest in sickle cell nephropathy and an advocate for peritoneal dialysis.
He is currently a member of the American Society of Nephrology.
Dr. Esprit strives to be professional, thorough and compassionate in all his relationships and in all of his work.
Timothy Rogers, M.D.
Dr. Rogers’ academic career included medical school at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA, and a Nephrology fellowship at the University of Miami.
He joined the Ocala Kidney Group in 2003, and in 2007 he was able to become the first partner in the group to train as an Interventional Nephrologist to perform interventional procedures on patient dialysis vascular accesses.
He has been entirely focused on this work since 2008, and performs dialysis access procedures at the Ocala Kidney Group/Dialyisis Access Center in Leesburg, Florida.
Dr. Rogers is nationally recognized as one of the most prolific and successful Nephrologists performing these specialty services in the country. He is Board Certified in Nephrology.
Dr. Rogers, his wife and two children have lived in Ocala since 2003. His extracurricular activities include running and weight training.
Harold Locay, M.D.
Dr. Locay was the first of our physicians to come out of a Nephrology Fellowship at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
He is a leader in the local medical community, and has at various times served as Chief of Staff, Chief of Medicine and in other roles at Munroe Regional Medical Center. In addition, he was instrumental in forming Ocala Kidney Group’s research arm, Discovery Medical Research.
Dr. Locay is Board Certified in Nephrology and Internal Medicine, and serves as the Medical Director for the DaVita Ocala East Hemodialysis Unit.
Dr. Locay’s wife and family are all very active in the community, and have with their church done a number of mission trips to Central America
over the years.
Rebecca Ong, M.D.
Dr. Rebecca Paras Ong studied medicine at University of Santo Tomas after graduating with honors in BS Biology at De La Salle University in the Philippines.
She then proceeded to do her Internal Medicine Residency at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, where she was awarded Best Resident of the year.
She completed her Nephrology Fellowship training at University of South Florida in Tampa, Fl and has lived in Ocala since 2015. Dr. Ong is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology.
Dr. Ong’s clinical interests include evaluating patients with chronic kidney disease, managing hypertension and glomerular diseases.
She remains competitive in her field by staying up to date with the latest researches or clinical trials in Nephrology presented in annual conferences.
Besides being a Nephrologist, she holds a 4th degree blackbelt in taekwondo, and participates in regional and national taekwondo tournaments with husband and son, who are also both blackbelt's in taekwondo.
Nicoleta Radoianu, M.D.
Dr. Nicoleta Radoianu is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. She studied medicine at Carol Davila University in Bucharest, Romania where she received merit-based scholarship.
She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, PA, and the Nephrology Fellowship training at University of South Florida in Tampa, FL.
She has published articles in various fields of medicine and presented at many medical conferences.
Dr. Nicoleta is fluent in Spanish and English, and lives in Ocala with her husband and their two young children.
Ronald Wendt APRN,
FNP-BC
Ron Wendt, APRN, FNP-BC, is a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner. He earned his Associate Degree in Nursing in 2009, from the College of Central Florida in Ocala, FL. He went on to obtain his Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree in 2013, from the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. In 2017 he competed his Master of Science in Nursing from South University of Savannah, GA.
He has spent nearly a decade treating kidney patients in the Florida community. Ron works closely with patients to provide information and education about diabetes control, medication usage, hypertension and all dialysis modalities. In 2016, he received DaVita's "Shinning Star" award for the exceptional care he provides to patients.
Ron believes in taking care of the individuals' whole body, mind and soul to help achive their optimal health.
When he is not working, Ron enjoys playing the guitar, drawing, painting and traveling.
Tara Gettings, APRN
Tara Gettins is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) and earned her Master's of Science in Nursing Degree from Duquesnse University in 2020. Prior to that she has over 11 years of nursing experience, the majority of those years in critical care.
During that time she worked closely with Dr. Seek and a other Nephrologists with North Florida Kidney Care establishing a professional relationship.
Tara works in collaboration with Dr. Seek seeing patients in our Palatka office and surrounding hospitals as well as local dialysis units.
She is a member of American Association of Nurse Practitioners and Board Certified.
She is compassionate and committed to quality patient care. "I believe communication is the key to providing exceptional patient care."
Tara enjoys spending time with her family, exercising, going to the beach, and traveling.
Brooke Yanko, APRN
Brooke Yanko is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) who earned her Master’s degree in Nursing (MSN) for Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) in 2023, graduating with highest honors from South University.
Her prior nursing career includes over eight years experience in the areas of dialysis, interventional nephrology, and surgical/orthopedics. She also has over 20 years experience in Radiology as an MRI Technologist and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Central Florida.
She is Board Certified through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and is a member of the American Nurses Association and Florida Nurses Association.
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