Current Med-Peds Residents
Class of 2024
Class of 2025
Class of 2026
Class of 2027
Class of 2024
Kristina Brown, MD
4th Year Resident
Kristina (She/her/hers) has lived in almost every corner of the country: She was born in Miami and grew up in Colorado where she developed a love for scenic trail-running. (Despite living near the Rocky Mountains for most of her life, she’s actually never been skiing!) For college, she attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where she studied Integrative Physiology.
She then ventured across the country for medical school, bringing a long-standing passion for the humanities and advocacy to Yale School of Medicine. There, she thrived as a poet and community-builder, and also published an op-ed about her personal experience as a family caregiver and the need for healthcare reform. This led her to testify in Congress for the rights of family caregivers and individuals with disabilities.
She is thrilled to be a part of the Med-Peds community with the unique opportunity to care for and advocate for families and patients, both young and old. She chose UCLA for its warm community of residents and faculty, diverse patient population, and built-in advocacy curriculum. Ultimately, she aims to combine her advocacy with her clinical work and serve as a national advocate for caregivers and individuals with disabilities from every walk of life.
She lives in Westwood and enjoys searching for the best sunset views, reading and writing poetry by the shoreline, and playing the ukulele with friends.
Favorite TV show: This is Us
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - Yale
Undergrad - University of Colorado
Julian Lefbman
4th Year Resident, Chief Resident
Julian (He/him/his) spent his formative years planning his escape from his hometown of Las Vegas. He left the neon lights behind for college at the University of Pittsburgh, then spent two years at the NIH studying prognostic biomarkers in traumatic brain injury. As a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania, he developed a love for wielding systems and quality improvement techniques to improve health equity. He worked to improve access to primary care among pediatric patients experiencing homelessness, helped build a mental health resource network at a gender clinic for trans and gender non-conforming youth, and worked at Puentes de Salud, a clinic for undocumented Latinx immigrants in Philadelphia. He chose Med-Peds because he wanted the ability to care for these communities across the lifespan and across clinical settings.
He came to UCLA because of the diverse patient population, the opportunity to train at county and community hospitals in addition to typical academic centers, and the rich community of Med-Peds faculty and residents with diverse passion projects. He believes strongly in serving as a mentor for other first generation, Latinx, and LGBTQ trainees, as well as helping all trainees feel a sense of belonging and support in medicine.
Despite his desert upbringing, Julian has no tolerance for heat and is grateful every day for the West LA breeze. He has been enjoying bike rides along the beach, surfing with co-residents, and group boba breaks at work in the name of “team building”.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - University of Pennsylvania
Undergrad- University of Pittsburgh
Wilson Ricketts, MD
4th Year Resident, Chief Resident
Wilson (He/him/his) is from the small town of Columbiana, AL. He graduated from Covenant College outside of Chattanooga, TN, where he worked for a community health clinic serving the city’s immigrant population before moving back to Alabama for medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Between his MS3 and MS4 years, he spent a year at Duke Divinity School as a Theology, Medicine, and Culture fellow, allowing him to delve into questions about suffering, hope, bioethics, and moral formation in medicine.
He pursued Med-Peds because of his desire to be trained to think about the entire scope of his patients’ lives and stories. He chose UCLA because it is a world class program with world class people that are not just made up of colleagues but genuine friends! There is an incredibly strong Med-Peds division at UCLA and he was blown away by the kindness of the Med-Peds faculty and the interest they showed in him as a person and as a developing physician. He was also drawn to the extensive global health opportunities and the integrated advocacy training.
He is interested in palliative care, global health (specifically forming long-term partnerships to develop self-sustaining medical education programs/healthcare infrastructure), refugee and immigrant healthcare, and primary care.
