Rebecca A. Nowacki, M.D.

Dr. Rebecca Nowacki was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. After receiving a master’s degree in biomedical science from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, she completed medical school at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies. An internal medicine residency at Memorial University Health Center in Savannah and an infectious disease fellowship at University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida followed.

“Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be involved in medicine in some way,” Dr. Nowacki says. “My mom is a physician, so I grew up around medicine. As a child, I would love to hear her stories about working in the emergency room. I thought it was very interesting and really great how you can use your intelligence to help people.”

Dr. Nowacki specializes in infectious diseases, and found herself drawn to it due to the fact it’s an ever-evolving field. “There are always going to be emerging and new infectious diseases out there,” she says. “And I like that it's kind of like a puzzle. You use somewhat innocuous clues to get you to a diagnosis. It's a little bit of detective work.”

Since the field of infectious diseases continues to change, Dr. Nowacki says she works hard to stay on top of her game. This includes devouring infectious disease medical journals. She strives to stay up to date on outbreaks and other infectious disease happenings all over the world.

“If COVID taught us anything, it's that an outbreak can start really quickly and can change the course of history,” she explains. “We are going to be the people on the front lines, so it’s important to be aware and prepared for anything that might arise.”

The most rewarding aspect of her job, she says, is the ability to cure or effectively manage an infectious disease. Unlike heart or kidney failure, she says many infectious diseases are curable.

“If I correctly diagnose an infection, the large majority of the time I can actually fix it and have it go away forever,” Dr. Nowacki says. “Eliminating something like that is incredibly satisfying.”

It was while working with a patient during her infectious disease fellowship that she first saw the impact her field can have on others. She met a young man who was newly diagnosed with HIV and terrified at his diagnosis. Dr. Nowacki was able to sit down and educate him on the manageability of the disease and dampen his fear. She had the opportunity to follow his two-year journey through the HIV clinic, from experiencing AIDS and not having much of an immune system to receiving the proper treatment and eventually having the chance to live a normal life.

That encounter and countless others helped build upon her dedication to infectious disease medicine, inspiring her to share it with the patients at SouthCoast Health. In fact, SouthCoast Health remains a special place to Dr. Nowacki as it’s also home to Dr. Nenad Avramovski, a fellow infectious disease doctor and her mentor.

“He was one of the driving factors that actually led me to focus on infectious disease,” she says. “I did my rotations in residency with him, and his outlook on infectious disease and his passion for it really showed me that this is a career I would be extremely interested in.”

At home, Dr. Nowacki enjoys time with her husband and their dog. Her hobbies include cooking, baking, and painting with acrylics.