Program Overview  

• Each MS3 paired with a Mentor Clinician for one 4-week block at Hillcrest OR the VA
• Mentor Clinician meets with you weekly to observe rounds (or another clinical experience, like admitting a patient) and provide formative feedback
• Mentor Clinician interactive teaching sessions two times each block at the VA and Hillcrest
  • Health Equity
  • Clinical Reasoning

Meet our Medicine Mentor Clinicians 

Joseph Abdelmalek, MD

Dr. Joseph Abdelmalek is an academic hospitalist and nephrologist at the San Diego VA Medical Center and an Associate Professor at UC San Diego.  He received his MD from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency as well as fellowship training in Nephrology at UC San Diego. Dr. Abdelmalek currently serves as co-director for Med 467 Acting Internship in Internal Medicine and is passionate about mentoring students who are considering a future in internal medicine.  Dr. Abdelmalek is a past recipient of the Med 401 excellence in teaching award. 

Unna Albers, MD 

Dr. Unna Albers is a primary care physician and Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. She received her MD from George Washington University School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine residency at UC San Diego. Dr. Albers currently serves as Resident Clinic Site Director for the UC San Diego Internal Medicine Residency Program at UPC Internal Medicine clinic. She completed the Health Profession mentor Program in 2019. She feels strongly about pursuing excellence in medical education of both medical students and residents as well as in Quality improvement and Medication reconciliation. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, cooking, listening to audiobooks and spending time with extended family including her fur babies. 

Arthi Balu, MD 

Dr. Arthi Balu received her MD at UC San Diego where she also completed her Internal Medicine Residency.  She is board certified in Internal Medicine and is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine (GIM).  She is involved in medical education; mentoring and precepting both clinical and pre-clinical medical students and supervising residents in the Internal Medicine residency program.  She is excited about the opportunity for increased 1:1 teaching and mentorship of medical students via the Mentor Clinician Program.

Clinically she provides comprehensive adult primary care and has particular interests in preventative health and Women's health.  In addition, Dr. Balu has been serving as the Co-Director for Wellness in GIM since 2019 and is excited to be expanding that role to serve the entire Department of Medicine and its nearly 600 faculty members.  She is passionate about rooting out the underlying causes of physician burnout and working for systemic change that will jointly support physician well-being and the efficacy and sustainability of health systems as a whole.   Along with her co-Director, Dr. Balu has presented workshops and posters related to Physician Wellness at the American Conference of Physician Health and the International Conference of Physician Health.

Outside of work, Dr. Balu is passionate about snowboarding, hiking and spending time outdoors with her family. 

Constance Chace, MD, MPH 

Dr. Constance Chace is an academic hospitalist in Internal Medicine at UC San Diego Medical Center and an attending in the Medical Behavioral Unit at Rady Children's Hospital where she treats adolescents and young adults suffering from severe malnutrition due to disordered eating. She received her MD from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and her MPH in Epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She completed her combined residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at UC San Diego and stayed on as a Chief Resident in Pediatrics. She currently serves as a co-director of the Resident as Clinician Educator (RACE) Track for the UC San Diego Internal Medicine Residency Program. She is passionate about mentoring young doctors, fostering a growth mindset in her learners, and promoting humility and honesty in medicine. When she is not in the hospital, Dr. Chace enjoys game nights with friends, a really good yoga class, experiencing new cultures and cuisines while traveling, and goofing around with her giggly son, Winston Bader (in honor of the notorious RBG). Dr. Chace has been recognized for her teaching, empathy and communication skills and is a past recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award. 

Anne Cowell, MD, MPH

Dr. Annie Cowell is an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego.  She received her MD from Tulane University and completed her Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital.  She completed fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at UC San Diego. Dr. Cowell currently serves as an Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, the director of the Global Health Pathway for the IM Residency, and the Vice Chief of Clinical Affairs for the Infectious Diseases Division.  She loves practicing inpatient and outpatient Infectious Diseases, especially when she gets to teach fellows, residents, and medical students.  She is thrilled to serve as a Mentor Clinician so she can spend more quality time with medical students.  Dr. Cowell is a past recipient of the Chief Resident Teaching Award (2019, 2023) and ID Fellow Teaching Award (2021, 2022).   Outside of work, she loves spending time with her family, running on trails, and cooking/eating (especially Thai food).

Tuan Dang, MD

Dr. Tuan Dang is an academic internist in Primary care at the San Diego VA and a Clinical Professor at UC San Diego.  He completed is MD degree from the University of Miami and completed his Internal Medicine Residency at UC San Diego.  Dr. Dang currently is the Chief of Health Informatics at the San Diego VA.  He previously was the Primary Care Section Chief at the Kearny Mesa Outpatient VA clinic.  He has been involved in medical education since joining the department in 2000.  He created and co-teaches the course Common Bedside Procedures that instructs 3rd year students during their Medicine clerkship on how to safely perform bedside procedures using advanced medical simulators.  His interests include concepts of usability and human factors in order to make the complex simpler and more intuitive.  Dr. Dang is a past winner of the Medicine 401 Excellence in Teaching award.   

Ali Farkhondehpour, MD 

Dr. Ali Farkhondehpour is an academic hospitalist and Associate Clinical Professor at UC San Diego.  He received his MD from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon and completed his Internal Medicine residency at UC San Diego where he was also a chief medical resident. Dr. Farkhondehpour currently serves as Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, and Co-Site Director for MED 401 Clerkship at Hillcrest. Dr. Farkhondehpour is also faculty for the MS1/MS2 ultrasound course (SOMT 203A/203B) at the School of Medicine. Dr. Farkhondehpour has a strong interest in medical education and developing clinical reasoning skills and ultrasound skills for students and residents. Outside of work he enjoys eating and working out!

Dirk Gaines,  MD 

Dr. Dirk "DJ" Gaines is an academic hospitalist at the VA and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. He received his MD from the University of Washington and completed his Internal Medicine residency at UC San Diego, where he was also a Chief Medical Resident. Dr. Gaines currently serves as Core Faculty for the UC San Diego Internal Medicine residency program and is currently the Director of Diversity for the program. His interests include clinical education, curriculum development surroundings topics in the DEI space, and the recruitment and retention of URiM. Outside of work, he is a husband and father to 1 son and 3 fur babies. He enjoys checking out the local restaurant scene, running, coffee, cooking, and tending to his garden. He is a member of The DEI Shift podcast, a podcast dedicated to discussing topics surround diversity, education, and inclusion in medicine. 

Barry Greenberg, MD, FHFSA

Dr. Barry Greenberg is a cardiologist and Distinguished Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego. He received his MD degree from the State University of New York (SUNY), Upstate Medical Center and did his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Yale New Haven Medical Center. Dr. Greenberg was a research associate at the NIH in the Lipid Metabolism Branch of the NHLBI and did his Cardiology Fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He currently serves as the Director, Advanced Heart Failure Treatment Program at UC San Diego where he cares for patients with heart failure at all stages. His research is focused on unraveling mechanisms and finding treatments for cardiac fibrosis and assessing novel heart failure therapies. His interest in serving in the Mentor Clinician Program is a natural outgrowth of a lifelong commitment to mentorship, medical education and bedside teaching. In addition to his career, Dr. Greenberg’s passions include biking and swimming, travel and reading. He enjoys listening to virtually all kinds of music and is an aspiring pizziola.

Deanna Hill, MD 

Dr. Deanna Hill is a primary care physician and Associate Clinical Professor at UC San Diego.  She received her MD from University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine residency at UC Los Angeles where she also served a year as Chief Resident. Dr. Hill currently serves as Resident Clinic Site Director for the UC San Diego Internal Medicine Residency Program and as the Chair of the Division of General Internal Medicine’s Academic Executive Committee on Education.   Her clinical interests include chronic pain management, with a growing interest in opioid use disorder.  Dr Hill is a past recipient of the Internal Medicine Graduating Housestaff Outpatient Teaching Awards in 2017 and 2019.  Outside of work, she enjoys trail running, outdoor adventures, and spending time with her growing family.

Sean Kenmore, MD, MS 

Dr. Sean Kenmore is an academic hospitalist at the VA San Diego and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. He received his MD from Creighton University and completed his Internal Medicine residency at UC San Diego, where he also served as a Chief Medical Resident. Dr. Kenmore currently serves as an Associate Program Director for the UC San Diego Internal Medicine Residency Program. He is also a co-director for the Resident as Clinician Educator (RACE) Track and for the LGBTQIA+ Healthcare Elective. His interests include clinical education, curriculum development, advocacy, and diversity, equity, and inclusivity, especially related to sexual and gender minority health and wellness.  He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honors medical society, is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians, and has been a recipient of a Chief Medical Resident Teaching Award and the Academy of Clinician Scholars Whitehall Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, coffee, and martial arts; he's also on a multi-year Duolingo hot streak in Mandarin Chinese.

