Faculty
Manuel Puente, MD
Program Director
Dr. Puente is an award-winning educator who is passionate about resident and medical student education. He has a solid understanding of undergraduate medical education in his experience serving as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at the St. Luke’s Temple School of Medicine, where he spent most of his time educating and supporting medical students. He has held appointments as Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Doctoring Director, and Clerkship Site Director teaching and mentoring medical students throughout the entire curriculum.
Dr. Puente grew up in south Florida and attended Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) in his country of origin, the Dominican Republic. He’s board-certified in family medicine and served as core clinical faculty, Associate Program Director, and Chair of the Clinical Competency Committee for the St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Family Medicine Residency in Allentown, Pennsylvania prior to joining the BayCare team. Dr. Puente completed his residency in family medicine at St. Luke’s University Health Network serving as Chief Resident.
As a former high school athlete, Dr. Puente is passionate about sports and served as the team physician for the Allentown School District where he focused on preparticipation physicals and sideline coverage of the Dieruff and Allen High School football teams. He is a fierce advocate for providing high quality care to marginalized populations and is the recipient of the Health Equity Leadership and Social Justice Award from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine for his work within the Allentown School District. In his free time Dr. Puente enjoys spending time with his family and exercising through yoga, weightlifting and calisthenics.
Gaelle Laurore-Fray, DO
Associate Program Director
Dr. Gaelle Laurore-Fray is a board-certified family medicine physician and a diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine with a fervent passion for community health and medical education. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Dr. Laurore-Fray spent the first decade of her life in her native country, Haiti. Due to the political unrest, she and her family moved to Miami, FL where she completed her middle school and high school education. She went on to pursue her bachelor’s degree at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, where she majored in Psychology with a focus on neuroscience. She obtained her medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medine (LECOM) in Bradenton, FL in 2011 and completed her residency at Broward Health in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in 2014.
Immediately following residency, Dr. Laurore-Fray joined Tampa Family Health Centers (TFHC), the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in FL, where she currently holds many roles such as the clinical rotation coordinator for medical students, the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Director, and most recently the Associate Program Director (APD) for the newly accredited family medicine residency program. As a board-certified Obesity Medicine specialist, Dr. Laurore-Fray also spearheaded the newly established weight loss clinic at TFHC.
In her spare time, Dr. Laurore-Fray enjoys spending time at home with her husband and two children. She has a keen eye for interior design and enjoys doing DIY projects at home.