Pura Vida Med Spa - About Us
Pura Vida Med Spa specializes in advanced aesthetic and anti-aging procedures provided by a professional staff. Pura Vida's founders Dr's Gwendolyn Yates and Leslie Apgar are the supervising onsite physicians at Pura Vida Med Spa.
“Pura Vida" is a Costa Rican term meaning, “The Good Life" and the good life is what Drs. Yates and Apgar want to create in their med spa. Attention to detail, the finest aesthetic technologies all in a sumptuous, inviting atmosphere are the ways in which they want to bring the good life to you. We welcome you to experience Pura Vida yourself.
Dr. Gwendolyn M Yates, M.D.
Inspired by a personal commitment to optimum health, wellness, and enjoyment of life, Dr. Gwendolyn Yates is passionate about Pura Vida's mission: to bridge the continuum of health care from internal health to external beauty. Over the years, Dr. Yates has been privleged to see women thru many stages in their life: the teen years, childbirth, and menopause. Each of these times carries it's own influences on her appearance. These concerns arose daily and patients actively voiced their desire to optimize their appearance. It is an integral part of her patient care to advise them on skin care, treatment for acne, stretch marks, anti-aging, management of surgical scars, leg veins and much more…This is what lead her to conceptualize what is now Pura Vida Medspa.
Dr. Yates is a Board Certified physician who has been practicing in Columbia, Maryland for 7 years and in the Washington, DC metropolitan area for over 10 yrs. She and her partner, Dr. Leslie Apgar have been practicing together in Columbia since 2001. Dr. Yates is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her residency training was done at George Washington. While in private practice, she has been the recipient of the award for service excellence from Howard County General Hospital and her current practice has been named Howard County's Best 2007. She is currently affiliated with St. Agnes health care and continues to deliver quality Ob/GYN services locally to the community. Her interests are minimally invasive Gynecologic procedures as well as a long standing desire to incorporate health, wellness and beauty into her delivery of care her patients. She is a member of The the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, A Fellow of American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is also a member of The International Spa Association (ISPA) and The MedSpa Society.
Dr. Leslie Apgar, M.D.
Leslie Apgar, M.D. is a board certified OB/Gyn in a large private practice in Columbia, MD. She has practiced for 8 years in the area and is held in high regard amongst her large patient base. Dr. Apgar's special interests include minimally invasive surgery and technology as well as health and wellness promotion. Her expansion into the health and beauty industry is a natural one as her patients have asked for years for the kinds of procedures now offered at Pura Vida. Given her strong desire to make a positive impact on her patients' lives, she decided to expand into the aesthetic business.
She did her residency training in OB/Gyn at Penn State University, where she also received her M.D. She was fortunate to gain significant surgical exposure, especially in minimally invasive techniques, and she continues to be on the forefront of new technologies. Like Dr. Yates, she practices at St. Agnes Hospital and her practice was voted Howard County's Best in 2007.
Her dedication to excellence carries over from the operating room into the aesthetic industry, where she brings her surgical and medical experience and energy to make a real difference to her patients.
She is a member of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, A Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a member of the International Spa Association (ISPA) and of the Medspa Society.
*Pura Vida Med Spa Founder photographs by Kimberly Fine Portraits, Kimberly@kimberlyportraits.com