Brian Kwan, MD

Dr. Brian Kwan is an academic hospitalist at the VA San Diego and Professor at UC San Diego.  He received his MD from Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency at UC San Diego.  Dr. Kwan serves as the co-director of the Internal Medicine Clerkship at UC San Diego and was elected to the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) national council in 2021.  He is passionate about enhancing medical education through the implementation of innovative curricula, and his research focuses on the transition between undergraduate to graduate medical education.  Outside of work, Dr. Kwan enjoys outdoor hikes with his partner, coaching physicians on investing in real estate, and struggling to learn hip-hop choreography.  Dr. Kwan has been recognized for his teaching excellence, receiving the Med 401 excellence in teaching award in 2012 and the IM Residency House Staff Teaching Awards in 2018 and 2019.

Erica Lin, MD

Dr. Erica Lin is an academic Pulmonary/Critical Care physician and Assistant Professor at UC San Diego.  She received her MD from University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  She completed fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UC San Diego. Dr. Lin currently serves as the Associate Chief of Staff for Education (Designated Education Officer) at VA San Diego and serves as the Co-Director for the Foundations of Medicine (FOM) course for the medical and pharmacy students as well as the Co-Director for the Faculty and Fellows as Clinician Educator (FACE) course. Her academic interest is medical education research with a focus on curriculum development and the use of technology in medical education. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and playing board games. Dr. Lin is a past recipient of the Internal Medicine Fellow’s Teaching Award in 2020.

Tony P. Lopez, MD 

Dr. Tony P. Lopez is an academic general internist at La Jolla Internal Medicine and Clinical Professor at UC San Diego.  He received his MD from UC Los Angeles School of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency and General Internal Medicine fellowship training at Harbor-UC Los Angeles Medical Center. Dr. Lopez currently serves as an LMSA faculty advisor, PBL facilitator, and has spent many years on medical school admissions. He is passionate about all aspects of medical education, mentoring, and teaching, including problem-based learning and clinical reasoning. Outside of work, Dr. Lopez enjoys hiking, camping, and biking with the family, and is an avid fan of local collegiate sports including football, basketball, and soccer. Dr. Lopez has been recognized for the San Diego Top Doctor’s Award over ten times. He also received Med 401 Excellence in Teaching awards, Department of Medicine’s Graduating House Staff Teaching and Distinguished Service awards, and the UC San Diego Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Program Distinguished Teaching and Mentorship award.

David Malinak, MD 

Dr. David Malinak is an academic hospitalist at the VA San Diego and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. He received his MD from the UC San Diego School of Medicine. He subsequently stayed at UC San Diego to complete his internal medicine residency, receiving the Humanism in Medicine award. Dr. Malinak currently does research in food insecurity and conservatorship for adults with dementia. He founded the Food Rx Project to alleviate food insecurity at the UC San Diego Free Clinic, where he enjoys volunteering. Dr. Malinak is an enthusiastic, encouraging teacher who is passionate about creating a welcoming learning environment. Outside of medicine, he enjoys singing, playing guitar, gardening, and writing fiction novels. He is also prone to showing students endless pictures of his goofy goldendoodle puppy.  

W. Cameron McGuire, MD, MPH

Dr. W. Cameron McGuire is an academic pulmonary and critical care instructor at UC San Diego.  He received his MD and MPH in Epidemiology from Tulane University School of Medicine and Public Health. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Chief Residency at the University of Colorado. He completed fellowship training and a chief fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care at UC San Diego. Dr. McGuire currently serves as a clinical instructor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep Medicine, and Physiology at UC San Diego. He is passionate about medical education and believes empathy, the art of medicine, bedside rounding, communication, and clinical reasoning are important parts of medicine that need specific emphasis during early medical education. He feels strongly that the Mentor Clinician Program is the perfect opportunity for him to be involved in the formation of these skills among the bright, motivated, compassionate, and empathetic medical students at UC San Diego. Dr. McGuire loves to spend time outside the hospital exploring San Diego with his wife, Courtney, his son, Mac, and his wild and crazy dogs, Roger and Roland. Dr. McGuire is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society and recipient of the UC San Diego Internal Medicine Chief Medical Resident’s teaching award.

Scott Mullaney, MD

BIO COMING SOON 

Anna Quan, MD

Dr. Anna Quan is an academic internist in primary care at the San Diego VA and Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. She completed both her MD degree and Internal Medicine residency at UC San Francisco. Dr. Quan is currently co-director of the San Diego VA Musculoskeletal Clinics as well as Primary Care Section Chief and Director of the UC San Diego IM resident clinics at the VA Sorrento Valley clinic. She is also the co-creator of the SDMSKPROJECT YouTube channel with video content focusing on musculoskeletal exam and injection training. Teaching is one of her favorite job components, and she is frequently invited to teach as a musculoskeletal content expert at UC San Diego, as well as at national VA, SGIM, and ACP conferences.  Outside of work, Dr. Quan is an avid reader, cyclist, baker, and loose-leaf tea connoisseur. Dr. Quan is a past recipient of several teaching awards, including Outstanding Leadership in a Clinical Preceptorship from the UC San Francisco School of Medicine, UC San Diego Medicine 401 Excellence in Teaching awards, and a SGIM Outstanding Clinician-Educator award.

Dena Rifkin, MD 

Dr. Dena Rifkin is an academic nephrologist/internist and Professor of Clinical Medicine at UC San Diego.  She received her MD and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Yale followed by nephrology fellowship and clinical epidemiology training at Tufts. Dr. Rifkin teaches renal pathophysiology at the School of Medicine and serves as Associate Chief of Medicine at the VA. She studies kidney disease in older adults. 

She enjoys word games and time with her husband, three children, and two rescue pups. Despite a general lack of athletic talent, she has completed three half-marathons in the last year.

Dr. Rifkin is a past recipient of teaching awards at Harvard, Tufts, and UC San Diego.

John Rossettie, MD 

Dr. John Rossettie is an academic hospitalist at the VA San Diego and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego.  He received his MD from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA and completed Internal Medicine residency at UC San Diego where he also served as chief medical resident.  Dr. Rossettie is a site co-director for the third-year internal medicine clerkship at the VA (Med 401).  In addition to his passion for medical education and student development, he has an interest in point-of-care ultrasound and teaches the MS1 and MS2 ultrasound course (SOMT 203A/203B) at the school of medicine.  Outside of work, Dr. Rossettie enjoys hanging with his dogs, growing vegetables in his garden, and cooking for friends and family.   He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. 

Bernice Ruo, MD, MAS, FACP

Dr. Bernice Ruo is an academic general internist and Professor at UC San Diego. She received her MD from Yale University School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She then completed a General Internal Medicine fellowship along with getting a Masters in Advanced Studies in Clinical Research at UC San Francisco.  She currently serves as the Primary Care Core Clerkship co-director. She enjoys teaching in the longitudinal setting and mentoring students, residents and junior faculty. She is continually inspired by her students and residents to share her enthusiasm for primary care, evidence-based medicine, and scholarly activities. Outside of work, Dr. Ruo enjoys dancing (ballet), open-water swimming, hiking, baking, and eating ice cream. Dr. Ruo has been recognized for her teaching excellence at Harvard, Northwestern, and UC San Diego.

Meghan Sebasky, MD

Dr. Meghan Sebasky is an academic hospitalist and Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. She received her medical degree from Creighton University School of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency at the University of Minnesota where she was also a chief medical resident. Dr. Sebasky is currently the co-director of the Internal Medicine clerkship at UC San Diego School of Medicine as well as the chair of the UC San Diego Division of Hospital Medicine’s Medical Education and Mentorship Committee. Her areas of academic interest include feedback in the clinical setting, peer rounding, and empathy, particularly as it relates to students in the clinical years of medical school.

Outside of the hospital, Dr. Sebasky might be found running or perfecting the art of making an epic charcuterie board. Dr. Sebasky has been the recipient of multiple teaching awards including the Medicine 401 Excellence in Teaching award, the Internal Medicine Chiefs’ Teaching award, and the Internal Medicine Graduating Housestaff Teaching award.

Jia Shen, MD, MPH, FACC

Dr. Jia Shen is an academic cardiologist and Assistant Professor at UC San Diego.  She received her MD from Saint Louis University School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine residency and Cardiovascular Diseases fellowship at Emory University. Dr. Shen received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health and completed a research fellowship in preventive cardiology. Dr. Shen currently serves as a Clinical Director for the International Health Collective, a non-profit student lead organization that provides medical care and services to patients in the Tijuana-Baja Sur, Mexico region. She is passionate about global health and helping marginalized populations access affordable quality care. Her research interests are in preventive cardiology and digital health innovation. Outside of work, Dr. Shen enjoys travelling with her partner and two goldendoodles.

Emily Sladek, MD

Dr. EB Sladek is a Geriatrician and Associate Professor at UC San Diego. She received her MD from UC San Francisco and completed medicine residency, a chief year, and Geriatrics fellowship at UC San Diego. Dr. Sladek currently serves as Section Chief of Geriatrics at the San Diego VA and is one of the Associate Program Directors for the Internal Medicine Residency. She has been the repeated recipient of the Chief Resident Teaching Award and is ever on the hunt for innovative ways to share the boundless wonders of medicine with trainees. Outside of healthcare, she is grateful to share a Lego-and-laughter laden life with her delightful spouse and children.  

