Department of Spiritual Care
UCLA Health
1001 Gayley Ave. 2nd Floor, room #6
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1733
Phone: 310-825-7484 
Fax: 310-267-0291
uclahealth.org/SpiritualCare

Our Staff

ACPE Educators

Rev. Yuko Uesugi is the Director of ACPE Clinical Pastoral Education and Associate Director of the Spiritual Care Department. She is an ACPE Certified Educator and an ordained Elder of the United Methodist Church (UMC). She completed the ACPE internship, residency and certified educator programs at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood and Santa Monica. She is a native of Japan and came to the US in 1996 in order to pursue her theological education. She holds her BA in Business Administration from Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, Japan and M. Div. Degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Rev. Uesugi has chaplaincy experience in cardiology, psychiatry, oncology and general hospital ministry, as well as management experience of the Spiritual Care Department at UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center.

Chaplain Blake Arnall is the Manager of Spiritual Care at UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center. He is an ACPE Certified Educator and a commissioned minister with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He holds a BFA from Art Center College of Design and a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. He is a member of the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and has been a Board Certified Chaplain since 2007. He completed his ACPE Certified Educator training at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He has experience providing chaplaincy care to oncology, transplant and psychiatric patients and their family members. He has served on Palliative Care Teams and Ethics Committees for over ten years. Prior to joining UCLA Health, he was the Manager of Pastoral Education at Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia, California.

Staff Chaplains - Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

Rabbi Sara Abrams is a Staff Chaplain at RR UCLA Medical Center serving primarily the Jewish population.  She received her ordination at Hebrew Union College- Institute of Jewish Religion in Los Angeles. Prior to joining RR UCLA Medical Center she worked as a congregational rabbi in both Chico, California and Westchester, New York.  In addition to her ordination, Rabbi Abrams holds a Master’s in Religious Studies from University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado and a Master’s in Education from Hunter College in New York.  She has worked as a Jewish educator, as a rabbi in the hospital at St John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica, and in congregations as a pastor and teacher. Now as a staff chaplain at RR UCLA Medical Center she is continuing her pastoral training through CPE at UCLA Health while performing her duties as Jewish Chaplain.

Rev. Ariel-Philip Flores is the Palliative Care Staff Chaplain at RR UCLA Medical Center. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from California State University Northridge and a Master of Divinity from Westminster Seminary California in Escondido, CA.  Reverend Flores is dual ordained with the Evangelical Church Alliance and the Korean Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He completed his CPE residency with Providence Health and Services in 2015, and became a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association Professional Chaplains in 2016.  Prior to joining UCLA Health, Rev. Flores was a chaplain with Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, serving primarily their progressive care ICU, neuro telemetry & sub-acute care units, and palliative care service;  in addition, he has vast experience in providing spiritual care for trauma patients and their families. Prior to Chaplaincy, Ariel-Philip was a medic for the US Army and for a private ambulance company in Los Angeles.

Rev. Aiko Johnson is the Pediatric Staff Chaplain for Mattel Children's Hospital at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She is ordained for ministry and endorsed for chaplaincy by the Presbyterian Church (USA) and is a board-certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). She holds a MA in Communication Studies from California State University Long Beach and a M Div from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. She completed her CPE internship at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and her CPE residency at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. Rev. Johnson played an active role in the development of a pediatric palliative care program at UCLA and has served as the chaplain for this program, Children’s Pain and Comfort Care, since it began its clinical services in 2008. Additionally, she has served as a member of the hospital Ethics Committee since 2005. She is a native of Japan, having lived in the Los Angeles area since 1995.

Rev. Fr. Siju Kuriakose is a Staff Chaplain at RR UCLA Medical Center, serving primarily the Catholic patient population. He is ordained to the priesthood by the Arch Diocese of Kottayam in the Syro-Malabar rite. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s level theological studies in Rome, Italy and his philosophical and other undergraduate studies in India. After seven years of pastoral experience in India, serving in both congregational and hospital settings, he came to the U.S. in 2011. He served as Associate Pastor to a Catholic congregation in Chicago, IL and also completed one unit of ACPE accredited CPE at the University of Illinois Chicago Hospital (UIC). In 2015, he completed an additional three units of CPE at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center while performing his duties as the Catholic Chaplain. In addition, he serves as the pastor for the local Syro-Malabar Catholic Church which meets in Montebello, California.

Rev. Chitra Rao is the Oncology Staff Chaplain at the outpatient UCLA Bowyer Oncology Center and on the inpatient Hematology and Stem Cell Transplant Unit at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She is an Episcopal priest and a board-certified chaplain with APC. Prior to coming to UCLA she served as an oncology staff chaplain for six years on the pediatric and adult patient units at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, CA and later as a hospice chaplain and bereavement supervisor.  Rev. Rao received a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and completed her CPE residency at the University of North Carolina Hospitals, where her chaplaincy experience was concentrated in neonatal, obstetrics and gynecology. Additionally, she earned her Bachelors from MS University of Baroda in India and graduate degrees in Special Education from Long Island University, New York and in Audiology from Montclair State University, New Jersey.

Staff Chaplains - UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center

Rev. Angela Song is a Staff Chaplain at UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center as a Board Certified Staff Chaplain. Her areas of focus are Labor & Delivery, Neonatal Intensive Care, and Pediatric Units. She is an ordained minister through International Ministerial Fellowship and is Board Certified with the Association of Professional Chaplains. She holds a Master’s degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Talbot Seminary, a second Master’s in Poetry from Emerson College, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Christian Education from Wheaton College. Prior to UCLA, she served at Providence – St. Joseph’s Hospital Orange as chaplain to patients and families in the Medical Intensive Care, Emergency Room, Women’s Services and Adolescent Psychiatric Units. In addition to hospital ministry, she served as a hospice chaplain for five years, with extensive ministry to Alzheimer and Dementia patients.  Rev. Song completed her year-long ACPE Residency at Ronald Reagan, UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. 

Rabbi Dena Trugman is a Palliative Care Chaplain at UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center. She received ordination and a Master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton, MA, and she holds dual undergraduate degrees in History and English from Northwestern University. Prior to joining UCLA Health, Rabbi Trugman was a staff chaplain at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, where she primarily served patients receiving inpatient physical rehabilitation due to traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, and stroke. She also has significant experience working with oncology, trauma, burn, renal, dementia, cardiac, and critical care patients. Rabbi Trugman completed her training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Hebrew SeniorLife, a long-term care facility in the Boston area.

The Spiritual Care Department also includes an Office Administrator and many qualified volunteers from most faith traditions, including Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Roman Catholic. As part of the Spiritual Care Department's team, they work together with CPE interns, residents and staff to serve the spiritual and religious needs of the Medical Center's patients, patient-family members, staff and faculty.