He loves traveling, good conversations, and dancing absurdly to loud music. Outside of work you’ll find him exploring local hiking trails, working on his rock climbing in the Malibu hills, enjoying the LA food scene, or sitting on his porch with a cup of tea, immersed in a good book.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - University of Alabama
Undergrad - Covenant College
Nate VanderVeen
4th Year Resident, Chief Resident
Nate (He/him/his) grew up in rural west Michigan (Allegan, MI) in a family of funeral directors, which provided his first glimpse of what it meant to provide care for those in need. He attended the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) to study Spanish and Biological Chemistry before pursuing research full time for several years with a team developing gene therapy based clinical trials for glioblastoma multiforme. He moved to Rio de Janeiro for a Fulbright scholarship and taught English at a university before returning for medical school near his home at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker School of Medicine.
He pursued Med-Peds for the comprehensive educational experience enabling him to care for all types of patients in a variety of settings. He also appreciates influence of a pediatrics training on his approach with adults, and vice versa. He chose UCLA for residency for the diversity in clinical sites, patient populations, and pathology. He has special interests in oncology therapeutics and survivorship clinics, hormone therapy for transgender patients, equitable healthcare for marginalized populations, and global health.
He loves living in LA and enjoys riding his bike to the ocean, playing tennis or going for a swim. Also, he loves exploring the diverse and endless food scene.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - Western Michigan
Undergrad - University of Michigan
Class of 2025
Asma Bahrami
3rd Year Resident
Asma (She/her/hers) was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana. Her parents were refugees from Afghanistan and raised Asma to prioritize gratitude, hard work, and service while incorporating Afghan and Islamic cultures into Asma’s life. Asma stayed in-state at Purdue University for undergrad and then Indiana University for medical school. Asma was first introduced to Med-Peds when she had two Med-Peds senior residents during her third-year Pediatrics rotation. Asma was impressed by their management of medicine across the spectrum and how they used knowledge from one side to enhance the other. Asma wanted to do the same ever since!
Med-Peds fits many of her interests - taking care of complex cases across the age spectrum, an emphasis on Med-Ed, and opportunities for global health and transitions of care. Asma loves so many things and though she is not quite sure where her career is headed yet, she feels UCLA has a very strong mentorship program and there is always someone there to help figure things out. Throughout residency, Asma has been involved in medical education and hopes to continue this.
Since moving to LA, Asma thinks LA is great for exploring a diversity of foods and has the best boba! She loves spending time outside as much as possible (tennis, hiking, etc).
Amanda De La Cerda, MD, MPH
3rd Year Resident
Amanda (She/her/hers) is a proud native of Sylmar, CA. After graduating from Mount Saint Mary’s University, she began working as a 7th-grade science teacher at Olive Vista Middle School in Sylmar. This transformative teaching experience motivated her to continue working with children and under-resourced populations. Always interested in medicine, she moved to the bay area to enroll as a post-baccalaureate student. While pursuing post-bac work, she used her skills as an educator in her role as the Co-Director of the Summer Science Institute at SFSU which worked to promote the entry of underrepresented minority students into the health professions. Amanda is a graduate of the PRIME-LA program at UCLA, a program focusing on leadership and advocacy to address healthcare disparities in medically underserved populations in California. In addition to her MD degree, Amanda also has a Master’s in Public Policy. She plans to use this skill set to advocate for equitable health and social justice policies that impact the communities she is committed to serving.
My path to Med-Peds was a bit tortuous, but I am so happy to be here! I love working with adolescents, so pediatrics was always high on my list. I realized that working with adolescents and young adults is very fulfilling, but I didn’t want the work to stop there. The capability to work with patients of all ages and the opportunity it creates for rapport and advocacy is unmatched. UCLA offers a true breadth of training experiences. Whatever your interests, you can find someone working in these areas. I was particularly drawn to UCLA for the opportunity to continue working at Olive View. Also- LA is where it’s at! The culture, the food, the weather. What’s not to love? Health policy, working with justice-involved youth and unhoused folks, advocating for LGBTQ care and being a champion for gender-affirming care, EDI in academia.