Robert Thomas, MD, PhD

Dr. Robert Thomas is an academic endocrinologist and clinical investigator at the University of California, San Diego. He received his MD/PhD and completed Internal Medicine Residency at UC San Diego. He spent a year as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine and then completed Endocrinology Fellowship at UC San Diego. Dr. Thomas currently serves as a clinical endocrinologist at the VA Medical Center and investigator in glucagon receptor antagonism at ACTRI. His commitment to medical education started at the UC San Diego Student Run Free Clinic and continued through his work as a RACE track coordinator during his chief year. Outside of work, he enjoys cycling, swimming, and gardening.   Dr. Thomas is a past recipient of the UC San Diego Leland S. Rickman Teaching Award and Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Resident Award. He is always happy for opportunities to discuss medicine, metabolism, and mitochondrial function. 

Jaclyn Vargas, MD

Dr. Jaclyn Vargas is a Medicine-Pediatrics trained Hospitalist. She works at the VA and as a general hospitalist and eating disorder hospitalist at Rady Children’s Hospital. She completed her medical degree at Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California and Medicine-Pediatrics residency training at LAC+USC Medical Center, where she stayed on as a Pediatric Chief resident. She is passionate about hospital medicine, adolescent medicine, medical education, and creating a safe learning and working environment for medical students and residents. She was awarded the 2022 401 Medicine Clerkship Teaching Award and the inaugural Medicine 401 Humanism in Medicine award.  In her free time, she likes to bake and take her kids to the beach, zoo and on hikes. 

Ida Wong-Sefidan, MD

Dr. Ida Wong-Sefidan practices in the division of Hematology and Oncology. She is an Associate Professor and Associate Program Director of the Hematology/Oncology fellowship program at UC San Diego.  She received her MD from Weill Cornell Medical College and completed her Internal Medicine residency, chief residency and fellowship at UC San Diego. Dr. Wong-Sefidan is actively involved in the education and mentorship of UC San Diego hematology/oncology fellows, as well as the education and curricula for UC San Diego internal medicine residents and medical students. She is a past recipient of teaching awards including the Internal Medicine Chief Resident Teaching Award and the Graduating Housestaff Teaching Award. She embraces any opportunity to be a strong, thoughtful female mentor for future physicians. She balances her love of medicine with her love for her family, including her two kids who make life exciting every day.

Alan You, MD

Dr. Alan You is an academic hospitalist/emergency medicine physician and Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego.  He received his MD from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and completed his combined Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine residency at Virginia Commonwealth University where he also served as Chief Resident.  Dr. You currently serves as core faculty for the Emergency Medicine residency program and as one of the clinical operations leaders for the Department of Emergency Medicine. His academic interests include medical informatics, graduate/undergraduate medical education, and clinical operations.  His interests outside of medicine include board games, swimming, and traveling.  Dr. You is a past recipient of Golden Apple Teaching award from the UC San Diego EM Residency program.

Sherry Zhang, MD 

Dr. Sherry Zhang is an academic hospitalist and an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. She received her MD from UC San Diego School of Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Harbor-UC Los Angeles Medical Center. She subsequently completed an Academic Hospital Medicine fellowship at UC San Diego. Dr. Zhang currently serves as the Internal Medicine Interest Group faculty advisor at the School of Medicine. Her academic interest is in medical education, and she is passionate about the growth and mentorship of internal medicine residents, medical students, and undergraduate students. Outside of work, Dr. Zhang enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, attempting home improvement projects, and eating (but not necessarily cooking) good cuisine.  

Medicine Mentor Clinicians Emeritus 

Laura Bamford, MDGary                         Buckholz, MD, HMDC, FAAHPM            Lawrence Ma, MD 

Rechell Rodriguez, MD, FACP                Alexandra Rose, MD                                 Rebecca Sell, MD

Bernie Sunwoo, MD, MBBS                     Supraja Thota, MD                                   Darcy Wooten, MD

Program Overview

The UC San Diego Neurology Mentor Clinician Program (MCP) is comprised of dedicated clinical educators within clinical Neurosciences. Each inpatient neurology team will be assigned one Mentor Clinician for 1-2 weeks. These Mentor Clinicians will observe medical students and provide formative feedback on their data gathering, physical examination, presentation, interpersonal, and clinical reasoning skills.  

In addition to attending morning rounds and providing individualized feedback, Mentor Clinicians will conduct both general and focused weekly teaching sessions with the medical students. The program is designed to provide medical students with one-on-one mentorship and an opportunity to learn about the “art of medicine” from an experienced clinical educator.  

Meet our Neurology Mentor Clinicians 

Reza Bavarsad Shahripour, MD, FAHA, RPNI

Reza Bavarsad Shahripour, MD, is a board-certified neurologist with specialty training in vascular neurology (stroke). He specializes in a variety of areas, including acute stroke, stroke prevention, cervical and intracranial vessel stenosis, vascular malformation, and cerebral vein disease.

Dr. Shahripour is also an ASN (American Society of Neuroimaging) board-certified neuro-sonologist, which means he performs ultrasounds on the brain and nervous system. He has extensive experience performing cerebrovascular ultrasound studies, including transcranial and carotid Doppler ultrasound, emboli detection, vasomotor reactivities and PFO detection.

He completed a neuro-sonology fellowship at the University of Alabama and stroke fellowship at UC San Diego School of Medicine. He did his residency at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and earned his medical degree from Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

Ron Ellis, MD, PhD

Dr. Ron Ellis is a recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. Devoted to his mentees, he strives to publish with each of his mentees.   

Andrew Hannawi, MD, MS

Dr Andrew Hannawi is a neurologist with an interest in neurodevelopmental disabilities. He has worked with trainees at all levels, and enjoys teaching medical students in particular. He is a recipient of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Resident Award in Neurology awarded by the advancing third year medical students in 2020.

Robert T. Hess, MD 

Dr. Robert “Bobby” Hess is a movement disorders specialist, focusing on care for patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and maximizing quality of life. He completed his neurology residency, chief residency, and fellowship training at UC San Diego. He finds great meaning in medical education and has recently been recognized with an award for Exemplary Professionalism in the Clinical Learning Environment. He is passionate about travel, cooking, hiking and spending time with his family.

Jamie LaBuzetta, MD, MSc, MPhil

Dr. Jamie LaBuzetta practices within the division of Neurocritical Care, and also holds administrative and education roles as a Neurocritical Care Fellowship Co-Director and Neurology Clerkship Associate Director. She has been the annual recipient of the peer selected “Most Compassionate Communicator” award within critical care for the past 3 years, and was the 2020 recipient of the Society for Critical Care Medicine’s Innovation in Education faculty award. 

Gabriel Léger, MD 

Dr. Gabriel Léger has been dedicated to medical education at all levels of training, including medical students, residents, fellows, and trainees or professionals in allied fields.  He was the director of the neurology residency program at l’université de Montréal and of the Behavioral Neurology, Neuropsychiatry fellowship program at the Cleveland Clinic.  He has given multiple CME lectures at local, state, and national conferences. 

Caitlin Mulligan, MD

Dr. Caity Mulligan is a junior clinical faculty member specializing in movement disorders.  On a daily basis, she cares for patients with neurodegenerative diseases and compassionate care is integral to her clinical practice.  She has completed a medical education certificate program at UC Los Angeles and she is excited at the opportunity to work with medical students at UC San Diego to improve their clinical skills and to pass on the importance of compassionate care in medicine.

Elizabeth Murphy Bevins, MD, PhD

Dr. Elizabeth Murphy Bevins completed a clinical fellowship in memory disorders as well as neurology residency at UC San Diego. She earned her PhD in neurosciences and medical degree at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. She is passionate about medical education and has been since she was a medical student at UC San Diego herself!  She loves world travel (and has visited over 120 countries), writing and spending time outside with her husband and daughter.

Victoria Wu, MD

BIO COMING SOON

Michael Zimbric, MD

Dr. Michael Zimbric completed his pediatrics and neurology training at UC San Diego, and has been part of the UC San Diego Neurosciences faculty since 2010.   His clinical focus is in general pediatric neurology, and he spends countless hours teaching in pre-clinical years and clinical years and at all levels of medical education.  He is the clinical director for the Rady division of pediatric neurology, and is also involved in international neurology, especially in Haiti.   

Neurology Mentor Clinicians Emeritus 

Sean Evans, MD                                       Dominic Ferrey, MD 

Program Overview

The UC San Diego OBGYN Mentor Clinician Program (MCP) allows for protected teaching time for selected top educator attending physicians to work with students during this six week block. This is a new and innovative approach to improve medical education for trainees during their clinical years. The Mentor Clinician Clinician group is comprised of some of the most experienced clinical educators in the UC San Diego Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences.

Small groups of 2-3 students are assigned a Mentor Clinician who works with their group on the Labor and Delivery triage unit at JMC, and attends outpatient clinic at the Medical Office’s South building women’s health clinic. The Mentor Clinician observes medical students and provides formative feedback on their data gathering, physical examination, presentation, interpersonal, and clinical reasoning skills. Of note, there is no evaluation component to the MCP. The program was designed exclusively to help medical students further their development as a physician. Thus, students should feel comfortable asking questions so that they may improve their clinical skills in this completely safe learning environment.

