Chief Residents
Dedriana Lomax (she/her), Howard [email protected]
Jenny Nguyen (she/her), Temple [email protected]
April Pei (she/her), USC [email protected]
PGY-1: Class of 2026
Maria Acevedo (she/her/ella), UT Health Houston
Maria was born and raised in South Texas. She graduated from UT Dallas where she studied Biology and Healthcare Management to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the healthcare system and how to improve it. During her time there, she mentored and tutored other students and volunteered as a language interpreter at various free clinics and hospitals. Before medical school, she spent a year working as a patient advocate where she helped people navigate the complex healthcare and insurance system. She attended medical school at UT Health Houston during which she served on the board of her chapter’s Latino Medical Student Association bringing underrepresented minority students together and connecting them with physician mentors and helped push for a more extensive and longitudinal social justice curriculum. A strong advocate for providing quality, patient-centered care for underserved populations and those with limited English proficiencies, she volunteered at a free clinic for Spanish speaking patients and in the post-partum unit of the county hospital providing basic medical information and resources for parents. On a national level, she led the Membership, Engagement and Recruitment Committee for the AMA Medical Student Section to amplify the student voice and organized a nation-wide mentorship program. She looks forward to caring for primarily underserved communities in her future career. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the food scene, running, yoga, baking, the outdoors, and training her dog, Pepe. [email protected]
Joshua Campista (he/him), UC Davis
Joshua grew up in San Jose and has spent much of his life in and around the Bay Area. He is a graduate from UC Berkley with a degree in Molecular Cell Biology. Prior to medical school, he was a medical assistant and worked his way up to becoming a clinic manager. This experience fostered a passion for advocating on behalf of patients and fellow health care workers. He went on to graduate from UC Davis School of Medicine, during that time Joshua invested efforts into being a co-director of Clínica Tepati - a local, free, Spanish speaking clinic. As a clinic co-director during the COVID-19 Pandemic, he helped to implement free online medical appointments for the community and advocated for reopening of many local free clinics after he and his team devised a safe reopening protocol. He is now honored to continue his training and advocacy at UC San Francisco. During his free time, Joshua spends his time with family and friends, playing soccer, trying out new restaurants, and playing video games. [email protected]
Paula Marie Cepeda (she/her), Touro University California
Paula was born and raised on the island of Guam. She left home at 18 yrs old to attend the University of San Diego, earning her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry. She then moved to the Bay Area to attend SFSU's postbacc program. While at SF State, she volunteered as a Health Advocate at SFGH, where she was immersed in urban culture and gained invaluable experiences dealing with social determinants of health. Paula has always been passionate about serving underserved communities. Her volunteer experience at SFGH, as well as her work with her local communities on Guam, were prominent driving forces as she completed medical school at Touro University California. She is excited to return to the city and build relationships with the community once again! Outside of medicine, you can catch Paula nomming on all the foods, laughing too loudly, napping too hard, singing badly, rolling her eyes, camping in her car (for fun she swears), and watching videos of puppies with her partner. [email protected]
Lawrence Garcia (he/him) Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
Lawrence grew up in a Mexican-American family in El Monte, CA located within Los Angeles County. He attended Loyola High School of Los Angeles, a Catholic Jesuit school that, along with his family, instilled in him the value of community service and engagement. In college, he studied at the University of Miami (go Canes) where he developed an interest in physiology, neuroscience, psychology, clinical diagnostic puzzles, and health equity. After Miami, he worked in an emergency department as a medical scribe, served in AmeriCorps as a health educator / patient navigator for a homeless shelter in New York City, and coached soccer at his old high school. During medical school in Chicago, he was active in LMSA, mentored aspiring pre-medical students who are under-represented in medicine, and completed an MPH degree to further learn how healthcare providers can partner with community organizations to increase patient health. After a semi-intentional tour of the US, he is excited to be back in California at UCSF for residency. For fun, Lawrence enjoys playing soccer and other sports, rooting for Liverpool FC (You'll Never Walk Alone), chess, trying new food places, breweries, and wine bars, hiking, and exploring different city neighborhoods. [email protected]
Indigo Gill (she/her) University of Rochester
Ron Hart (he/him), UC Davis
Tresne Hernandez (they/them/elle), University of Rochester
Tresne grew up in Maryland and Upstate New York and completed their undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University in the Science in Society Program. In the six years between graduating college and medical school, they were a childbirth support person at a Federally Qualified Health Center, led program development and evaluation for a nonprofit focused on children’s development, trained people in full-spectrum reproductive support, and were a payaso in hospitals. At San Francisco State University, they completed a Pre-Health Professions Program, and they also worked in the San Francisco General Hospital system. They are dedicated to reproductive justice, including full spectrum care, the health of LGBTQIA+ people and gender affirming medicine, and research/quality improvement to shift systems towards greater equity. They feel grateful and honored to return to working in San Francisco with incredible people who are also committed to contributing to a more just health care system. When not in their scrubs, you may find Tresne dancing, singing, hiking, being a perpetual beginner at mandolin, or tending to the ever-growing tendrils of their climbing wall plants. [email protected]