Amanda and her wife have 2 children, so in their spare time you can find them all at a local park, the zoo, or the beach. They are also big fans of the Natural History Museum and La Brea tar pits! Amanda’s favorite TV show to binge is Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - UCLA
Undergrad - Mount St. Mary's University
Amarachi Erondu, MD
3rd Year Resident
Amarachi (She/her/hers) grew up in Augusta, Georgia as the daughter of Nigerian immigrants. She attended Harvard College for undergrad where she studied Human Evolutionary Biology and African Studies. After graduating, she spent a year working at Boston Children’s Hospital doing quality improvement research. Not scared away by the cold, she ventured to Chicago to study medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. There, she developed a passion for increasing diversity in medicine by working with various pipeline programs. She also took a year off to get a master’s degree in biomedical informatics. During this time, she worked on various projects that aimed to use EHR data and machine learning to improve patient care.
Amarachi chose Med-Peds because the specialty offers opportunities to care for patients of all ages in various clinical settings. She also loves that the specialty upholds the belief that the lessons learned and skills developed in one clinical setting can improve clinical practice in another. (It’s giving true QI vibes, and she digs it!) She’s so excited to join the welcoming community at UCLA! She’s looking forward to learning from a diverse patient population and exploring the many research opportunities that the program has to offer.
Amarachi hopes to continue her work in informatics, namely to use EHR data to improve healthcare delivery and address disparities. She is also interested in adolescent health and transitioning adolescent patients with chronic conditions to adult care. She also hopes to participate in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives that focus on mentorship/pipeline programs for underrepresented minority high school and college students.
Outside of the hospital, Amarachi loves bike riding, diving head-first into LA’s amazing food scene, and enjoying live music.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - University of Chicago
Undergrad - Harvard
Daniel Hodson, MD
3rd Year Resident
Daniel (He/him/his) hails from Trumbull, Connecticut (a small state just northeast of California). He attended high school at Fairfield Prep in Connecticut and then undergrad at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. At Swarthmore, he promptly started down the medical path by majoring in psychology and minoring in theater, captaining the cross country and track teams, and serving as one of the inaugural Swarthmore Phoenix mascots. Daniel then joined the United States Peace Corps and spent three months in Niger before the program was evacuated. He was transferred directly to Senegal, where he spent over four years in the rural, southern region of Kolda helping to build a community garden, creating radio shows in Foulacounda for the local Peace Corps radio program. Most importantly, he worked in the support of local health districts in a broad range of malaria control activities and helped to deliver tens of thousands of malaria rapid diagnostic tests and first-line antimalarials to these under-resourced catchment areas. Returning to the states, Daniel completed the Bryn Mawr Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Med Program (Pennsylvania again) and then returned to Connecticut for a year of clinical heart failure research at the Yale School of Medicine, where he remained for medical school. In medical school, Daniel conducted field epidemiological research into malaria infection in Douala, Cameroon and fell in love with bedside ultrasound.
Daniel’s broad clinical interests entering intern year include primary care, cardiology, infectious disease, and critical care. Beyond patient care, Daniel is passionate about delivering healthcare to underserved populations, building bi-directional global health collaborations, and implementing cutting-edge technology to transform bedside diagnosis and clinical medicine. He chose Med/Peds for the opportunity to provide continuous clinical care across the lifespan and for the broad clinical training applicable to global health contexts and public health. Daniel was drawn to UCLA for the energy of the program that was evident on interview day, for the emphasis on clinical competency, for the opportunity to work across several different types of hospitals, and for the diverse patient populations.
Daniel enjoys running, cycling, and swimming, practicing French and Foulacounda, and instigating fun shenanigans with friends. He enjoys watching highlights of New York Mets baseball, cycling, and soccer and recommends Lenox Hill on Netflix. Prior to Match Day, Daniel and his significant other Abigail had never been to Los Angeles. Here in the sun and warmth, they look forward to learning to surf, rebuilding/expanding their collection of fruit trees, and climbing nearby mountains.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - Yale
Undergrad - Swarthmore College
Esther Kang, MD
3rd Year Resident
Esther (They/them/theirs) was born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in Chicago, IL and Torrance, CA. Esther studied Neural Science at New York University and received their MD from UC Davis School of Medicine.