In addition to rounds and individualized feedback, Mentor Clinicians conduct weekly skills sessions with the medical students, focused on communication, compassion and empathy. The program is also designed to provide medical students with one-on-one mentorship and learn about the “art of medicine” from an experienced clinical educator.

Meet our OBGYN Mentor Clinicians 

Jorge Alvarado, MD, FACOG

Jorge L. Alvarado, MD, is an obstetrician/gynecologist who provides minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, with an interest in dysplasia of the cervix, vagina, and vulva. He also provides family planning services, contraception counseling and abortion care. He is passionate about care for underserved populations and is an LGBTQ-friendly physician. Dr. Alvarado completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at UC San Francisco and earned his medical degree at UT Southwestern Medical School. He won the James R. Green MD Memorial Award at UC San Francisco for excellence in the care of underserved women. He speaks fluent Spanish.

Laura Biver, MD

Dr Laura Biver is an assistant clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC San Diego. She attended the George Washington University for both medical school and residency.  She has always had a passion for teaching and was awarded the Department of OB/GYN Resident Teaching Award during her training. Her practice focuses on providing comprehensive and empathic care to her patients, which she is excited share with the mentees of the Mentor Clinician Program.

Lindsey Burnette, MD, PhD

Dr. Burnett brings over 20 years of teaching experience to the Mentor Clinician Program, having worked with undergraduate, graduate, and medical students throughout her career. Her dedication to education has earned her numerous accolades, including recognition on the University of Illinois College of Medicine's List of Teachers Ranked as “Excellent” by students for multiple years. She was also awarded the UIC Urban Health Program Outstanding Peer Mentor/Educator Award for her commitment to fostering inclusive and impactful learning environments. Dr. Burnett has held key educational roles, including serving as the Education Chief for the Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program during her residency. Currently, she is the Co-Director of the Urogynecology Fellowship Program Simulation Training, where she leads curriculum development and mentorship initiatives. Her teaching philosophy prioritizes interactive learning, clinical excellence, and personalized mentorship to inspire and empower the next generation of scientists and physicians.

Julia Cormano, MD, FACOG

Julia Cormano, MD is the Clerkship Director for the UC San Diego OBGYN 3rd year medical student core clerkship and is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC San Diego Health. She is honored to serve as the Associate Director for the Mentor Clinician Program in OB/GYN. She also leads the 4th year medical student advising for students looking to match into OB/GYN. Her teaching awards include the CREOG Faculty Education Excellence in Resident Education Award at Mercy Hospital in Chicago (2015), the APGO Excellence in Teaching Award at Rush University Medical Center (2016), the UC San Diego Academy of Clinician Scholars Whitehill Prize for Excellence at UC San Diego (2017), the Society for Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology (SASGOG) Faculty Award (2020), the UC San Diego School of Medicine MS3 Kaiser Excellence in Teaching Award (2022), and the APGO Humanism in Teaching Award (2022).

Pamela Deak, MD

Pamela Deak, MD, is a professor in the department of OB/GYN who places great emphasis on establishing strong physician-patient relationships and believes that they are based on communication. She aims for each of her patients to feel not only well cared for, but well understood. Dr. Deak also feels that caring for and educating women through their unique transformations from childhood through maturity brings many rewards. Dr. Deak served as the Clerkship Director for the UC San Diego OB/GYN 3rd year medical student clerkship for over 10 years and has dedicated countless hours to medical student teaching and skills training over her career.

Laura Delcore, MD 

Dr. Delcore is a member of the generalist division of the UC San Diego Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She completed her UC San Diego residency training in 2017 and worked for five years in a high volume, generalist OB/GYN practice in the community before returning to UC San Diego to pursue her passion for teaching and academic medicine. She has a true generalist practice with a wide breadth of clinical care ranging from prenatal care to minimally invasive robotic gynecologic surgery and everything in between. Dr. Delcore was awarded the Gold Humanism society resident teaching award twice during her residency and is committed to continuing the mission of the UC San Diego OB/GYN department to provide exemplary medical student teaching.

Amy Driebe, MD, FACOG

Amy Driebe, MD is a member of the generalist division of UC San Diego Health. She attended undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Florida and completed residency at UC San Diego Health. She returned to UC San Diego in 2022 to participate in medical education, which is a passion of her career and clinical practice. She provides full spectrum OB/GYN care including adolescent, obstetrics, perimenopause and menopausal care. She is a certified robotic surgeon and is passionate about gynecologic surgical care for non-cancerous conditions. She is an avid reader, cook, baker and yogi. She is a strong proponent of the importance of work-life balance. She won the Whitehill teaching award from the resident class after her first year back at UC San Diego.

Gina Frugoni, MD

Dr. Gina Frugoni is the Division Chief of the OBGYN Hospitalist Division, who is excited to be part of the Mentor Clinician program.  She is currently the course co-director for Endocrinology, Reproduction and Metabolism for the first-year medical students and second year pharmacy students.  She has been nominated for the Kaiser excellence in teaching award for her preclinical teaching and has won the APGO Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013 and 2019 for the clinical teaching of third year medical students.  She is a graduate of UC San Diego School of Medicine as well as our own OBGYN residency and hopes to continue to give back to student education through her role as Director of the Yellow Academic Community and a Mentor Clinician Educator. 

Pratima Gupta, MD, MPH, FACOG

As a woman of color and parent, Dr. Gupta often finds herself supporting learners through personal and professional challenges, while helping them to not lose sight of the fun of medicine. In fact, one of her mottos is “Let’s ensure there is passion in compassion.” Dr. Gupta particularly enjoys training learners to leverage their expert voices to advocate for their patients, Obstetrics and Gynecology as a specialty, and equitable health and justice of the community. Society trusts doctors, so she believes it is our duty and responsibility to speak up for injustices and in support of laudable behavior changes. Dr. Gupta sees involvement in teaching and physician advocacy as one of the many tools to support physician wellness and build an essential foundation to allow for healthy and long medical careers.

Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, MD, MS, FACOG

Dr. Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman is the Department Chair and tenured Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. She is a dedicated educator, mentor, and leader in maternal-fetal medicine, with a commitment to training the next generation of physicians and researchers. As the Immediate Past President of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Dr. Gyamfi-Bannerman has been deeply involved in professional development initiatives, faculty and fellow mentorship, and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within academic medicine. As a former MFM fellowship program director, she has created curricula and mentored numerous trainees on thesis projects.  Her extensive publication record includes over 230 peer-reviewed articles, many co-authored with trainees and junior faculty she has mentored.

Scott Harvey, MD, MS, FACOG

Dr. Scott Harvey is dual boarded in obstetrics and gynecology as well as surgical critical care, and is a dedicated clinical educator. He writes, “as the root of the word ‘Doctor’ comes from ‘Docere’, meaning ‘to teach’, it is the responsibility to aid others who follow in our footsteps in clinical bedside teaching.”

His teaching awards include:

2011: Medical Student Teaching Award to Hawaii Residency Program’s PGY-1.

2012: Overall resident excellence in teaching award for Hawaii Residency Programs

2014: Academic Achievement Award for Hawaii Residency Programs

2014: Overall Resident Excellence in Teaching Award

2015: National Faculty Award for the University of Hawaii

2018 APGO Excellence in Teaching award

2019 Physician Respiratory Champion Award (for teaching respiratory therapists)

2020: Chief OBGYN Resident Class of 2020 GOAT (Greatest of all time) for teaching

Steve Hebert, MD

Dr. Stephen Hebert is an OB Hospitalist and Professor of Ob/Gyn at UC San Diego.  He currently works on L&D at Jacobs Medical Center. After undergraduate and medical training at the University of Colorado, he completed residency at UC San Diego. Following 2 years on faculty, he moved to private practice in San Diego for the next 23 years. In 2007 he returned to UC San Diego in his current capacity. He has since received teaching awards from the residents, students and midwives with his special interest being compassionate obstetrical care for our complex and diverse patient population.

Mai Hoang, MD, FACOG

Dr. Mai Hoang is an OB hospitalist who enjoys teaching tremendously. She runs the ERM1 course, and gives lectures to medical students and residents. She values both clinical skills and the soft, bedside skills that are crucial in becoming an excellent physician.

David Klein, MD, MS

David Klein (he/his/they/their) is a generalist OBGYN and an associate professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at UC San Diego. Prior to medical training, Dr. Klein studied and published on the potential for harm done to patients by negatives attitudes on disability among healthcare providers discussing prenatal genetic screening and testing. He now uses this understanding to approach patient care with non-judgmental language, patient-centered sensitivity, and a trauma-informed practice.  He is active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and recently completed a term as the past chair for junior fellows (trainees and non-boarded physicians) in California, and is a new member of the Wilderness Medical Society. Past teaching acknowledgments include three years of awards as a teaching assistant in biostatistics and epidemiology during medical school and regular commendations for outstanding medical student evaluations throughout residency.

