Katherine L. Chen completed residency as chief at UCLA before joining the NCSP in 2019. She is pursuing a PhD in HPM while a dual STAR/NRSA fellow. Her research explores the intersection between housing policy, neighborhood context, and population health equity. She received the 2021 Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research. She will also practice primary care and supervise residents at our Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center.
Kaitlin Hall is a Pediatrician coming from her residency at UCLA. She graduated from Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology and was a medical student in our Drew/UCLA Medical Program, followed by her Master’s in Public Health from Columbia in Epidemiology. She is interested in projects that address social and environmental determinants of health and the role they play in pediatric health outcomes.
Originally from Sacramento, David Lee studied Public Health at Berkeley and completed the MD/MBA program at UC Irvine, followed by residency at Kaiser Permanente Oakland, where he served as chief. He came to UCLA for a geriatric medicine fellowship which he just completed. He is a dual STAR/NRSA fellow and plans to explore how frailty care can be improved for older adults while working on his Ph.D. in HPM.
Kennamer Extensivist Fellows
Sheila Beroukhim is a local form L.A. and arrives to the Kennamer fellowship from residency at Harbor-UCLA, following medical school and undergrad at UCLA. She has ongoing research on pulmonary arterial hypertension and diabetes inpact on CAD at the Lundquist Institute, along with a QI project on pressure ulcer injuries.
Elizabeth (Liz) Afsaw grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She attended undergrad at UCSD and medical school in the UCLA/Drew program. Liz then did residency in our Primary Care track, and was ambulatory chief. As a Kennamer Extensivist fellow she aims to learn more about complex chronic disease management and effective ways to address social determinants of health.
Extensivist fellows complete yearlong longitudinal clinical rotations in a variety of UCLA and non-UCLA clinical sites, as well as didactics and immersion experiences tailored to their individual goals. LGBTQ+ Healthcare Fellow
Rebecca Rada (she/her/hers) completed Family Medicine residency at St. Louis U. and her Osteopathic M.D. at Kansas City U. Over the year, Dr. Rada will learn about HIV, transgender health, hepatitis, addiction medicine, and practices focusing on LGBTQ+ healthcare in the area. Her goals for the LGBTQ+ patient community is to ensure comprehensive and compassionate care, to learn about their specific complexities, and to create avenues for meaningful systemic and individual change. Center for East West Medicine Fellows
Sara Ptasnik(Community Track Fellow) completed BA and MD at USC and went on to LAC+USC Medical Center for internship and residency. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Peds. She completed an Integrative Medicine in Pediatrics Curriculum and is a certified Ayurvedic Lifestyle Instructor. She looks forward to learning acupuncture and a deeper understanding of East-West approaches with the goal of bringing these modalities to underserved communities.
Qiuxue Tracey Tan (Integrative Medicine fellow) completed undergraduate education at UCLA and received her M.D. from St. George’s, completing residency in Naples, Florida, a city with a high geriatric population, where disease severity and symptom management are complex. Dr. Tan’s professional interests include mindfulness and stress-reduction modalities, quality improvement, nutrition, educational curricula development, and community outreach.
Affiliated VA Advanced HSR&D Fellows
Carlos Irwin Oronce received his MD and MPH from Tulane and just completed our NCSP. His work focuses on improving population health, advancing health equity, and better value in care. His research focuses on the social determinants of health, impact of value-based care and payment policy on outcomes for vulnerable patients, and interventions to improve quality and value to reduce disparities. He is also a STAR fellow and primary care physician at the VA GLAHS.
Veronica Place has worked as a quality management specialist for the VA VISN 22 network, overseeing bed management, patient flow, and utilization management. She has taught in the nursing program at ASU and worked as a clinical nurse in neuro-telemetry, medical-surgical, home health and palliative care, among other sections. Her PhD in Nursing focused on Integrative Health. Her research looks well-being and wellness for clinicians under high stress and aims to study barriers to accessing mental health care among clinicians.