Medicine is Esther’s second career. Prior to medical school, Esther spent seven years as a middle school science and health teacher in Oakland Unified School District. During that time, Esther helped to co-author the middle school edition of Healthy Oakland Teens, a district-wide LGBTQ+-inclusive and trauma-informed sexual health curriculum. In their free time, they worked as an HIV test counselor at the Berkeley Free Clinic and organized with various queer Asian/Pacific Islander collectives as well as domestic violence advocacy programs. These passions ultimately led them to medicine, a path that held the possibility of blending their loves for teaching, direct care, and advocacy. Esther’s work in medicine is in honor of their family, students, and community members.
Esther chose Med-Peds so that they can be equipped to take care of all patients with medically and socially complex concerns. Esther felt that UCLA was the right place for this training because of their incredible, all-star people; the diversity of their clinical sites; and the strength of the categorical programs. Esther’s career interests include: pediatric-to-adult transition care, gender-affirming primary care, palliative care, academic medicine, and JEDI in medicine.
Esther is excited to return to Southern California, near their family, and is enjoying creating new memories of LA. Esther loves going on nature adventures with their superstar partner and their two chiweenie pups. Esther also loves game nights, intimate friend gatherings, and hunting for the best Asian shaved ice in LA. When they’re too exhausted for the above, they like binging reality cooking shows and wholesome Korean dramas.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - UC Davis
Undergrad - New York University
Akshara Malla, MD
3rd Year Resident
Akshara (She/her/hers) is from the sunny city of Phoenix, Arizona. Akshara loves to dance, watch Bollywood movies, and travel.
For college, she attended Arizona State University, where she studied biomedical engineering. She decided to venture only 30 miles from home for medical school, where she attended the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. At UACOM-Phoenix, she continued to strengthen her passion for health policy and advocate for health equity especially for marginalized communities. During this time, she also received her Master’s in Public Health and was very involved with the American Medical Association and her state medical association.
Akshara chose Med-Peds as she wanted to be able to expand and incorporate advocacy and public health interventions in both child and adult populations, with an emphasis on improving transitions of care. Her ultimate goal is to pursue these efforts while practicing clinically and to nationally advocate for her patients and community. She chose to come to UCLA because of its diverse patient population, strong curricular emphasis on advocacy, variety of county, academic, and community-based training sites, tight-knit Med-Peds family, and location (being close to home is a huge plus!).
After moving to LA, Akshara has forgotten what real, true summers are like and now enjoys double-digit weather all year round. She has grown to love living in West LA and is on a journey to find the best food + coffee + boba.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - University of Arizona
Undergrad - Arizona State University
Class of 2026
Andrew Fahmy, MD
2nd Year Resident
Andrew (He/him/his) was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt (about 15 miles away from the pyramids) and moved to Florida when he was 16 years old. He attended Florida Atlantic University for college where he majored in Biological Science and minored in Psychology. Andrew stayed close to home and stayed at FAU for medical school. At FAU, he continued to foster his passion for mentoring and teaching where he mentored undergraduate students pursuing Medicine and tutored high school and middle school students in low income families and helped run medical simulations for students interested in Medicine. He continued his journey west and is beyond excited to now be at UCLA!
He was first interested in Med-Peds when his IM attending in his third year of medical school told him that he fit the ‘Med-Peds personality type’. After more research, the opportunity to be able to care for all people and in multiple settings as well as the advocacy initiatives that are embedded in the Med-Peds culture was too good to pass on. He is interested in congenital cardiology, infectious disease, global health and medical education . Having dual training is something that Andrew thinks will help him in his future career. He is also very passionate about teaching and wants to incorporate that during his time in residency and future career. Andrew chose UCLA for the outstanding categorical programs, the global health and advocacy initiatives and the culture of innovation and excellence that is very evident. The opportunity to rotate through multiple clinical sites and to care for the incredibly diverse population of the great city of Los Angeles is what makes UCLA Med-Peds so unique. Andrew can easily write another page on how incredible his co-interns, residents and leadership have been and he is very grateful to be here.