Gill Mackay, MD, MBBS, FACOG

Dr. Gill Mackay has been working with learners since completing residency in 2008 in Boston. At Harvard Medical school she gave medical student lectures during clinical rotations, as well as teaching students in small groups and at the bedside. She was intricately involved in the clinical education of the residents, both in the inpatient and outpatient setting. While at Olive View-UC Los Angeles Medical Center she was a key preceptor for medical students and residents in the clinic, operating room and on labor and delivery. She received a teaching award from the residents while working there. In Oklahoma City, where she was on faculty at the large university hospital, she gave many regular lectures on gynecologic topics as well as leading and annual Seminar for the second-year medical students on “Ethical issues in Reproductive Medicine” which was very well received. She was awarded medical student teaching awards every year for the 4 years she was on faculty. At UC San Diego, she has continued to be active in teaching medical students and residents in the outpatient and inpatient settings on a regular basis, in small group and one-on-one settings as well as for procedures and in the operating room.

Ariana Melendez, MD

Dr. Melendez (she/her) is an OB Hospitalist who joined UC San Diego in October 2021 and has been working with the Mentor Clinician Program since. Her practice is a hybrid of inpatient and outpatient obstetric and gynecologic care. Prior to medical school, she taught high school biology and physics through Teach for America, and loves having the opportunity to continue teaching. Dr. Melendez attended medical school at the University of Illinois in Chicago and completed OB/GYN residency in 2022 at UC-Irvine. She is passionate about fostering a desire for lifelong learning and promoting psychological safety and community in medical training. She has special interests in clinical ethics, perinatal loss, and family planning. As of early 2024, she is the faculty advisor for the OBGYN student interest group. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, crafting, reading, and cooking.

Isa Qendro, MD

Dr. Isabella Qendro is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has served as a teacher in the clinical setting during her residency at UC San Diego, working closely with students in both clinical and outpatient settings, and now as a early career faculty member. She has experience guiding students through hands-on learning, case discussions and procedures, along with providing mentorship in navigating their clinical years and choosing a specialty. As a new attending, her recent memories of the challenges and nuances of being a learner in the clinical setting affords her greater understanding of what makes for an effective clinical mentor and teacher. She works to facilitate an understanding of women's health, provide a stress-free environment for growth as a clinician, and inspire interest in the unique specialty of OBGYN.

Mariana Ramos-Rivera, MD

Mariana Ramos-Rivera, MD is an Assistant Clinical Professor and Generalist OB/GYN in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at UC San Diego.  She graduated from UC San Diego OB/GYN residency  and returned as faculty after a year in private practice, in part because of her love of teaching residents and medical students. She is also passionate about Global Health and travels down to Tijuana a few times a year for OB/GYN consultations and medical student teaching at a non-profit clinic. She has also been an active member of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG)’s Committee on Global Health.  As a bilingual provider, she focuses on providing culturally sensitive care to her patients. She also centers her practice around patient education and autonomy and is excited to teach all of these aspects of medical care to the next generation of learners.

Alice Sutton, MD, FACOG

Alice Sutton is an OBGYN hospitalist and an assistant clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She attended the University of Virginia School of Medicine and completed residency at George Washington University, where she was an administrative chief resident. She is the co-director of the Endocrinology, Reproduction and Metabolism II block in the second-year medical school curriculum. Her scholarly interests include fostering empathy and compassion through innovative reproductive health curriculum, and care for underserved populations.  She has received the Excellent Consultant award from the Emergency Department for teaching Emergency Medicine residents.

Nicole Teal, MD, MPH

Dr. Nicole Teal is a maternal fetal medicine specialist at UC San Diego, and a recipient of the Women’s Reproductive Health Research Scholarship (WRHR). Dr. Teal worked as a teaching assistant for Organic Chemistry in college. In medical school, she tutored junior medical students as they prepared for the USMLE and precepted others in the medical school’s free clinic. She also led a small group of second year students through the Doctoring course, teaching clinical skills with a focus on patient-centered care and humanism. She won the UNC Fellow Excellence in Teaching Award in 2023.

Samantha Thomson, MD, FACOG, IBCLC

Samantha Thomson, MD, FACOG, has been educating medical students and residents since completion of residency in 2017, and takes great joy in teaching clinical skills, reasoning, and patient centered care to the next generation. Dr. Thomson finds it exciting to find ways to incorporate non-OBGYN interests into teaching for those that will pursue other specialties. She believes every student can take away important knowledge and skills from this rotation that will make them an excellent, thoughtful clinician in any field.

Danielle Vachon, MD

Dr. Danielle Vachon is a Complex Family Planning Trained OBGYN who provides the full scope of reproductive care. She has a special interest in teaching medical students about contraception and abortion care. Her research focuses on the impact of the Dobbs decision on OBGYN abortion care training. As of Summer 2024, she will be serving as the Ryan Residency Director and the liaison for the Medical Students for Choice at UC San Diego.

Program Overview

The UC San Diego Pediatric Mentor Clinician Program (MCP) at Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego (RHCSD) is comprised of some of the most experienced clinical educators in the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics. Each RCHSD ward team is assigned a Mentor Clinician who attends Pediatric Hospital Medicine and Subspecialty Rounds with the medical students during their inpatient rotation.  The Mentor Clinician observes medical students and provides formative feedback on their data gathering, physical examination, presentation, interpersonal, and clinical reasoning skills. In addition to rounds and individualized feedback, Mentor Clinicians conduct weekly teaching sessions with the medical students, focused on communication, compassion and empathy. 

Meet our Pediatrics Mentor Clinicians 

Laurie Bernard Stover, MD

Dr. Laurie Bernard Stover practices within the division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, and also holds administrative roles as Clinical Director in PHM and Director of Inpatient Services for Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, and has been recognized for her teaching by the Pediatric Residency program.  She has special interests in complex care as well as medical child abuse. She is passionate about working with medical students at UC San Diego to improve their clinical skills and to pass on the importance of compassionate care in medicine.

Chris Cannavino, MD 

Dr. Chris Cannavino is a Pediatric Infectious Disease physician at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UC San Diego. After graduating from UC Los Angeles, he received his MD from the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Cannavino completed his Pediatric Residency at UC San Diego where, after serving as Chief Resident, he completed dual Fellowships in Pediatric Infectious Disease and Pediatric Hospital Medicine. He is the Director for the Center for Mentorship in Medicine at the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, Director of Pediatric Medical Student Education at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, Director of the UC San Diego Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program, and the Associate Program Director for the UC San Diego Pediatric Residency Program.  Dr. Cannavino has received numerous teaching awards, including the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics’ "Attending of the Year Award" in 2008 & 2011, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego's "Career Excellence in Teaching Award" in 2016, the Kaiser “Excellence in Teaching Award” in 2021, the "Saltman Distinguished Teaching Award” from the UC San Diego Academic Senate (Campus-wide) in 2021, and the Inaugural UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics “Excellence in Curriculum Development and Education Innovation Award” in 2023.

Mateja Cernelc-Kohan, MD

Dr. Mateja Cernelc-Kohan is a Pediatric Pulmonologist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UC San Diego. She graduated from University of Ljubljana Medical School in Slovenia. She completed her pediatric residency at University of Hawaii and Pulmonary Fellowship at University of California San Diego. Dr. Kohan is a Co-Director of Severe Asthma program at Rady Children’s Hospital and a Medical Director of Pulmonary Function Testing Lab. In addition to severe asthma, her clinical interests include bronchopulmonary dysplasia and childhood interstitial lung disease. Dr. Kohan takes pride in providing a non-intimidating and stimulating learning environment and enjoys working with and teaching medical students, pediatric residents and pulmonary fellows.

Ami Doshi, MD 

Dr. Ami Doshi is a pediatric hospitalist and palliative medicine physician at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and director of palliative care. She is also an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine and Vice Chair for Faculty Development and the Faculty Wellness Director for the Department of Pediatrics. After earning her undergraduate degree in psychobiology at the University of Southern California, Dr. Doshi completed her medical training at University of California, Irvine and continued her pediatric residency at UC San Diego, where she completed her pediatric hospital medicine fellowship.  Dr. Doshi is actively involved with the education and mentorship of medical students, residents and fellows. Her academic interests are in palliative medicine and clinician well-being. She has created and disseminated curricula for trainees and attending physicians to foster primary palliative care and communication skills.

Juliana Gomez-Arostegui, MD, MPH, FAAP

Dr. Juliana Gomez-Arostegui currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Cardiology and as a Primary Inpatient Cardiologist at the Rady Children's Hospital of the University of California, San Diego, where she brings 20 years of a diverse background in clinical practice, medical education, and patient care. Prior to Rady Children, she worked in the Bay Area as an outpatient pediatric cardiologist for many years and prior to this, as a general pediatric hospitalist at two county hospitals.

Dr. Gomez-Arostegui's career has been built upon an emphasis on education and high- quality delivery of patient care. She holds a Medical Doctorate degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a Master of Public Health degree from Boston University, with a concentration in Health Ethics and Law. In addition, she holds several professional certifications and licenses, including Diplomate status with the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) and membership with the American Academy of Pediatrics. She also completed her Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship at the Rady Children's Hospital at the University of California at San Diego. In recognition of her academic excellence, compassion and integrity she was awarded the Henry C. Kempe Honorary Award during her medical training.

Dr. Gomez-Arostegui's contributions extend beyond the classroom and hospital settings. She is an active member of various professional committees, including the Rady Children’s Hospital Bioethics Committee and the Rady Children’s Hospital Joint Quality and Credentialing Committee.