New Funding Awards
UCLA Health has received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how regular COVID-19 testing can help get more students safely back into classrooms.
The research team is co-led by Moira Inkelas, PhD, professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and GIM's Mitch Wong, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and health services research.
The goal is to reduce the pandemic-fueled harm that school closures have had on students’ academic progress, as well as their physical and mental health.
SoCal ACP Regional Meeting: Poster Judges Needed
We are pleased to announce that the Southern California ACP Regional (I, II and III) Scientific meeting is taking place on Saturday October 9, 2021 in Palm Springs, on the Campus of Eisenhower Medical Center. The meeting will be a hybrid remote option or in person depending upon preference. Please save the date.
There will be a full program of talks, workshops and MOC sessions that will be announced shortly. Also, a Student, Resident and Junior Faculty poster competition, and the perennial favorite, Doctors Dilemma Jeopardy Session.
We are reaching out to solicit poster judges for the event. We anticipate a record number of entries (>450) from across Southern California this year and judging will begin in September and be both remote and/or in person on the day of the event.
As many of you know, we have always had a very strong showing from UCLA Faculty and as always, having been a judge for a major regional meeting is a way to demonstrate a 'regional reputation' as a clinician educator in our Health Sciences series.
Please contact mlazarus@mednet.ucla.eduwith your interest and availability to be a judge for the event, also state your preference in terms of remote, in-person or both options.
Kaitlin Hall is a Pediatrician coming from her residency at UCLA. She graduated from Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology and was a medical student in our Drew/UCLA Medical Program, followed by her Master’s in Public Health from Columbia in Epidemiology. She is interested in projects that address social and environmental determinants of health and the role they play in pediatric health outcomes. 
Originally from Sacramento, David Lee studied Public Health at Berkeley and completed the MD/MBA program at UC Irvine, followed by residency at Kaiser Permanente Oakland, where he served as chief. He came to UCLA for a geriatric medicine fellowship which he just completed. He is a dual STAR/NRSA fellow and plans to explore how frailty care can be improved for older adults while working on his Ph.D. in HPM.
Sheila Beroukhim is a local form L.A. and arrives to the Kennamer fellowship from residency at Harbor-UCLA, following medical school and undergrad at UCLA. She has ongoing research on pulmonary arterial hypertension and diabetes inpact on CAD at the Lundquist Institute, along with a QI project on pressure ulcer injuries. 
Elizabeth (Liz) Afsaw grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She attended undergrad at UCSD and medical school in the UCLA/Drew program. Liz then did residency in our Primary Care track, and was ambulatory chief. As a Kennamer Extensivist fellow she aims to learn more about complex chronic disease management and effective ways to address social determinants of health. 
Rebecca Rada (she/her/hers) completed Family Medicine residency at St. Louis U. and her Osteopathic M.D. at Kansas City U. Over the year, Dr. Rada will learn about HIV, transgender health, hepatitis, addiction medicine, and practices focusing on LGBTQ+ healthcare in the area. Her goals for the LGBTQ+ patient community is to ensure comprehensive and compassionate care, to learn about their specific complexities, and to create avenues for meaningful systemic and individual change.
Veronica Place has worked as a quality management specialist for the VA VISN 22 network, overseeing bed management, patient flow, and utilization management. She has taught in the nursing program at ASU and worked as a clinical nurse in neuro-telemetry, medical-surgical, home health and palliative care, among other sections. Her PhD in Nursing focused on Integrative Health. Her research looks well-being and wellness for clinicians under high stress and aims to study barriers to accessing mental health care among clinicians. 
We are pleased to announce that the Southern California ACP Regional (I, II and III) Scientific meeting is taking place on Saturday October 9, 2021 in Palm Springs, on the Campus of Eisenhower Medical Center. The meeting will be a hybrid remote option or in person depending upon preference. Please save the date. 