Efreim Joseph Morales (he/him), University of Arizona-Tucson
Efreim Joseph (Joe for short) is a first-generation immigrant, born and raised in the Philippines. He spent his early teenage years in New York City but calls the Sonoran Desert his home. He attended the University of Arizona where he completed his undergraduate, graduate and medical degrees. Prior to medical school, he worked in public health research, was a high school anatomy instructor and a phlebotomist that served Downtown Tucson. In medical school, he sought clinical experiences in the Navajo Nation and along the US-Mexico Border—communities that remind him of his own culture, family and upbringing. He earned distinctions in Community Service and Integrative Medicine and was inducted as an inaugural fellow of his school’s local chapter of Aequitas Health—Health Equity Honors Society. He aims to combine his experiences to help reduce disparities in healthcare and education and deliver compassionate care in San Francisco and beyond. His other clinical interests include geriatrics, exercise and nutrition, and primary care sports medicine. Outside of residency, he looks forward to explore local nature, watch wildlife, reconnect with his Filipino roots, and enjoy good eats with good company. [email protected]
Keonnie Parrilla (he/him/el), UT Southwestern
Keonnie Parrilla was born in Guatemala City and immigrated to Houston, TX in early childhood. He attended UT Austin and completed a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Chemistry. During his undergraduate studies he was an advocate for the College of Liberal Arts through student government as well as a member and mentor for the Joint Admissions Medical Program (JAMP), a Texas program designed to help underrepresented minorities gain acceptance to medical schools. He matched to UT Southwestern in Dallas for medical school and focused his time on working in the student-run free clinics as well as diversity and inclusion organizations like Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA). Keonnie is passionate about reducing healthcare disparities and enjoys mentoring students. He was accepted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society for his commitment to medical humanities. His clinical interests include community medicine with an emphasis on Spanish-speaking patients, procedures, and sports medicine. He may have left Texas but you can still find him proudly rooting for the Houston Astros and Houston Rockets. He also enjoys bicycling, live music, and hunting for the best Birria tacos in SF. [email protected]
Sean Poole (he/him), Touro University Nevada
Sean Poole was born in San Jose, California, and raised in San Jose, CA/ Flagstaff, Arizona. He graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in Biomedical Sciences and attended Touro Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, having served as a community health volunteer for two years in Paraguay. He lived in an agricultural community of 150 people working with the local high school and health post, sharing awareness about hypertension, diabetes, nutrition, and sexual health among other things. Ask him about tereré and chipa, but not dengue. His academic interests: Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, in which he received Touro's Excellence in OMM award, sports, ultrasound, and integrative medicine. His personal interests: Spending time with his wife and son, movies at the theatre, anime, investing, crypto, and basketball. He enjoyed his days traveling abroad and wishes to work with Doctors without Borders down the road. [email protected]
Megan Rodrigues (she/her), University of Kansas
Megan is originally from Overland Park, Kansas and is a proud Jayhawk, having completed both undergrad and medical school at the University of Kansas. In college, she studied Biochemistry with a minor in Political Science. During this time, she helped lead a service organization that was committed to educating students on ethical volunteerism and sustainability. Through this, she was able to advise a medical non-profit in creating a structural competency training module for their volunteers working abroad. After traveling and seeing similar international challenges being reflected back home, Megan became more interested in domestic initiatives to help her local underserved communities. She began to work at her school's student run free clinic as a community resource navigator to get patients connected to specialty care and any safety-net services they may need. Megan is a type 1 diabetic, and through her own experiences has developed a strong interest in addressing the psychosocial factors that impact the management of chronic diseases, especially those affecting minority populations. She is thrilled to be at UCSF and hopes to continue to participate in advocacy and learn more about public policy to create healthier environments and more affordable healthcare. Outside of medicine, Megan enjoys playing rec volleyball and tennis, baking gluten free treats, and watching movies! [email protected]
Tri Tran (he/him), Howard University
Jacqueline Truong (she/her), Drexel University
David Weign (he/they), Brown
David was born to a family of Vietnamese refugees and spent his childhood between San José, California and Dallas, Texas. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University in anthropology, where he came to recognize the power of community organizing as a form of resilience against systems of oppression. Remaining in Providence, Rhode Island, he attended Warren Alpert Medical School and built on his previous experiences to support immigrants, refugees, as well as individuals experiencing homelessness. When not working, he is likely experimenting with a new recipe, tending to his plants, or spending time in the great outdoors, all in the company of friends and family. [email protected]
PGY-2: Class of 2025
Tamaara Bostwick (she/her), UCLA Drew