Her commitment to medical education is evident in her formal teaching of fellows and residents on a daily basis, partaking in educational lectures and by initiating regular cardiology physical exam rounds for the pediatric residents.

Helen Harvey, MD, MS

Dr. Helen Harvey is a pediatric critical care physician and anesthesiologist at Rady Children’s Hospital and UC San Diego. She did her pediatric residency, pediatric chief residency, and pediatric critical care fellowship at UC San Diego and then went on to complete an anesthesiology residency and chief residency at Johns Hopkins. She is the UC San Diego pediatric critical care fellowship program director. Dr. Harvey has received numerous teaching awards, including UC San Diego department of Pediatrics “Fellow of the Year” in 2012, “Attending of the Year” in 2017, and UC San Diego Academy of Clinician Scholars Whitehill Prize for Excellence in 2018. Dr. Harvey is completing her Masters of Education in Health Professions from Johns Hopkins University. Education interests include team building, simulation, and crisis resource management. Research interests include acute respiratory distress syndrome, resuscitation science, and traumatic brain injury.

Maria Huang, MD, FAAP

Dr. Maria Huang is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UC San Diego and a pediatric hospitalist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. She graduated from UT Southwestern, completed her pediatric residency at University of Alabama-Birmingham, and completed her Pediatric Hospital Medicine fellowship at UC San Diego. Her interests include pediatric palliative care, equitable care for patients and families who have a primary language other than English, and qualitative research methods. She has had roles as the pediatric inpatient clerkship liaison and has particular interest in fostering trainee autonomy and coaching learners in compassionate communication.

Natalie Laub, MD, MSHP

Dr. Laub is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego. She is board certified in Pediatrics and Child Abuse Pediatrics by the American Board of Pediatrics. She completed residency at the Boston Combined Residency Program and then pursued her fellowship training in Child Abuse Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. During this she also obtained a Masters in Science and Health Policy Research. Dr Laub’s research interests include improving health care delivery models for children who are victims of abuse, utilizing clinical decision support tools to detect victims of abuse, and evaluating telehealth opportunities to reach high risk populations. She has published multiple articles, book chapters and reviews on the subject of Child Abuse and Neglect. She also has an interest in medical education and serves as the Program Director for the Child Abuse Pediatrics Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego.

Begem Lee, MD

Dr. Begem Lee is a Pediatric Hospitalist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UC San Diego. She graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her pediatric residency at UC San Diego, where she also was a Chief Resident. She then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hospital Medicine. She has special interests in medical education and quality improvement. She has won several awards for her dedication to teaching, including the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics "Fellow of the Year", "Attending of the Year", and the UC San Diego Academy of Clinician Scholars Whitehill Prize for Excellence.

Dan Lesser, MD

Dr. Dan Lesser is a Pediatric Pulmonologist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UC San Diego. After graduating from Brown University, he received his MD from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Lesser completed his Pediatric Residency and Pulmonary Fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is the UC San Diego pediatric pulmonology fellowship program director and clerkship director of the pediatric pulmonary medical student elective. He was awarded the UC San Diego Pediatric Residency Teaching Award in 2017-2018 and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Fellow Teaching award, 2006-2007.

Mylinh Nguyen, MD, FAAP

Dr. Mylinh Nguyen is a Pediatric Emergency Medicine physician at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and Associate Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. She received her MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine, completed her pediatric residency at UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital-Oakland, pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO, and point-of-care ultrasound fellowship at NYP-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

Dr. Nguyen has a passion for education.  She serves as Program Director for Pediatric Point-of-care Ultrasound Fellowship at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and co-Director of Fellows and Faculty as Clinician Educator (FACE) course. She also serves as a facilitator for the Practice of Medicine course at UC San Diego School of Medicine. She has been recognized with multiple teaching awards from students, residents, and fellows.

Heather Pierce, MD

Dr. Heather Pierce is a pediatric hospitalist at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego a clinical professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego. She serves as the medical director for graduate medical education at Rady Children’s Hospital. She received her undergraduate degree and medical training in a combined degree program at Virginia Commonwealth University. She completed her general pediatric residency and chief residency at the Floating Hospital for Children/Tufts University in Boston and completed a fellowship in pediatric hospital medicine at Rady Children's Hospital/UC San Diego. Dr. Pierce is currently the associate director of the Innovative Quality Improvement Research in Residency (INQUIRY) Program which provides structured quality improvement education to all pediatric trainees and mentors trainees in quality improvement projects throughout the hospital. Her academic interests include quality improvement and patient safety education, family-centered care and rounding, and clinical pathway development and review.

Kay (Kyung) Rhee, MD, MSc, MA, FAAP

Dr. Kay Rhee is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics and the Vice Chair of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. She serves as the Medical Director of the Medical Behavioral/Eating Disorder Unit at Rady Children’s Hospital and the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research. She also serves as the Research Director for Pediatric Hospital Medicine. After receiving a Bachelor’s in Human Biology and Masters in Sociology at Stanford University, she completed her MD at Temple University. She completed her residency and was chief resident at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia before moving to the Boston area to complete her Fellowship in General Academic Pediatrics and Masters in Epidemiology at Boston University/Boston University School of Public Health. She moved to San Diego in 2010 and is currently engaged in several research endeavors around the development of family-based behavioral interventions for childhood obesity treatment, parent-child interactions, food insecurity, and other social determinants of health.

Richard Silva, MD

Dr. Richard Silva is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Academic General Pediatrics, Child Development and Community Health.  He cares for newborns in the hospital and children in clinic.  He also works with the Hispanic Center of Excellence.  After graduating from UC Irvine, he earned his MD from Stanford University.  Dr. Silva completed his pediatric residency at UC San Diego.  He received the Academy of Clinician Scholars Whitehill Prize for Excellence in 2019.  He enjoys working with and teaching the new generation of doctors.

Mamata Sivagnanam, MD

Dr. Mamata Sivagnanam is a pediatric gastroenterologist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego/UC San Diego. She attended medical school at University of Miami, residency at Orlando Regional Healthcare and fellowship in gastroenterology, Hepatology and nutrition at UC San Diego. She is an Associate Professor and the UC San Diego pediatric gastroenterology fellowship program director. As an active physician-scientist and aims to understand intestinal homeostasis through investigation of mucosal diseases of childhood. Since serving as chief resident, she has been passionate about medical education and empowering trainees to reach their potential.

Stacey Ulrich, MD

Dr. Ulrich is the Chief Physician Compliance Officer at Rady Children’s Hospital.  She is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, and works as a pediatric emergency medicine attending at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.  She completed her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship after her pediatric residency. Dr. Ulrich received her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  She completed her residency and fellowship at the University of California, San Diego.

Jen Yu, MD

Dr. Jennifer Yu is a pediatric hematologist oncologist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UC San Diego. She completed her pediatric residency and pediatric hematology oncology fellowship at UC San Diego. She is the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Fellowship Director as well as the Director of Trainee Education in the Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology. She has completed training in medical education through the Association of Pediatric Program Directors (APPD) Leadership in Educational Academic Development (LEAD) Program in 2020 and the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in Health Professions in 2023. To provide opportunities in medical education research and training on how to be a clinician educator, Dr. Yu created the Fellow as Clinician Educator Track (FACET) for UC San Diego pediatric fellows in 2023 and serves as the Director of FACET. She received the William D. Roberts Faculty Teaching award in 2018. Her academic interests in medical education include curriculum development and program evaluation.

Elise Zimmerman, MD, MS

Dr. Elise Zimmerman is a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego/UC San Diego and an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego. She is the director of simulation at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. She completed her pediatric residency at Tulane/Ochsner in New Orleans and her pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at Miami Children’s Hospital, now known as Niklaus Children’s Hospital. In addition, she is actively involved in simulation for fellows, residents, medical students, PEM and hospital-wide staff. She is passionate about mentorship, collaboration and teamwork, education, and helping trainees develop skills to become excellent, compassionate physicians.

Pediatrics Mentor Clinicians Emeritus 

Julia Beauchamp, MD                  Michael Gottschalk, MD, PhD      Cynthia Kuelbs, MD

Vanessa Scott, MD, FAAP             Ashish Shah, MD, MEd                  Martin Stein, MD

Program Overview

• Direct supervision from a Mentor Clinician weekly for 3 weeks of the clerkship focused on interview and assessment skills.
• Skills Sessions:
  • Two patient simulation cases to hone and improve interview skills on some challenging cases.
  • An ethics discussion with a mentor clinician and your classmates about some of the ethical challenges which students have experienced over the 6-week clerkship.
  • A master clinician led health equity discussion about some problematic situations commonly encountered in psychiatry.

Meet our Psychiatry Mentor Clinicians 

Jabe Best, MD, PhD

Jabe Best is an inpatient psychiatrist at the VA San Diego and HS Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. He earned MD and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health prior to moving to San Diego to complete residency at UC San Diego, capped by a final year as Chief Resident. He been a lifelong runner, enjoys learning about and exploring nature, and takes coffee quite seriously. Over the years, Dr. Best has received several nods related to teaching, mentoring, and clinical efforts to include the Arnold P. Gold Foundation’s Humanism and Excellence in Teaching: Resident Award in Psychiatry (2015), Academy of Clinician Scholars Whitehill Prize for Excellence in the Teaching of Clinical Medicine (2022), and San Diego Magazine’s Top Doctors (2023).