During his free time, Andrew likes to go to the beach with friends, play pick up soccer, and enjoy the roller coaster of emotions that is being an Arsenal fan (favorite English soccer team). He is also consistently trying (and mostly failing) to beat his co-intern Kalei at ping-pong and chess. Andrew also loves watching TV shows and can have a thirty minute conversation with anyone who is willing to listen on why he thinks The Office is the best sitcom ever made and why Ted Lasso is a very close second.
Education and Degree(s)
Florida Atlantic University
Jester Galiza, MD
2nd Year Resident
Jester (He/him/his) is from ‘Ewa Beach, Hawai’i, which is on the island of ‘Oahu, and is a product of two Filipino immigrant rice farm workers. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he took a detour from pursuing a career in medicine when he discovered Teach For America (TFA) – Hawai’i, a program dedicated to social justice and educational equity. Through the program, he returned to his hometown, taught 10th grade math at his alma mater, and obtained a Master of Education. After teaching, he continued working for the program wearing multiple hats, from coaching new math teachers to facilitating sessions in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Eventually, he found his way back to medicine and attended the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i (along with his co-intern Kalei), where he leveraged his passions for education and DEI to bring legislative advocacy, activism, and community engagement to the forefront of his and his classmates’ medical school education.
Jester found Med-Peds through his passion for primary care. It was important for him to be able to advocate and manage the care for his patients with a wide variety and complexity of problems encountered in all stages of life. He chose UCLA because of its strong commitment to DEI; diversity of its residents, leadership, and faculty; strong categorical medicine and pediatrics training; opportunities to serve across the spectrum of socioeconomic status; and its palpable culture of both academia and primary care. After residency, Jester aspires to be a primary care doctor in his home state of Hawai’i, serving disadvantaged populations and advocating for them through legislative advocacy and community engagement. During his time at UCLA, he hopes to get involved in Medical Education, QI, and JEDI/MEDI-PEDI.
Jester enjoys going to plant nurseries and expanding his LA oasis; getting cozy at a coffee shop and reading for pleasure; going to the beach (which doesn’t compare to Hawai’i’s beaches, but they’ll suffice); playing beach volleyball; checking out the LA food scene; hanging out with his co-residents across Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, and especially Med-Peds; and going to escape rooms with his co-interns Andrew, Kalei, and Kate. Jester struggles to commit to new TV shows, so he just binges on reruns of FRIENDS, which is the best show in existence.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - University of Hawaii
Undergrad - Dartmouth College
Katherine Halper, MD
2nd Year Resident
Kate (She/her/hers) grew up in San Francisco, California. She attended college at University of Pennsylvania and majored in Biology and English. She then returned to San Francisco to spend her gap year working as a medical assistant at the San Francisco Free Clinic, which provides primary care to exclusively uninsured patients. She remained on the west coast for medical school, attending University of Southern California, where she explored her interests of advocacy and health equity.
Kate chose Med-Peds because she knew she had to care for both the pediatric and adult populations. She also realized her most important medical school role models were Med-Peds because they were able to apply skills from one specialty to the other to provide the most comprehensive, thoughtful care. She chose UCLA because of the variety of clinical sites and the outstanding people within the program, from residents to faculty to leadership. Kate’s career interests include advocacy, health equity, and transitions of care.
Kate has spent the past 4 years in LA while in medical school and is so excited to have the opportunity to stay. She is making her way through all of LA’s must-eat restaurants and loves reading a good book on the beach.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - USC
Undergrad - University of Pennsylvania
Kalei Hosaka, MD
2nd Year Resident
Kalei is from Kaneohe, Hawaii. He graduated from Wheaton College (IL) with a degree in Anthropology and a certificate in Human Needs and Global Resources. Between 2015 and 2017, Kalei spent twelve months in Delhi, India, volunteering in a community HIV clinic, learning Hindi, and working on ethnographic research on stigma and mental wellbeing. Kalei returned home to the University of Hawaii for medical school, where he became involved with migrant health advocacy, scholarly work in Native Hawaiian health, and primary care in resource-limited settings. After completing the fall semester of his 4th year of medical school, Kalei spent a year in Northern Tanzania (Duke University and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre collaboration site) conducting research as a VECD NIH Fogarty Global Health fellow and learning Swahili. Working with youth living with HIV, Kalei’s research focused on stigma, peer education, theory-informed mental health interventions, and transition to adulthood for perinatally HIV-infected youth.