Tamaara was born in Guyana and immigrated to the United States with her family. She spent most of her formative years in Long Island, New York. She attended American University in Washington, D.C., and graduated with a degree in public health and psychology. She has always been passionate about working in underserved and under-resourced communities. As an undergrad, she helped initiate the Peer Health Exchange (PHE) chapter at American University, which was an organization that trained college students to educate middle and high school students in Southeast D.C. on various health topics such as healthy relationships, substance use prevention, reproductive, and mental health. After graduating from American University, she worked at a school-based health center as a community health organizer at Montefiore Hospital in The Bronx, N.Y where she increased clinic enrollment and connected schools with community-based organizations. She worked as a community health organizer for two years before attending medical school at Charles R. Drew/UCLA. In medical school, she organized a community health fair, minority health conference, and black women physician’s empowerment event as an active member of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) CDU/UCLA chapter. She is excited to continue her medical training at UCSF where she knows she will be able to further explore her interests in women’s health, immigrant health, health advocacy, and community engagement. Outside of medicine, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, hiking, trying new restaurants, and visiting art museums. [email protected]
Katherine Chan (she/her), UCSF
Katherine was born and raised in Burma until the age of 11, before immigrating to the United States with her family. She attended public schools in San Francisco and completed her BA at UC Berkeley in Public Health and minor in Global Poverty and Practice. She is passionate about working to address health disparities and inequities due to her and her family’s experiences overcoming barriers in health and education as immigrants in the U.S. During college, she served as an interpreter for Burmese immigrant women during labor and delivery and a tutor for recent Burmese immigrant/refugee students. After graduation, she attended the UCSF Interprofessional Health Post-Baccalaureate Program, where she found a community of supportive and encouraging peers and mentors. She was thrilled to attend UCSF for medical school and participated in the Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US), where she continued to work toward her passion in mentorship, advocacy, and community engagement to serve and uplift the health and well-being of diverse, under-resourced communities. She mentored students from communities underrepresented in medicine through pipeline/pathway-programs, and led elective courses on Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) health disparities and advocacy, and Caring for the Underserved. She is excited and grateful to be with an incredible community at UCSF/SFGH in Family and Community Medicine and hopes to dive deeper into her interests in community medicine, immigrant health, mental health, and mentorship for URM students. In her free time, she enjoys being active—playing volleyball, swimming, jogging, badminton, hiking— , caring for her plants, meditation, and spending time with family and friends. [email protected]
Jennifer Chinchilla (she/her/ella), Michigan State
Jennifer (Jenn) is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants and was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. After graduating as a proud San Francisco State gator, she worked for the SF Dept of Public Health on various projects to reduce health disparities in underserved and minority populations. During this time, she also worked on quality improvement measures at the Health Plan of San Mateo and campaigned for the Yes on Prop V ordinance passed in 2016. Before medical school at Michigan State University, she completed a postbaccalaureate program at UC Davis. At MSU, Jenn served in different capacities for the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) including: Co-Director for the Midwest Region, Policy Chair, and her chapter president. She has been involved in research investigating and improving the patient-physician relationship with limited English proficiency (LEP) patient encounters. She is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society and was awarded the Excellence in Public Health Award by the United States Public Health Service Physician Professional Advisory Committee. Her interests include social justice, immigration reform, health equity, and underserved medicine. She enjoys writing spoken word poetry, drinking cafesito with her partner, watching the Warriors win, and taking care of her plants and fur baby. [email protected]
Alex Coston (they/them) Tufts University
Alex grew up in Frederick, Maryland and completed their undergraduate studies in Chemistry and English at Amherst College. After graduating, they worked as a research technician studying lipid metabolism at a Tufts University laboratory. They then went on to work as a research assistant in the Cardiology Department at Tufts Medical Center, coordinating a study that focused on body composition in heart failure patients with LVADs. During their time in Boston, they fell in love with the diversity of the communities in the city and decided to stay for their medical education at Tufts University School of Medicine. It was at Tufts that their passion for advocacy and underserved communities blossomed. They worked with people experiencing homelessness through Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. They grew passionate about working with people who have substance use disorder and advocated for safe consumption sites at the Massachusetts State House. They were part of a grassroots movement that successfully led to Tufts severing ties with the Sackler family, who founded and operated Purdue Pharma and are rooted in the opioid overdose crisis. They also pushed for a more inclusive medical school environment and curriculum, including antiracist foundations and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. They are honored to continue their training at UCSF and to fall in love with the communities that receive their care at the San Francisco General Hospital. Their clinical interests include LGBTQIA+ health and gender affirming medicine, antiracist obstetrics care, addiction medicine, and family centered full spectrum care. Outside of medicine, they enjoy being outside (hiking, biking, walking, running), reading, cross stitch, spending time with their cat Squish, and eating lots of ice cream at Mitchell’s. [email protected]
Simone DeShields (she/her) Loma Linda
