The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital has announced the addition to its staff of two new primary care physicians, Dr. Zachary L. Gitlin, and Dr. Ruppert A. Hawes.

The doctors’ hiring opens the door to hundreds of new patients, according to the hospital announcement, which goes on to detail the physicians’ qualifications.

Dr. Gitlin is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Internal Medicine, according to the announcement. He most recently worked as an attending physician at Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, N.M., where he also served as the director of their pediatric rural health program, adult pulmonology clinic and adult nephrology clinic and chaired their chronic pain management committee.

At the same time, according to the announcement, he worked for Physicians for Human Rights as a forensic medical evaluator, conducting medical and psychological evaluations for refugees seeking U.S. asylum.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Washington University, Dr. Gitlin attended Harvard for his postbaccalaureate and earned his doctorate from Columbia. He then completed a residency in combined internal medicine and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University with a focus on underserved community health, according to the announcement.

Dr. Hawes previously worked as a primary care physician at Rutgers University and as a clinical assistant professor of family medicine and community health at The Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

He also served as the director of utilization management and was the site medical director at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, University Behavioral Healthcare and University Correctional Health Care in Trenton, New Jersey, according to the announcement.

Dr. Hawes received his bachelor’s degree from Denison University and his doctorate from Ohio State University, then completed his residency at Richland Memorial Hospital and a fellowship in academics and obstetrics at Highland Hospital, the University of Rochester in New York.

He is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and is an active member of the National Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Medicine, the announcement said.