Kalei also completed a Certification of Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine (2021-2023) through Columbia University. Kalei is a National Health Corps scholar, an inducted member of medical student honor societies, and a recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award (2022), the USPHS Excellence in Public Health Award (2020), and several research awards.
Kalei chose Med-Peds for its broad and in-depth clinical training across the life spectrum that he feels is applicable to work in population health and global health. With his interests in the clinical care of children and adults in underserved US and global contexts, Kalei sees Med-Peds as an excellent foundation for a lifelong career as a physician contributing to a more just world.
While he loved many programs that he interviewed with, Kalei chose to train at UCLA because he saw it as a place where he would develop into the physician he wants to become—someone who is excellent clinically, social-justice minded, and compassionate! Kalei was drawn to UCLA’s emphasis on resident wellbeing, scholarly support and opportunities (including in global health), primary care advocacy, network of incredible Med-Peds residents and graduates, and its closer location to home (Hawaii).
Kalei’s clinical interests include HIV care, primary care in underserved settings, geriatrics, palliative care, and transitions of care. In residency, Kalei’s loves finding opportunities to play music with his patients and support what matters most to them. Outside of clinical work, Kalei’s career interests include scholarly work in the social sciences and humanities, global HIV research, community-based advocacy, and collaborative global health initiatives. Kalei is also an aspiring writer; his writing themes include global health equity, structural violence, the process of medical training, theology, and finding meaning in illness and death.
At UCLA, Kalei is involved in mentored research and scholarly work, the global health pathway, and narrative medicine programming. In Los Angeles, Kalei enjoys playing sports (volleyball, basketball, and pickleball) and music (guitar, piano, and singing)! Kalei values time with his spouse (Leah), his church community, and his friendship with his Med-Peds co-residents.
Education and Degree(s)
Medical School - University of Hawaii
Undergrad - Wheaton College
Class of 2027
Andrew Chang
1st Year Resident
Andrew (He/him/his) is proudly a byproduct of his Taiwanese heritage/his parents' daily love and sacrifice, the experiences he accrued moving all over California and Washington state as kid and growing up in church. It was at UC Berkeley that he solidified his interest in medicine through his work at The Suitcase Clinic for the unhoused population and his minor in Global Poverty and Practice. Moving forward, Andrew happily found extensions of his prior experiences through leadership roles at UCSD SOM's Student-Run Free Clinic where he went to medical school. Today, Andrew fancies himself an amateur writer and photographer and hopes to somehow work these forms of storytelling into his future career. Aside from still being curious (or indecisive, depending on how you look at it) about all the different fields out there in medicine, Andrew chose Med-Peds due to his interest in working with the most marginalized both on a domestic and global scale. Having the wider, broader spectrum of clinical skills allows the opportunity to say the words "yes" more often than not to whoever comes through his future clinic doors. In other words, a Med-Peds background lets you adapt to the needs identified by a local community, whether it be for the little ones, our respected elderly population, or teenagers/young adults with chronic illnesses.
First and foremost, Andrew chose UCLA because it is close to Anaheim, where Andrew's family calls home today. But even more than that, Andrew feels that UCLA is truly the Goldilocks program of Med-Peds, with a steady balance of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, community and academic training, and inpatient and outpatient focuses. Finally, UCLA offers great future opportunities for underserved medicine, something that became a strong point of emphasis during the interview trail. Also, Andrew knows he's being cliche here, but the people really are the grandest and the best! And the constant sunlight is a big plus! Career interests? BRB, i.e. who knows! But Andrew feels most called to working with local ethnic minorities and immigrant populations. Andrew is currently surviving his intern year and is looking into our global and underserved medicine pathways for 2nd years and has joined the IM POCUS curriculum.
Andrew enjoys taking long walks or runs along the beach at sunset – they truly change his outlook each day for the better without fail. Bit by bit, Andrew is also exploring the lore that is LA's Asian food and coffee scene! And in the future, going into the mountains to hike! Andrew isn't always with the times and doesn't watch too much TV, but he'll happily engage in a conversation about Chef's Table!