Simone was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Southern California. If you hear loud Jamaican music in the Mission District, there is a chance it is a direct result of her proud Caribbean upbringing. She is not only appreciative of her heritage, but also her intersectionality that has allowed her to navigate through academia with a unique perspective. Simone graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Psychobiology and minor in Society & Genetics. Throughout her undergraduate experience she was committed to and valued her involvement in URM and community centered organizations. At Loma Linda University, where she received her MD/MPH, she was able to integrate her passion for minority health and social justice by developing and implementing a curriculum addressing racism as a public health crisis. She is very passionate about advocacy and looks forward to working towards equitable outcomes for her patients, especially those historically marginalized and mistreated by systemic injustice. Out of scrubs, she lives to spend time with her loved ones (especially her mother, sister, and partner) and enjoys good food, yoga, nail art, Prince (the purple one), and her cat, Nina. [email protected]
Oscar Echeverria (he/him), UCLA Geffen
Dreana Jett (she/her), Temple University
Dreana is originally from Providence, Rhode Island. She earned her undergraduate degree from Howard University, in Washington, D.C. She strives to fulfill the Howard University Motto of “Truth and Service.” Following her undergraduate, she attended the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She is enthusiastic about using public health and policy to dismantle systemic racism and achieve health equity. She was an SNMA Region VIII Political Advocacy Liaison. Additionally, she served two terms as the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians student representative to the Government & Practice Advocacy Committee. Dreana was a 2021 AAFP Foundation, Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leaders Institute Scholar. She collaborated with other health professionals, community organizers, and sex workers to create a workshop for providers to deliver trauma-sensitive comprehensive care for people that do sex work. Dreana also participated in a fellowship at the Temple University Center for Urban Bioethics. As a fellow, she conducted addiction medicine research and coordinated multiple community projects. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. Outside of medicine, Dreana enjoys candle-making, cooking, and attending live music events. She is grateful to be among inspirational and passionate innovators at UCSF and SF General Hospital. [email protected]
Vivian Ling (she/her), Michigan
Vivian was born and raised in San Francisco. She studied History of Science with a focus on the history of medicine at Harvard. After college, she worked in health policy and strategy at the Advisory Board Company in DC, with a focus on population health and primary care. She then attended University of Michigan Medical School, where she also completed an MPH in health policy and management. Vivian is unbelievably ecstatic to not only return home after (too) many years of snow, but also to finally serve the city she loves in the company of amazing family medicine colleagues who are similarly dedicated to making the health care system more just for everyone. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, dancing, playing volleyball, and spending time with family and friends. [email protected]
Alphonse Liu (he/him), Nova Southeastern
Alphonse was born and raised in the city of San Francisco. He earned his bachelors degree from UCLA and his medical degree from Nova/Southeastern University of Health Sciences. Prior to medical school, he worked at the non-profit federally qualified health center NEMS to help care for and coordinate care for the uninsured and underprivileged communities in San Francisco. Alphonse is excited to return to his hometown to help serve those in his community and city. [email protected]
George Matta (he/him), Boston
George is a Californian through and through. He grew up in Oceanside, CA within San Diego County and spent most of his adult life in the Bay Area. He is the son of Lebanese immigrants who sought refuge in the US during the Lebanese Civil War. While in college at UC Berkeley (Go Bears!), he studied Public Health and researched nationwide disparities in jail and prison health services with Community Oriented Correctional Health Services in Oakland. He also spent a year as an AmeriCorps member teaching preschool in Chinatown, Oakland. Prior to medical school, he was a research analyst here at SF General, studying the impacts of health technology and the electronic health record on patient-clinician communication, especially with patients who have limited English proficiency and limited health literacy. During medical school in Boston, he focused on curricula building for medical student community engagement in bridging neighborhood needs with a local community health center. His professional interests include immigrant and refugee health, community medicine, QI and implementation science, patient-clinician communication, geriatrics, queer health, mental health, and teaching! Outside of the hospital, you can catch him biking around the city, reading at a park with a cardamom bun in hand, or in front of the TV catching up on all 13(?) seasons of Dr. Who. [email protected]
Abhinaya Narayanan (she/her), UCLA Geffen
Armando Navarro Jr. (he/him/el), UC Riverside
Armando Navarro Jr. was born and raised in South Gate, CA to an immigrant Mexican family. He spent his summers alongside his father at their family restaurant and began to notice the various health disparities that affect Latinx communities. He attended UC Riverside for where he received his B.S. in Biology. During his undergraduate studies he became a Medical Spanish Translator for the Riverside Free Clinic. He began to notice the disparities that the Latinx community of Riverside was identical to the one's he experienced in South Gate. Upon graduation he joined the Health Corps at an FQHC named AltaMed Health Services where he coordinated various health fairs, mobile unit outreach events and fundraising events for underserved communities of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. He returned to UC Riverside for medical school and focused his time on founding a free clinic for migrant farmworkers in the Eastern Coachella Valley, known as the Coachella Valley Free Clinic (CVFC). Armando is passionate about Latinx health both in and out of clinical settings and enjoys mentoring students. He is excited to join UCSF in his personal mission to combat health disparities that underserved communities face. His clinical interests include community medicine, integrative medicine, and immigrant health. When not providing patient care, you can find him at a baseball game rooting against the SF Giants in his Los Angeles Dodgers gear. He also enjoys bicycling, photography, and exploring all the food SF has to offer. [email protected]
