Our Fellows

Our Fellows

2023-2024

Marielle Bolano, MD - 2nd year Geriatric and Palliative Medicine fellow

Marielle grew up in the San Francisco Bay area.  As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, she developed an interest in medicine, public policy, and improving care for the older adults who have been economically and socially marginalized.  She joined a research team at UCSF investigating health needs and care delivery for incarcerated and homeless older adults.  She then attended medical school at UC Davis and completed her residency and chief year in Internal Medicine at UCLA in the primary care track.  Serving and learning from her homeless veterans patients at HPACT has reinforced her academic interests and she is excited to pursue a career in Geriatrics and Palliative Care.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monica Chowdary, MD

Monica is a native of Northern California. She attended UC Berkeley, where she studied Public Health. After graduating, she worked in case management and patient advocacy. In search of a new adventure, Monica moved to Boston to start an AmeriCorps position at a community health center. She was thus reborn as a New Englander – staying to attend medical school at Boston University School of Medicine and ultimately pursuing Emergency Medicine residency at Dartmouth, where she was chief resident of wellness. In the future, she hopes to have a blended practice of Emergency Medicine and Palliative Care.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alice Hawkins, MD

Alice was born and raised in San Diego, CA. She received her B.A. in Philosophy with minor studies in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2010. She pursued post-baccalaureate pre-medical studies at the University of California, Berkeley before obtaining her M.D. from SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in 2019. She completed her residency training in Neurology at Mount Sinai Beth Israel/West. Inspired by quality-of-life focused care in patients with neurodegenerative disease, she is pursuing a career in neuropalliative care, where she will continue her work exploring the intersection of palliative care and neurology, as well as health disparities and clinical ethics

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mabel Kyinn, MD

Mabel was raised in sunny southern California and graduated from Scripps College in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. She moved across the country and received a M.D. degree in 2020 from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, then moved back to California to complete her residency in family medicine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles. Her interest in Palliative Care grew during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. She found hope and meaning in supporting patients and their families and is excited to continue to practice culturally competent and compassionate clinical care.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kevin La, MD - 1st year Geriatric and Palliative Medicine fellow

Kevin was born and raised in San Jose, California. He graduated from UC Davis before attending UCSD for his MD and UC Berkeley for his MPH. His residency in Internal Medicine was completed at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles. He seeks a career in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine to pursue his interests in patient access and literacy and impact health systems and policy.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

David Oh, MD  

David grew up in both South Korea and the Bay Area, and went to Columbia University in New York City to study Earth and Environmental Engineering. During his gap years, he worked in public health at a nonprofit organization in Uganda and at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He subsequently completed a MD/MPH degree at Tufts University School of Medicine. He hopes to use his clinical interest in palliative care with his public health background to inform research and policies that can improve the care provided to patients with serious illness both locally and globally.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thais Salles Araujo, MD

Thais graduated from Federal University of Minas Gerais in her home country of Brazil in 2015 and subsequently completed internal medicine residency and medical acupuncture fellowship there. She then moved to the US for a research scholar position at the UCLA Center for East West Medicine where she worked in the development of educational projects. She completed her US IM residency at UCLA, where she took part in the medical education pathway and developed a curriculum in psychedelic sciences and integrative palliative care. She is passionate about bringing humanistic and holistic care approaches to patients with life-threatening illnesses and significant distress.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Simi Sharma, MD

Simi was raised in the central valley of California. She received a BS in Neuroscience from UCLA in 2014 and an MD from Saint Louis University School of Medicine in 2018. She completed her IM residency at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California, where her passion for serving underserved populations lead her to stay on as an academic hospitalist for an additional two years. Her interest in pursuing additional palliative care training stems from a passion for empowering those populations who have lost their voices, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged or suffering from severe mental illness, and in making sure that their voices are heard during every step of their journey through healthcare.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

George Tran, MD

George was born and raised in Fountain Valley, California. He graduated from UC Irvine in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences and received his M.D. in 2019 from Duke University School of Medicine. He subsequently completed residency in Internal Medicine at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and served as one of the chief residents at the West LA VA medical center. He is interested in medical education and healthcare affordability and access and hopes to continue a career in academic medicine.