Kathleen Phoebe Hung
1st Year Resident
Phoebe (She/her/hers) grew up in Thousand Oaks, California and went to UCLA for both undergrad and medical school. Phoebe also pursued a Masters in Public Health at Harvard with a focus in global health. Phoebe fell in love with Med-Peds during medical school and found Med-Peds doctors to be equally kind, compassionate, and thoughtful as well as intelligent, nuanced, and knowledgeable. Phoebe was incredibly happy to stay at UCLA for residency as the residents and faculty form a beautiful family that is passionate about patient care but also about resident wellness. Phoebe has special interests in global health, medical Spanish, and hospitalist medicine.
Phoebe’s favorite things to do in LA are hiking at Mandeville/Will Rogers, exploring restaurants and bars (there are many), going to the beach, outdoor runs, and staying active. Favorite TV show to binge: Phoebe is currently watching reality TV like Love is Blind, and is a big F1 fan!
Lindsay Olson
1st Year Resident
Lindsay (She/her/hers) is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. She completed her undergraduate degree in Theater Arts (concentrations in Acting & Directing) at Pace University School of Performing Arts before she ever knew medicine was in her future. She spent nine years in New York, NY working in arts administration and Off-Broadway producing. As an actor, she worked as a standardized patient at NYU Langone where she watched medical students develop their skills. This inspired her to complete a Postbaccalaureate Pre-med program at New York University. She then moved to Durham, NC where she attended medical school at Duke University School of Medicine. At Duke she was able to hone her skills.
Lindsay decided to become a Med-Peds doctor during medical school when she consistently noticed some of the best attendings and residents she worked with were Med-Peds trained. She wanted to learn how to become as versatile and patient-centered as they were.
She remains undecided in terms of career goals but cannot imagine NOT getting to work with both the pediatric AND adult population in some capacity. She has special interests in Medical Education and QI and plans to continue her work with the Institute of Healthcare Improvement while in residency.
Lindsay chose UCLA Med-Peds because of the seemingly unlimited opportunities, the fun and warm personalities she met, and the vibrant nature of Los Angeles as a place to live and train. Her favorite things to do in LA (so far) include exploring the gorgeous state parks nearby, the museums, and trying all the incredible restaurants. Favorite TV show to binge: Not a big binger, but a classic she always enjoys is Arrested Development!
Sahana Shankar
1st Year Resident
Sahana (She/her/hers) is from the Bay Area and pursued her college and medical school education at the University of Miami. Graduating with a major in Neuroscience and minors in Health Sector Management & Policy and Chemistry, she continued her medical journey in Miami. During her time in medical school, Sahana founded "Difficult Conversations," a student organization aimed at helping students tackle tough ethical and emotional topics in medicine. The organization facilitated peer-led discussions and featured panels with experts, providing a platform for students to grapple with these challenging topics. Sahana's lifelong commitment to the disability community began with her younger sister, who has Floating-Harbor Syndrome. She volunteered at her sister's school and after-school programs, developing a passion for working with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In medical school, she saw the importance of disability education in medical training. She had the opportunity to help design a curriculum and also developed further educational programming, including hosting panels and creating a student navigator program. Sahana also completed Leadership Education in Neurodevelopment Disabilities (LEND) training. During medical school, Sahana helped establish a clinic for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through this experience, she recognized the care gap this community faces, which ultimately led her to choose Med-Peds. She hopes to care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities throughout the lifespan. UCLA jumped out to Sahana as the perfect residency program for her. It was clear that there was a strong commitment to the disability community, from the LEND clinic to strong advocacy efforts. The incredible culture and community, clear commitment to resident well-being and personal goals, and diverse training sites were a few of the many reasons Sahana loved UCLA's program. Sahana is confident that UCLA will guide her to become the physician she’s always aspired to be.