Naiby Rodriguez (she/her/ella), Arizona- Tucson
Naiby grew up in Yuma Arizona. She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants who instilled in her a love for humanity, showed her the value of compassion, and the importance of serving her community through actions. They planted the seed of service, and over time it bloomed into passion and a devotion to medicine. She attended The University of Arizona for college, where she majored in Physiology and subsequently where she received her medical degree. Throughout her undergraduate career Naiby helped lead mentorship and outreach efforts for students and communities underrepresented in STEM especially those tied to her hometown of Yuma. While in medical school, Naiby was involved in the Anti-Racism in Medicine Committee where she advocated for and helped establish standards for recruitment and retention of a diverse cohort of students enhancing outreach efforts to increase the pipeline of diverse students. From personal experience, she deeply understood the importance and value of having diverse medical providers to better reflect the patient populations we serve. As the co-chair for her school's Latino Medical School Association (LMSA) chapter, she helped create opportunities for underrepresented students to introduce them to the medical field by hosting student panels and taught them basic clinical skills. Being raised in a rural community, Naiby understood the virtues and shortcoming of rural medicine, wanting to explore this medicine no longer as a patient but now as a provider, she completed part of her medical training throughout rural Arizona. Here she gained a better understanding of patient's barriers to care. Naiby is thrilled to be joining the UCSF/SFGH family where she looks forward to growing and learning from her peers but most importantly connecting with the community and her patients. She hopes to bring a practice that incorporates her Mexican heritage but most importantly one that reflects the core values of compassion, integrity, and humility taught by her parents. Outside of medicine, she enjoys spending time with friends and loved ones, baking, hiking, writing, reading, and working on jigsaw puzzles. [email protected]
Pierrot Rutagarama (he/him), Rochester
Pierrot was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to a Congolese mom and Rwandan father. His first experience with FM was at a refugee camp in Benin West Africa where he was diagnosed with malaria and treated by a primary care physician. This shaped his interest in primary care and global health work. He attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine where he participated in SNMA, the Refugee Student Alliance, and conducted public health research in rural Malawi. On his free time Pierrot is the founder and Creative Director of Ruta, a business that creates medical wear designed to celebrate identity. Pierrot also enjoys to work out, go on hikes, and host social events with friends and loved ones. He is excited to work in San Francisco with the urban underserved populations. [email protected]
Elaine Wang (she/her), George Washington
Elaine's roots are established in Redmond, Washington, a suburb outside of Seattle, where she grew her gratitude for family, community, and nature. Softball (and a need for sunshine) brought her to Claremont McKenna College, a small liberal arts school in Southern California, for her undergraduate studies. While pursuing a major in biology, she happened upon and fell in love with ethnic studies. She traded in her glove and cleats for a stack of Asian American Studies books, thus beginning her journey of critically examining structures and institutions that shape individual experiences, particularly in mental health and in immigrant/refugee communities. Medical school brought her to Washington, DC, where she became more deeply involved immigrant health and justice, developing medical-legal partnerships in community clinics and engaging in legislative advocacy with Doctors for Camp Closure. She is thrilled to be back on the West Coast and living in SF, where dogs outnumber children and Asian foods are abundant. She is humbled and honored to grow alongside a family of residents who inspire her to continue striving for health equity and justice through community work. Outside of the hospital/clinic, you can find Elaine among her houseplants, grabbing noms with friends, napping, meandering through a farmer's market, getting crafty, or petting pups. [email protected]
PGY-3: Class of 2024
Reem Al-Atassi (she/her), Emory
Reem grew up in metro Atlanta. She attended Emory University for college, where she majored in Biology and English-Creative Writing. She then headed to Dallas to study Quranic Arabic before returning to Emory for medical school. There, she was heavily involved in the school’s literary magazine, and she led an extracurricular learning series on ACEs and trauma-informed care. Her activities in the broader Atlanta community included developing and directing an award-winning program called You4Prevent with the help of a refugee-turned-cardiologist. The program combines health promotion in a refugee community with mentorship for underrepresented pre-medical students. Separately, she worked on a weekend school for the Rohingya refugee community. She is thrilled to train at UCSF, where she looks forward to exploring her interests in prevention, primary care innovation, and community- and family-oriented care. Outside medicine, she enjoys spending time with loved ones, cooking, yoga, and being in nature. [email protected]
Jacob Arellano-Anderson (he/they), Harvard
