Dr. Tamargo received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County cum laude. She attended Loyola College in Maryland and the University of Hartford and received a Master of Arts in Child Psychology and Doctor of Psychology Degree cum laude from both institutions. Honors include Decorated Desert Storm-Era Veteran, Honor Graduate Naval Officer, US Naval Institute Award winner, and Truman Scholar. Dr. Tamargo completed her clinical internship/residency through the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, serving five years on active duty as a Naval Psychologist, earning the rank of LCDR. Leaving active duty to start her private practice in Manhattan Beach, California, she relocated to the East Coast in 2001. In 2013, Dr. Tamargo expanded her practice to Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, providing psychotherapy and assessments for children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. She specializes in trauma and is a consultant to the Naval Hospital Jacksonville.
Happily married, the proud parent of two daughters, she has enjoyed coaching both girls' field hockey and soccer in her community. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has upended her world since May 7, 2020. Dr. Tamargo was exposed by a patient who works as a Primary Care Physician before telehealth services were replaced with in-person visits.
To seek Post-COVID Care in NYC and participate in Long COVID clinical studies, Dr. Tamargo and her husband left Florida on October 28, 2020, after her fifth hospitalization found her still deteriorating. Following a weary journey with numerous hospitalizations, medical procedures, and being scrutinized by innumerable tests, Dr. Tamargo continues to battle chronic COVID symptoms, including Neurological, Cardiovascular, Respiratory, Musculoskeletal, Gastrointestinal, Autonomic, Dermatologic, and Mucus Membrane.
In June 2020, she fractured a rib coughing due to Pleurisy. She experienced sudden onset atrial fibrillation on August 4, 2020, lost 28 pounds and has undergone two implant surgeries for a paralyzed right vocal cord. She lives with a right lung nodule, kidney and liver lesions, kidney stones, and metaplasia in her lower stomach.
Dr. Tamargo has participated in at least a dozen Long COVID studies at MT Sinai Hospital, a few at Yale, and one at Massachusetts General Hospital. After a year of high-dose steroids treatment, she is severely immunocompromised.
"While death is a profoundly horrific outcome, Long COVID is horrid for those who are trying to survive. It brings tears of joy to my eyes when I see people socially distancing on the train and wearing their masks." — Dr. Robi Tamargo
