Lakeside Medical Center Family Medicine Resident
Art has been a lifelong source of peace and expression for Dr. Nyla Naeem, a Family Medicine resident at Lakeside Medical Center. Her artistic journey began in elementary school, when she won the grand prize in a coloring contest honoring environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Since then, painting, especially watercolor, has remained her creative outlet. Drawn to the medium’s ability to evoke emotion through subtle variations in water and pigment, Dr. Naeem creates images that feel both whimsical and deeply expressive.
“Though my time for art is limited during residency, I cherish the moments when creativity and medicine intersect,” she said. “These experiences remind me that healing and creativity are deeply connected.”
The works featured in Dr. Naeem’s gallery are mixed media pieces inspired by the human body. Her connection between art and medicine began in high school, when a personal illness and an advanced art class project, requiring a dozen themed pieces, sparked her fascination with anatomy and physiology. As she explored how the body’s parts worked together to form a whole, she found herself captivated by the intricate beauty of human function. That early curiosity evolved into a lifelong passion for health and healing, eventually leading her to medical school.
"During my intern year, I faced a personal health challenge that reaffirmed my calling to medicine,” she reflected. “It reminded me that providers are among the most creative thinkers. Like artists, we must see the whole picture to deliver compassionate, comprehensive care."
A proud native Floridian, Dr. Naeem was born in Plantation and raised in Coral Springs. Her journey has taken her across the state — from West Palm Beach for college to Tampa for medical school — and ultimately to the rural Glades, where she joined the Health Care District of Palm Beach County in June 2023 as a first-year resident in the Lakeside Medical Center Family Medicine Residency program. Now in her final year of the three-year program, she provides compassionate care to patients at both the hospital and the adjoining Community Health Center, Belle Glade and will graduate as part of the program’s 14th residency class in June 2026.
Outside medicine and art, Dr. Naeem enjoys long nature walks and competitive e-sports. She lives by the mantra, “Eat the food, speak the language — and the world will be a better place,” a reflection of her belief in the power of culture, connection, and creativity.