Jacob is a born and raised Texan, from birth and childhood in El Paso and the north Texas ‘burbs, to the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied Chemistry and Iberian/Latin American Languages & Cultures. In his college, he helped lead mentorship and outreach efforts for students and communities underrepresented in STEM. He also worked as a tutor, a rideshare driver, and at the UT International Office with Latin American students. Intimate experiences with addiction and witnessing the failures of the healthcare system to meet the needs of people on the margins drove him to medicine and an interest in primary care and public service. At Harvard Medical School, Jacob continued to advocate for underrepresented students in medicine and local minority communities with the Latino Medical Student Association, LGBTQ+ and Allies at HMS, and the Racial Justice Coalition. He is academically interested in the intersection of sex- and- gender informed medicine and substance use disorders, as well as physician advocacy for gender-affirming care, harm reduction and refugee/immigrant health. He finds joy in dancing, queer art (drag name: Santita La Cob), practicing Spanish/Portuguese, making salsa, immersive tabletop/video games and US electoral politics. [email protected]
Nida Bajwa (she/her), Jefferson
Nida grew up in a tiny town in rural Pennsylvania and attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for college. She graduated with a degree in journalism and global health studies. Through various classes and justice organizations, she developed her convictions as an activist, deciding that practicing root-cause medicine was practicing primary care. As a medical student, Nida served as the president of the Jefferson Students for Human Rights and the Outreach Director for the Philadelphia Human Rights Clinic, a student-run organization that provides no-cost physical and psychological evaluations to those seeking asylum. She is also a member of Doctors 4 Camp Closure, with whom she drafts letters to advocate for the release of detained individuals. She sees her future in medicine as intrinsically tied to principles of social and health justice, working to create truly healthy communities by creating healthier systems of care. Outside of medicine and writing, she loves reading, hiking, traveling, and exploring new places on foot. [email protected]
Kelley Butler (she/her), UC Irvine
Hailing from Los Angeles, Kelley has committed herself to various causes dedicated to students and professionals of color, people battling substance use disorder and addiction, people experiencing houselessness, and others. Prior to coming to UCSF, Kelley graduate from the UC Irvine School of Medicine and completed her Masters of Public Health in Health Policy at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. There, she aided in organizing efforts in juvenile justice reform and prison divestment, completed a fellowship in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, increased civic engagement on campus through voter registration and health policy education and oversaw a conferences and workshops designed to support minoritized trainees. Following her masters studies, she went on to serve rural and frontier communities in Oregon as an Opioid Response Program Associate for Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc. Kelley graduated from Howard University in 2015 with BS in Biology and a unique awareness of the social circumstance of the urban underserved. A Leo sun, Sagittarius moon and Aquarius rising, Kelley isn’t afraid to speak truth to power in the face of injustice. She is excited to continue this work as an advocate inside and outside of the exam room with her partner, Shane, alongside their pup and strong Black queen, Rosa Barks. [email protected]
Li Chen (she/her), Johns Hopkins
Li grew up in Taiwan and southern California amongst family that taught her the importance of relationships. While studying public policy and global health at Duke University, she worked as an HIV testing counselor and with organizations focused on community development, women's empowerment, and migrant health. After college, she worked with health workers and midwives in Haiti, supporting programs that addressed various social determinants of health. She moved to Baltimore for medical school and an MPH, and continued to learn about the structures that impact our collective wellbeing while advocating for affordable medication access, participating in mutual aid, and organizing with Baltimore residents surrounding housing, displacement, and policing. Li is honored to be a part of the SFGH family and to learn from radical organizing and resistance in the Bay Area. She enjoys hiking and biking, yoga and stretching, water (especially the ocean and most types of tea), plant-based foods (especially with spice), and traveling. [email protected]
Shane Hervey (he/him), OHSU
Shane was born in Orange County, California but raised in Portland, Oregon. He has unique ties to community organizations, institutions and causes on the west coast. Shane has dedicated himself to supporting underrepresented minority students pursuing careers in medicine as a fervent advocate within the OHSU Center for Diversity and Inclusion and has a desire to continue this as his career progresses. During medical school at OHSU, he served in numerous capacities for the Student National Medical Association, has contributed to advocacy and action around gun violence, climate change in healthcare and participated in research surrounding adolescent suicide. Within Oregon, Shane served on the Oregon Health Policy Board Health Care Workforce Committee and was an active supporter of community engagement and institutional collaboration for North by North East, a primary care home for Portland’s Black population. His clinical interests include: sports medicine, community medicine, and social determinants of health. Shane is a die-hard Seattle Seahawks (hardest part about moving to SF) and Oregon Duck fan, a hybrid Trailblazers-Lakers fan and a ‘pawther’ to a Rottweiler named Rosa Barks. Outside of the hospital, he enjoys live music, traveling, good eats, yoga, lifting weights, video games, and spending time with his partner and fellow co-resident, Dr. Kelley Butler. [email protected]
Dedriana Lomax (she/her), Howard
Dedriana was born and raised in San Francisco and attended Howard University in Washington, DC for her undergraduate career. Dedriana spent her first year after undergrad working for the Safe Passages program in Oakland, CA through AmeriCorps. There she worked with 7th graders as both an educator and a mentor. She then moved on to work at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and while there she gained a love for community health. She went on to attend medical school at Howard University, and she continued to be active in her surrounding community. She is committed to addressing racial and health disparities through education, advocacy, and mentorship. Outside of medicine, some of the things Dedriana enjoys includes spending time with family and friends, brunch, cooking, and listening to music. [email protected]