Andrew Bismark, PhD

Dr. Andrew W. Bismark serves as a clinical psychologist in the Acute & Intensive Mental Health and Neuromodulation Programs at the VA San Diego and is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. Dr. Bismark received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and completed his clinical internship at the Boston Consortium (VA Boston/Harvard Medical School/Boston University School of Medicine). Dr. Bismark went on to complete a three-year research post doc at the VA San Diego Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) with an emphasis on biomarkers in serious mental illness. Dr. Bismark is passionate about learning and teaching, mentoring psychiatry, psychology and social work trainees. His academic interests include investigating biomarkers of treatment engagement and response and the burgeoning field of clinical psychedelic science. Outside the hospital, Dr. Bismark’s passions include family, fitness, espresso, and soccer, as well as being a professional appreciator of live music and a well-made ice cream.

Omar Ghosn, MD 

Omar Ghosn, MD, is a geriatric and consultation-liaison psychiatrist. He works in the Senior Behavioral Health Unit at UC San Diego Medical Center. He also treats patients in the Intensive Outpatient Program and has a continuity outpatient clinic for geriatric psychiatry patients.

Dr. Ghosn is a proponent of a biopsychosocial comprehensive approach to mental health care. His specialty and interests are in mood disorders, the elderly, and the medically ill population. He is experienced in pharmacology, neuromodulation, psychodynamic, and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. Dr. Ghosn enjoys continuity of care and developing meaningful relationships with his patients.

Dr. Ghosn completed a fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine, where he also trained in consultation liaison. He completed residency training in psychiatry at American University of Beirut in Lebanon and earned his medical degree from University of Balamand, also in Lebanon. Dr. Ghosn also completed two years of medical training at the Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust in the United Kingdom.

In addition to English, he speaks French and Arabic.

Steve Groban, MD 

BIO COMING SOON 

 Alana Iglewicz, MD 

BIO COMING SOON 

Lawrence Malak, MD

Dr. Malak is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California San Diego and serves as Co-Director of the UC San Diego Combined Family Medicine and Psychiatry Training Program and Director of Education for the Community Psychiatry Program and Residency Track. He attended medical school in Houston, Texas at Baylor College of Medicine before returning to California for residency training at UC San Diego.

Within UC San Diego he co-founded the Advanced Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Clinical Training Program, served as Medical Director for the Co-Occurring Disorders Program, and has been involved in psychiatry residency education as an Associate Residency Training Director for the General Psychiatry Program and as part of the Residency Diversity Committee and the Department of Psychiatry's Anti-Racism Workgroup. Dr. Malak’s leadership in the academic field extends beyond the university as he is involved in statewide and national psychiatric organizations. He has served as president for the San Diego Psychiatric Society, a board member for the American Association of Community Psychiatry, and a member of the California Psychiatric Association. Additionally, Dr. Malak is involved in the American Psychiatric Association, currently serving as Chair of the Mental Health Services Conference Scientific Planning Committee and on the Assembly Executive Committee as the Area 6 Representative.

Michelle Singh, DO 

BIO COMING SOON 

Maryam Soltani MD, PhD

Maryam Soltani MD, PhD serves as the Medical Director for the Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (SARRTP) at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and is a HS Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. She is board-certified in Psychiatry, Family Medicine, and Addiction Medicine.  Dr. Soltani earned her doctorate from the Department of Psychology at the University of California Berkeley (UCB) with an emphasis in Neuroscience. Her research was focused on characterizing oscillatory cortical rhythms from recordings made directly off of the human cortex in patients with glioblastomas and intractable epilepsy. Inspired by working with patients, Dr. Soltani would then pursue a medical degree.  She earned her medical degree from UC San Diego. She remained at UC San Diego to complete a combined residency in Family Medicine and Psychiatry. Throughout her residency she worked extensively with San Diego’s homeless population where she gained experience managing complex medical and psychiatric conditions as well as managing substance use disorders. She served as the Chief Resident for her combined residency program as well as the senior resident for SARRTP during her final year of residency training. She enjoys teaching trainees about psychiatry, addiction medicine, medication assisted treatment as well as managing medical conditions in patients with substance use disorders. She was named a San Diego Top Doctor in 2023.  Dr. Soltani is an avid sports fan and has been known to root for the Brazilian National Soccer team, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Golden State Warriors.  In her free time Dr. Soltani enjoys watching sports, playing tennis, boxing and creating art.

Lu Wu, MD

Lu Wu, MD is a general outpatient psychiatrist at the San Diego VA. She is a long-time San Diegan and has been with UC San Diego for medical school, residency, and fellowship. She has a subspecialty in consult-liaison psychiatry, with particular interests in medically complex psychiatric patients and psychodynamic and cognitive psychotherapies. Outside of work, Dr. Wu spends the majority of her free time rock climbing. 

Psychiatry Mentor Clinicians Emeritus 

Steve Huege, MD, MSEd                         Dave Lehman, MD                                      Priti Ojha, MD 

Jessica Thackaberry, MD 

Program Overview

• Mentor Clinician paired with 1-4 MS3s during block 2 of clerkship
• MC observations, discussion, feedback sessions 4x throughout block
• Group Sessions (3-4 sessions scheduled during blocks 1 & 3 of clerkship):
  • Skills session: IV access, airway
  • Breaking Bad News/Difficult Conversations
  • Informed Consent
  • Narrative Surgery

Program Directors:  Charley Coffey, MD & Joel Baumgartner, MD

Meet our Surgery Mentor Clinicians 

Benjamin Abbadessa, MD, FACS, FASCRS

 Benjamin Abbadessa is a colorectal surgeon in the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego Health an Assistant Professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine. His practice encompasses the full spectrum of colorectal diseases and surgeries, with focus on robotic surgery and other minimally invasive techniques.  Dr. Abbadessa completed his General Surgery residency at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel, NYC and colorectal surgery fellowship at Cleveland Clinic Florida. Outside of work, Dr. Abbadessa enjoys spending time with his family. His wife, Vanessa, is a pediatrician at UC San Diego and he has two young children. Dr. Abbadessa and his family enjoy spending time together hiking, biking and walking on the beach.

Joel M. Baumgartner, MD, MAS, FACS

Joel Baumgartner is an Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at UC San Diego and has been the Clerkship Director for the surgery clerkship at UC San Diego since 2015. His practice focuses on the surgical management of peritoneal metastases and cutaneous malignancies. He conducts clinical research on the diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance of patients with peritoneal metastases and cutaneous malignancies. He also serves as a residency training course instructor for UC San Diego students applying into surgical residencies, a surgical shadowing preceptor for first-second year medical students, a surgical apprenticeship preceptor for a third-year medical students, and instructs residents in the UC San Diego general surgery residency. He has been awarded the Whitehill teaching prize by the surgery residents in 2016 and 2017.

Seth Bechis, MD, MS

Dr. Seth Bechis is an Associate Clinical Professor of Urology and member of the UC San Diego Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center. After completing his undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Harvard University, Dr. Bechis completed his medical training at the University of California, San Francisco as well as a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences. He then continued his Urology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a fellowship in Laparoscopy, Robotics and Endourology at UC San Diego. He specializes in kidney stone prevention and stone surgery as well as benign prostatic enlargement or BPH. Dr. Bechis is actively involved with resident education and has academic interests in clinical research in stone disease and BPH.

Sharona Ben-Haim, MD

Sharona Ben-Haim is an Assistant Professor and functional neurosurgeon at UC San Diego. She received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, and completed medical school at UC San Diego. She then went to complete a research fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University before starting her neurosurgical residency at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

She went on to complete a fellowship in Epilepsy Surgery at Yale University, followed by a visiting fellowship in functional neurosurgery at Oxford. She then came back to UC San Diego as a faculty member, where she has focused on bringing in new technology to enhance the safety and efficacy of a variety of stereotactic procedures.  She currently serves as the Director of Epilepsy Surgery and the Associate Residency Program Director in the Department of Neurosurgery.

Jennifer Berumen, MD

Jennifer Berumen is a board-certified general surgeon specializing in abdominal transplantation and hepatobiliary (liver and bile duct) surgery. As an associate clinical professor of surgery at UC San Diego she performs adult kidney, liver and pancreas transplantations. She also performs pediatric kidney and liver transplants at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego. Dr. Berumen completed her two-year fellowship training in abdominal transplant surgery at Stanford University with a focus on pediatric liver and kidney transplantation and her general surgery residency training at UC San Diego. She earned her medical degree and her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Tulane University.

Aleah L. Brubaker, MD, PhD

Aleah L. Brubaker, MD, PhD, is a board-certified general surgeon who specializes in abdominal (liver and kidney) transplantation in adult and pediatric patients. Dr. Brubaker completed a fellowship in transplant surgery at Stanford Health Care in Stanford, CA, where she also did her residency in general surgery. She holds both a medical and doctorate degree from the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, IL. As an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, she trains medical students, residents and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Brubaker's research interests include transplantation and the human microbiome.