Sahana has loved her time in Los Angeles so far. She enjoys exploring new restaurants, discovering the best taco stands, watching sunsets on the beach, and going on Malibu hikes and oceanfront walks. She also loves spending time with her co-interns. Sahana has already made so many incredible memories with them and looks forward to many more. Currently, she's binging "Jury Duty" but spends most of her time calling friends and family.
Rachel To
1st Year Resident
Rachel (She/her/hers) grew up in the frigid plains of western Canada in Calgary, Alberta before relocating with her family to sunny San Diego. She attended the University of California, San Diego for her undergraduate and graduate studies where she majored in Human Biology and completed a research-based Masters studying HIV-associated chronic inflammation. Moving out to the Midwest, Rachel completed her medical degree at the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University. She was involved in initiating diabetic eye screening for her school’s community clinic and volunteered weekly at the food pantry with her church. However, most of her time was dedicated towards student leadership, most notably serving as Student Dean and president of her Alpha Omega Alpha chapter. She was chosen to be a participant of the AMA Leadership Development Institute, a selective fellowship for fourth-year medical students interested in healthcare leadership.
Rachel first heard of Med-Peds from one of her mentors, a pediatric infectious disease physician. Not only did she love the spectrum of medicine from newborns to geriatrics, but she also discovered that her desire to serve in limited-resource settings and improve community health could be found in the field of Med-Peds – a specialty historically dedicated to bridging healthcare gaps through primary and transitional care medicine. During the residency interview season, Rachel immediately fell in love with UCLA Med-Peds. She was drawn to the authentic camaraderie of the residents as well as the program’s values and emphasis on conscientious and equitable quality of care through advocacy and innovation. Now at UCLA, Rachel intends to pursue the Health Systems and Management pathway and bring her passion for increasing health equity through sustainable system changes and quality improvement.
Rachel loves binge-watching reality TV shows, Netflix docuseries, and cooking/baking competitions. She enjoys being active and plays in a soccer league with her co-residents. Some of her favorite things about LA thus far include outdoor live music, summer movie nights at the Culver Steps, and exploring the amazing, culturally diverse and rich food scene.
Katherine Tran
1st Year Resident
Katherine (She/her/hers) was born and raised in Houston, Texas and is the daughter of two Vietnamese immigrants. She attended college at Rice University, where she majored in Biological Sciences and minored in Business. She moved across the street after college to attend medical school at Baylor College of Medicine. During medical school, she became very passionate about care for the underserved, social determinants of health, and DEI in medicine and was able to develop a research project addressing pediatric obesity in an under-resourced neighborhood, lead in her medical school’s pathway for care of the underserved, and develop mentorship connections for fellow first-generation medical students. She is also very passionate about graphic design and enjoyed being an editor for the yearbook and working on various projects during college and medical school. She chose Med-Peds because she wanted to care for patients of all ages and treat diseases and complex conditions across the age spectrum. She knew Med-Peds would also provide her with a strong foundation for advocacy work, allowing her to facilitate continuity of care for her patients and address social and health inequities at every level. In Med-Peds, she believes that what you do for patients and their families can make a lasting impact for the rest of their lives and also the end of their lives, and she finds that extremely meaningful.
Katherine ranked UCLA #1 because of its strength, diversity of training experiences and settings, strong and balanced categorical programs, diverse patient population, strong primary care curriculum with combined continuity clinic experience at both Med-Peds Comprehensive Care Clinic and Simms-Mann/Venice Family Clinic (FQHC), and multiple opportunities for advocacy and DEI work. LA as a city also had everything she wanted – diverse people, art, and culture; amazing food and entertainment; and beautiful nature and beaches! Katherine is interested in the longitudinal relationships of primary care and transitions of care, particularly in underserved settings. During residency, she plans to participate in advocacy and health equity projects and get involved with the diversity committee and advocacy council. She also hopes to be a part of the Primary Care/Public Health pediatric pathway.
Katherine is usually at the beach on her days off soaking in the always beautiful LA weather. She also really enjoys trying new food/drink places and spending time with her Med-Peds and categorical co-interns/residents. She is also hoping to go on more hikes and to more concerts. She loves binging any real estate reality TV show and is also starting The Office for the first time (she knows she’s super late to the game)!