Sophie Mou (she/her), Cornell
Sophie Mou grew up in Sunnyvale, CA, and attended Cornell University, where she experienced having four seasons for the first time. After college, she returned to the Bay Area to work at the SFDPH's Family Planning Program, where she engaged with the community clinics to assess need for services pertaining to contraception and STI screening. She also worked as a pregnancy options counselor at UCSF's Women's Options Clinic. With these experiences, Sophie entered medical school at Weill Cornell Medical College ready to advocate for more comprehensive training around sexual and reproductive health for medical students. She was also involved in the student-run free clinic as a co-director of the Mental Health Clinic and drafted medical affidavits for people seeking asylum with the Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights. Sophie is so happy and grateful to have landed in a program that will foster her learning in not only medicine, but also in advocacy and health equity. Sophie loves her bike commute, the vibrant arts scene in SF, thrifting, and any activities that can pull her away from the infinite scroll. [email protected]
Yumiko Nakamura (she/her), University of Florida
Yumiko grew up in Port Chester, New York and Cape Coral, Florida. She studied psychology with neuroscience at Yale. After college, she worked as a Community HealthCorps volunteer at a federally qualified health center, where she helped structure an insurance outreach and enrollment program in a predominantly Latinx community. Yumiko returned to the sunshine state for medical school at the University of Florida, where she deepened her understanding of community engagement and advocacy, specifically around issues of immigrant health and homelessness. She is excited to join her UCSF colleagues in promoting health equity as a family medicine physician. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, discovering new music, and swimming. [email protected]
Kimberly Ngo (she/her), UC Davis
Kimberly Ngo was born & raised in San Jose, CA. She studied Public Health & Anthropology at UC Berkeley, where she found her passion for service through volunteering as a labor doula with Asian Health Services & for community organizing through Asian American/Southeast Asian student groups. After college, she worked at LifeLong Medical Care via Community Health Corps (AmeriCorps) & as a medical scribe. At UC Davis, she was involved in a variety of activities, most notably in Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association, Paul Hom Asian Clinic, & Organized Medicine. In her roles, she always thought critically on how to pursue social justice & health equity through advocacy, community engagement, making personal connections & education/mentorship. Kimberly is excited to join this residency, to learn with amazing faculty & co-residents, & to serve the communities of San Francisco. Her interests include: diversity & inclusion, immigrant/refugee health, maternal-child health, & public health. When not working, you can find her exploring SF, browsing bookstores for a good book, trying new restaurants & new recipes, or relaxing with yoga. [email protected]
Jenny Nguyen (she/her), Temple
Jenny grew up in New York City. She earned a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, where she was a leader in cultural life, social justice advocacy, and the performing arts. Interested in the intersection between structure and agency in urban underserved care, she earned a M.D./M.A. Urban Bioethics degree from Temple University. At Temple, she co-founded a community nutrition program, worked with Philadelphia Housing Authority CARES, and made hearts race while performing with the TachyChordia a capella group or teaching fitness classes. A vocal mentor for first-generation students, she served on Temple's Student Diversity Council and as Director of Medical Programming for 1stGenYale. Dedicated to health justice, she presented at policy competitions, won awards and published on access to care, gun reform, behavioral health, bioethics, and immigrant health. Jenny is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and Gold Humanism Honor Society. She is ecstatic to channel her endless enthusiasm into championing diversity and inclusion, policy, and advocacy for urban underserved immigrant communities. In her spare time, she loves exploring cities by foot, kickboxing, playing tennis, singing, playing her ukulele, cooking, baking, and going on dessert tour. [email protected]
April Pei (she/her), USC
April was born in China and grew up in Virginia. She double-majored in gender studies and statistics in college, then moved to New York where she worked for four years as a community health worker and volunteered as an HIV tester and counselor. Through this work she came to recognize the significant and often untapped potential of high-quality primary care to help empower individuals, families, and communities. This led her to medical school at USC where she was a proud member of the primary care track, advocated for the needs of asylum seekers, facilitated grief groups at a community organization, and conducted research on critical tattoo removal services for gang-affiliated individuals. She is interested in just about everything in family medicine but particularly minority and immigrant health, environmental health, palliative medicine, and multidisciplinary care. Outside of medicine she likes to read, nap, cook, drink tea, and look at beautiful art and buildings. [email protected]
Noemi Plaza (she/her), UCSF
Noemi is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and she grew up between Paris, France and Napa, California. She went to Cornell University for her undergraduate education. In her gap years, she completed a Fulbright in the Dominican Republic where she worked with youth from Santo Domingo to establish an anti-machismo workshop series. At UCSF School of Medicine, she further focused on her interest in women’s health with her involvement in the annual Interpersonal Violence Prevention Conference as well as serving as Women’s Health Director of the student run homeless clinic. During her time at UCSF she became more passionate about diversifying the medical field, and finding ways to support URM students to engage with healthcare professions through her involvement with the Summer Urban Health Leadership Academy. Her academic interests include abortion care and OB. In her free time, you can find Noemi balling out on her local basketball court, spending time in California’s beautiful outdoors, and picking up new moves on the dance floor. [email protected]