Susan Bukata, MD

Dr. Susan Bukata is a Professor of Orthopaedics and in February 2021 became only the 4th woman in the US to Chair a Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.  Prior to coming to UC San Diego, she was on the faculty at UC Los Angeles and the University of Rochester.  She is a clinician scientist who studies bone and cartilage tissue regeneration.  Clinically, she specializes in Musculoskeletal Oncology, Metabolic and Rare Bone Disease. It is never a dull day in her clinic with interesting and unusual patients!   Dr. Bukata mentors’ medical students and residents on research projects and helps guide them for their future in medicine.  She will be President of the Orthopaedic Research Society next year (2024), and is very involved in outreach both locally and nationally to help underrepresented communities and individuals find a place in Orthopaedics and musculoskeletal health fields.

Charley Coffey, MD, FACS

Charley Coffey is an Associate Professor and the Chief of Otolaryngology- Head & Neck surgery at UC San Diego Health. He practices head & neck oncologic surgery at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and the San Diego VA. Dr. Coffey has particular interest in salivary gland function including prevention and management of xerostomia in head & neck cancer patients and the use of minimally-invasive techniques to treat patients with obstructive salivary disorders.

In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Coffey is dedicated to medical education. He is Co-Director of the UC San Diego Surgery Core Clerkship and the Surgery Mentor Clinician Program, serves on the faculty of numerous medical school courses, and participates in curriculum design and review for the UC San Diego School of Medicine, UC San Diego Department of Otolaryngology, and the American Head & Neck Society. His efforts have been recognized with multiple teaching awards from students and residents. Dr. Coffey completed the ACS-ASE Surgical Education Research Fellowship in 2019.

Prior to joining the faculty at UC San Diego, Dr. Coffey completed residency training at the Medical University of South Carolina and fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is a North Carolina native and proud Tar Heel. He is also the grateful husband of an amazing emergency medicine physician, the father of two delightful children, and an avid but decidedly mediocre cyclist.

Bard Cosman, MD, FACS, FASCRS

Bard Cosman has practiced and taught general and colorectal surgery at the VA and UC San Diego since 1995.  He has won the Kaiser Teaching Award and Whitehill Prize at UC San Diego, and the Karis Caregiver Award at the VA.  His clinical interests include anal dysplasia and hidradenitis suppurativa.  He has projects and publications at the intersection of medicine and the humanities, and he is on the editorial boards of Diseases of the Colon & Rectum (American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons) and Vexillum (North American Vexillological Association).  Outside of academics, he enjoys trail running.

Gerald Gollin, MD, FAAP, FACS

Dr. Gollin is a Clinical Professor of Surgery at UC San Diego and an is an attending pediatric surgeon at Rady Children’s Hospital where he has practiced since 2015.  After medical school at UC San Francisco, Dr. Gollin completed residency in general surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital and a fellowship in pediatric surgery at the Children's Hospital of Buffalo.  After a year of practice in El Paso, Texas he joined the faculty of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine where he was an associate program director for the general surgery residency and founded the pediatric surgery fellowship program.

 Dr. Gollin's clinical interest relate to neonatal surgery and his research focus is necrotizing enterocolitis.

Nicole Lopez, MD

Nicole Lopez, MD, is board certified in general surgery, complex general surgical oncology, colon and rectal surgery and clinical informatics. She is particularly interested in caring for patients with hereditary, advanced, recurrent, and metastatic colorectal cancers. She is skilled in laparoscopy and robotic surgery.

Dr. Lopez believes education and training of students and residents is imperative to sustaining a workforce of talented and compassionate physicians and surgeons. As such, she is the director of several medical student courses and serves as a mentor to many students. The American Medical Association recognized her nationally for her mentorship, presenting her with an Inspiration Award.

When she's not working, Dr. Lopez enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing catch with her labradoodle, making and decorating cookies, and listening to audiobooks.

Erik L. Owens, MD

Erik Owens is a vascular surgeon and Clinical Professor at UC San Diego.  After an early career change from chemical engineering, he received his MD degree from MCV-VCU in Richmond, VA.  He completed his general surgery residency at Penn State University in Hershey, PA and his vascular surgery fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.  Dr. Owens joined the UC San Diego faculty in 1998.  While clinically active at both UC San Diego and the VA, he served as Surgical Service Chief at the San Diego VA Medical Center from 1999 to 2019.  He currently serves as Vascular Surgery Section Chief at the San Diego VA Medical Center where he also has Site Director responsibilities for the general and vascular surgery residents/fellows.  Dr. Owens is a past recipient of Department of Surgery teaching awards and oversees the SOM Surgery 260 elective that offers first and second year medical students the opportunity to shadow residents and attendings in the VA Vascular Surgery Clinic.  Dr. Owens enjoys being with outdoors, especially with family … and especially on the Oregon Coast.  He enjoys a good round of golf and can wipe away a good number of hours on the guitar.

Martin H. Pham, MD

Martin H. Pham, MD, is a board-certified neurosurgeon who focuses on the neurosurgical evaluation and treatment of spinal disorders. This includes adult scoliosis and spinal deformity, complex spinal reconstruction, robotic and minimally invasive spine surgery, motion preservation of the spine, spine tumors, and spine trauma.

Dr. Pham is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery and serves as the neurosurgery clerkship course director. He is published extensively within the field of spinal conditions and has an active interest in the development of minimally invasive surgical techniques with robotics platforms to advance safer evidence-based spine care.

Dr. Pham completed a fellowship in robotic, spinal deformity, and motion preservation surgery at Columbia University's New York-Presbyterian Daniel and Jane Och Spine Hospital. He also enfolded a fellowship in minimally invasive and complex spinal surgery at Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California (USC), where he completed his residency in neurological surgery.

Christopher Reid, MD

Christopher Reid is a plastic surgeon with expertise in microsurgery, breast reconstruction, complex reconstruction, and cosmetic surgery of the breast and body. He performs breast reconstruction with free flap methods such as DIEP and PAP flaps, along with other techniques. As an expert in microsurgery, Dr. Reid can operate on a very small scale, which often involves reconnecting blood vessels that are millimeters in size.

Dr. Reid is a San Diego native who completed most of his training in San Diego and has always been dedicated to helping patients in this region. He enjoys helping patients by providing more surgical options than most medical centers can offer. As an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, Dr. Reid trains medical students, residents and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

He was a reconstructive microsurgery fellow and clinical instructor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UC Los Angeles Medical Center. He completed a residency at UC San Diego School of Medicine, where he also earned his medical degree.

Dr. Reid has received many honors and awards, most recently including the Housestaff Excellence in Teaching Award, Kaiser/UC San Diego Health; the Academic Excellence Award and the Research Excellence Award from the UC School of Medicine San Diego Division of Plastic Surgery; and the Outstanding Clinical Research Award, UC San Diego Department of Surgery Research Symposium.

Dr. Reid is a proud father and husband who enjoys spending time surfing or fishing at the beach.

Alexandra K. Schwartz, MD

Alexandra Schwartz is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon. She specializes in orthopedic trauma and surgery to treat fractured or broken bones, including clavicle, pelvic, foot, ankle, arm, elbow, knee, and shoulder injuries. Dr. Schwartz also cares for patients with complications from these injuries, such as infections and poor-healing or non-healing bones. As an orthopedic traumatologist, she has expertise working in emergency settings and with people whose injuries were caused by accidents or violence.

As a professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dr. Schwartz instructs medical students, residents and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine, including directing the department's residency program and the Division of Orthopedic Trauma's fellowship program. Her research focuses on clavicle fractures, pelvic fractures, ankle fractures, compartment syndrome, and cartilage injury after knee fractures.

She has won several School of Medicine awards for her teaching ability, and has repeatedly been named a "Top Doctor" in San Diego Magazine's "Physicians of Exceptional Excellence" annual survey performed in collaboration with the San Diego County Medical Society.

Cancer in Dr. Schwartz's family motivated her at an early age to become a physician. She believes that honest communication and empathetic understanding are vital to a physician/patient relationship. She sees the most rewarding part of being an orthopedic trauma surgeon as watching patients regain their strength, saying, "Our ultimate goal is to improve the patient's quality of life and restore their function. Orthopedic trauma is often taken for granted as 'just a fracture.' However, fractures that are not treated properly can lead to disabling and chronic conditions."

Dr. Schwartz completed a fellowship in orthopedic trauma at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle (University of Washington School of Medicine) and an orthopedic residency at Harbor UC Los Angeles Medical Center. She earned her medical degree at UC Los Angeles School of Medicine. She is board certified in orthopedic surgery. She speaks fluent German and medical Spanish.

Jessica L. Weaver, MD, PhD, FACS

Dr Jessica Weaver did her residency in general surgery at the University of Louisville and fellowship in Surgical Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania. During residency, she also earned a PhD in physiology and biophysics. She is part of the Trauma Division’s basic science lab where she studies traumatic brain injury. She practices both trauma and acute care surgery, but her favorite part of medicine is teaching students and residents about critical care in the surgical ICU.