After more than 44 years of practicing medicine and caring for generations of local families, Dr. Andre Sanschagrin is preparing to retire. His departure marks an important milestone for the community—and an opportunity to celebrate the trust, compassion and personal relationships that have defined his remarkable career.
Dr. Sanschagrin began his education at McGill University in Montreal, studying in the Faculty of Sciences before entering its Faculty of Medicine. He earned his Doctor of Medicine in 1982 and went on to build a practice centered on thorough, whole-person care.
For Dr. Sanschagrin, every appointment has been an opportunity not only to address a patient’s immediate concern, but also to assess overall health, provide information and offer meaningful guidance.
His success is best measured by the long-term partnerships he formed with patients. Families describe a physician who was available, understanding and focused on finding solutions.
On one occasion, he waited after hours for a patient who became ill while traveling home from another state. Another family, cared for across multiple generations for more than a decade, remembers Dr. Sanschagrin personally calling a distressed relative from the hospital during a medical emergency to explain what was happening.
These moments reflect care that was never merely transactional; patients knew they had a trusted physician who genuinely understood them.
As Dr. Sanschagrin steps into retirement, the values at the heart of the practice will continue with Dr. Linden Burzell, a board-certified family medicine physician who brings broad experience, warmth and a deeply personal approach to healthcare.
Raised in Hawaii, Dr. Burzell credits his sociable, compassionate mother and his scientist father, who operated local farms, with shaping the way he relates to others and approaches problems.
His medical training took him from rural Caribbean communities to high-volume hospitals in East Brooklyn, including Methodist and Coney Island hospitals, and later to Florida, where he served large, underserved areas with extensive internal-medicine needs.
Dr. Burzell has treated patients at every stage of life—from a newborn just one second old to a 102-year-old patient. His guiding principle is simple: “Leave every person and situation better than I found them.”
He gives patients a clear, complete understanding of their health so they can make informed decisions consistent with the lives they want to lead. His approach emphasizes dignity, self-determination and thoughtful guidance coupled with compassion and expert insight.
Married and the father of a daughter, Dr. Burzell chose Encinitas as the place where his family could put down roots. He will begin welcoming patients on August 28, 2026, at 501 N. El Camino Real, Suite 100, Encinitas.
For longtime patients and new families alike, this transition represents reassuring continuity: the same commitment to personal, relationship-based medicine, carried forward by a new and trusted face.
Call 760-652-9819 to schedule a complementary meet & greet with Dr. Burzell and visit his web site at mdvip.com/drburzell.
