Year 3. March 18. What a Match!
Match Day 2024 was a resounding success for our department. I am delighted to celebrate the recruitment of an exceptional class that embodies our core values, while further validating our standing as a premier internal medicine training program. These incoming trainees represent the tapestry of our community and will champion our missions and vision to lead in innovation, transform care, and advance health for all. They are among the best and brightest talents in medicine.
The potential of the incoming class is immeasurable. We commit not only to guiding them to become practitioners providing holistic and patient-centered care, but also to nurturing their potential to drive scientific discovery and shape a brighter future for medicine. In fostering a culture of continuous learning, we aim to empower every member of our department—faculty, staff, and trainees alike—to realize their fullest potential.
Recruiting such outstanding talent requires a collective effort and a shared dedication to showcasing what makes our department special. This year, our internal medicine chief residents encapsulated the spirit of our community, demonstrating how we united and now celebrate our joy and enthusiasm in guiding top talent on their journey to UCLA.
Let me introduce you to our incoming class of residents who will begin their training journey with us in July 2024.
Eighty-one remarkable physicians and physician scientists will join our ranks across seven distinct programs, spanning from categorical internal medicine to physical medicine and rehabilitation. Notably, 28 (34%)of these trainees hold advanced degrees in addition to their MDs, while 26 (32%) identify as underrepresented in medicine, 51 (63%) are women reflecting our commitment to diversity and inclusion. Our new colleagues hail from 21 states, representing a rich tapestry of backgrounds and experiences.
Credit for our success in recruiting this exceptional class goes to the dedication and tireless efforts of our faculty and staff. From reviewing applications to conducting interviews and fostering social connections, their commitment has been unwavering. Moreover, our multiple layers of review, including holistic review, has paid dividends in identifying an incoming class for which we can all be proud. I extend special recognition to our program directors, their teams, and volunteer faculty who served as interviewers and screeners for their dedication to the holistic review process, which helped us recruit a diverse and highly accomplished class.
Internal Medicine Residency Program
Lisa Skinner, MD
Mina Ma, MD
Wendy Simon, MD
Edward Lee, MD
Kelley Chuang, MD
Casey Kaneshiro, MD
Kristin Schwab Jensen, MD
Rachel Brook, MD
Bear Waters
Education Team
STAR Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP)
Quen Cheng, MD, PhD
Amy Cummings, MD, PhD
Nadia Barreda
Dermatology Residency Program
Marcia Hogeling, MD
Julie Lopez
Christopher Song
Medicine-Pediatrics Residency Program
Gifty-Maria J. Ntim, MD, MPH
Vanessa Galvan
UCLA/VA GLA Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program
Dixie Aragaki, MD
Kim Vu, MD
Teri Johnson
Celebrating Women in Medical Education: Phyllis Guze, MD
I continue our celebration of Women's History Month by honoring Dr. Phyllis Guze, an infectious disease specialist and pioneer in medical education whose visionary leadership has impacted the training of countless physicians. Dr. Guze served as the chair of medicine at the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care (VA GLA) for 19 years, from 1986-2005, vice dean for education UCLA, and led major growth and recruitment in primary care and general internal medicine.
Among her many achievements, Dr. Guze developed longitudinal ambulatory educational experiences for internal medicine residents which changed how we taught medicine. During the 1980’s she became the internal medicine program director at the VA GLA. Her dedication to education innovation is memorialized in the Monthly Clinical Reasoning Rounds at the VA GLA, which is hosted in the Dr. Phyllis Guze Conference Room. These clinical reasoning rounds pay homage to the seminal journal created by VA GLA housestaff and faculty, "Rounds of the Teaching Staff Wadsworth Hospital" which was published from 1957-1976.
These clinical reasoning rounds continue today under the leadership of the following planning committee members:
Dr. Phyllis Guze's legacy as a clinician educator and transformative leader continues to inspire generations of physicians that include leaders throughout the department of medicine (DoM), VA GLA, and Cedars Sinai who shared a few remarks about Dr. Guze’s impact:
“Dr. Guze was a transformational leader at VA Greater Los Angeles and UCLA, emphasizing and modeling outstanding bedside teaching and leading rigorous case conferences. She inspired a generation of trainees to academic careers in medical education and scientific investigation. Dr. Guze was a highly impactful academic leader at UCLA and more recently guiding the transformation of UC Riverside to a four year medical school.”
Gregory Brent, MD, DoM Senior Executive Academic Vice Chair
“I was a resident, chief resident, and junior faculty under Dr. Phyllis Guze. She is one of the great mentors who not only had a vision for your career but would guide and support you to achieve your goal.”
Zhaoping Li, MD, PhD Executive Vice Chair, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Chief of the Division of Clinical Nutrition
“Dr. Phyllis Guze has made tremendous contributions to the education of medical professionals throughout her career. Not only is she individually a remarkable teacher who has been recognized with multiple teaching awards and is someone who holds a special place in the hearts of her students, her dedication to learning has likely also impacted 1000s of medical professionals whether through her oversight of internal medicine training programs or because of her significant imprint on the conceptualization and realization of a new medical school affiliated with UC Riverside.”
Caroline Lubick Goldzweig, MD, MSHS, VP and Chief Medical Officer, Cedars-Sinai Medical Care Foundation
“Dr. Guze was central to the teaching mission because of the importance she placed on it when assessing faculty and the celebration she made of our successful teachers. Leading by example she received multiple teaching awards and was an inspiration to many your faculty.”
Paul G. Shekelle, MD, PhD, MPH , Director of the Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center at RAND Corporation, Director of the Quality Assessment and Quality Improvement Program at RAND Health, and Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine
ICYMI: Priscilla Hsue, MD Appointed Chief of Cardiology at UCLA
Last week, I shared that Priscilla Hsue has been appointed the next chief of cardiology at UCLA. Dr. Hsue will join us beginning July 1, 2024. Dr Hsue joins us from UCSF and is a world renown cardiologist and physician scientist, who discovered higher rates of cardiovascular disease in HIV and then elucidated the mechanism underlying this disease process. Her work demonstrated the role of chronic inflammation and immune activation in treated HIV which has been shown to be strongly predictive of clinical events and mortality. She is a dedicated mentor to numerous students, trainees and faculty, has a 10-year K24 grant for mentoring from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and has been recognized by multiple mentoring awards during her career. Learn more about Dr. Hsue by visiting here.
I enjoy penning these pieces but was smiling as I finalized this one. What a momentous week for the DOM!
Dale
P.S.
I hope you enjoyed the Match Day video. I thought I would include a couple back stories or perhaps conspiracy theories.
First, how did that bottle with match results get into the Pacific Ocean?
Second, why did we start training by running down the California incline last year towards Santa Monica beach. Were we hoping to be the first to find a bottle washing up on shore?
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