Sydnie Turner (she/they), Rochester
Sydnie Turner grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area with family roots in Alabama and Mississippi. She attended Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans where she received a B.S. in Biology with Honors. Sydnie later moved to Rochester, New York to pursue her M.D. at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. During her tenure, she worked with the URMC Department of Public Health Science and the Healthy Baby Network of Rochester on their father-inclusive parenting programming for families during the perinatal period. She also helped develop a Reproductive Justice course for UR Public Health students. Sydnie’s professional interests include health equity and policy reform through community-based advocacy, reproductive and sexual health, LGBTQ+ health, and mental health. During her time in Rochester, Sydnie trained to be a 200 HR certified yoga instructor through Yoga for a Good Hood, a donation-based organization that offers yoga classes for the Rochester community. She has training in perinatal yoga and restorative yoga styles. Sydnie enjoys making music playlists for loved ones, watching Bay Area sports teams, and tending to indoor plants. [email protected]
Karen Zhang (she/her), University of Texas
Karen was born and raised around Dallas, Texas and grew up immersed in science and arts, eventually leading her down the path of medicine. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she spent much of her time volunteering as a health advocate at Highland Hospital and as an In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) worker. She graduated with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology with an emphasis in Immunology and went on to work a year as a ophthalmic tech in Oakland before returning to Texas for medical school. There, she discovered her love of primary care and integrative medicine as well as advocating for her patients. She focused on her leadership role in Physicians for Human Rights in creating voter registration booths, workshops on implicit bias, and organizing resources in fighting for justice and equity. She is excited to be back in the Bay Area and continue her education at UCSF, where she hopes to keep working among the community and underserved populations. Outside of medicine, Karen loves eating foods of all kinds, creating and discovering new music/art, and watching cheesy movies. [email protected]
Leadership
Diana Coffa, MD, Residency Program Director
Diana Coffa, MD, has been director of our residency program since 2014. She believes that medical education can become a space where we trainees deepen their understanding of and respect for themselves, their communities and their patients. While the current structures of medical education don’t facilitate the creation of that space, she is committed to supporting her own residency in becoming a healing, generous, challenging, honest, and accountable community that helps every one of its members grow. She believes in the power of community process and takes a collectivist approach to teaching and patient care. In addition to family medicine, Dr. Coffa is board certified in Addiction Medicine. She has co-authored national guidelines on the treatment of opioid use disorder in pregnancy and on the use of medications for opioid use. She believes, both in residency education and in substance use disorder treatment, that people’s autonomy, agency, and strength must be centered in order to allow for growth and maturation. Click here for more information. [email protected]
Lydia Leung, MD, Residency Program Associate Director
Lydia Leung, MD, has been associate director for the residency program since 2015. Lydia has been actively working on reviewing and revising the longitudinal arch of the residency’s outpatient didactic curriculum. She has largely focused on identifying teaching that has been negatively impacted by race-based decision making through a re-examination of the body of research that results in recommendations that could deepen health inequities. With constant feedback from residents and faculty, what is giving her life is the robust and case-based dialogue on what it means for all family physicians to unlearn, and subsequently forge a path forward that builds a more nuanced, relationship-centered, and anti-oppressive way of being a healer. She is passionate about medical education, mentorship of underrepresented in medicine trainees, and supporting a residency culture that fosters lifelong learning in service of centering the marginalized. And always, doing it all with deep love. ❤ Click here for more information. [email protected]
Randy Jackson, MD, Residency Program Associate Director
Randy Jackson Jr., MD, currently serves as one of our associate residency program directors. He believes strongly in the power education and advocacy, not only for students and residents but for patients and members of the community. That is what attracted him to UCSF, as their philosophy on medical education and restorative practices have supported his journey. As the first in his family graduate high school and attend college, he benefited greatly from access to pipeline programs focused on supporting minority students in science and math. He brings experience from helping to develop outreach and pipeline programs to his current work and hopes to continue to build upon that presence here. He fell in love with Family Medicine because of the variety of roles and settings this specialty allows you to practice in as he works across multiple settings including outpatient continuity clinic, urgent care, and inpatient medicine. His current role allows him the opportunity to work within education, clinical research, direct patient care, and community engagement. While certain structures in medical education have made it difficult to find space and support for diversity and inclusion work, he has focused his teaching efforts to better understand and develop a growing environment in this space. He has strong interests in mentorship and advising of residents and medical students as well as advocating for medically and educationally underserved communities. As a former teacher and coach, he finds purpose in fostering good team dynamics and supporting those around him. Click here for more information. [email protected]