Year 5. February 23. Black History Month in the Department of Medicine
February is Black History Month. Our department reflects the tapestry of diverse backgrounds and perspectives that makes us stronger. As we celebrate each other, I focus this week on the work of several members of our staff and faculty who embody our collective mission to lead in innovation, transform care and advance health for all.
Meet Shawnda Carpenter and Gail Thames, Admin Rockstars
I cannot say enough about the talent and skill of our administrative team. This week, in recognition of Black History Month, I shine the spotlight on two exceptional LEADERS who keep our academic, research and patient care missions strong.
Shawnda Carpenter, Administrative Supervisor
Forget multi-tasking — administrative supervisor Shawnda Carpenter’s job requires multi-managing. The daily operations of the academic office and the fund management team in the UCLA Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine both fall under her leadership, as does the faculty academic lifecycle and recruitment. Yet despite the enormous responsibility, Shawnda loves her work.
“I enjoy the balance of problem-solving and people management,” Shawnda said. “Every day is different, and I like being the person the team can rely on to bring clarity, structure and support in a complex academic and healthcare setting.”
Shawnda feels that her colleagues are the best part about working in the UCLA Department of Medicine (DoM).
“The department of medicine brings together an incredibly dedicated faculty and staff,” she said. She finds the senior administrators, fund managers and administrative support staff who work alongside her to be supportive and engaged.
“This makes the work feel purposeful,” Shawnda added.
For those who are early in their careers and hope to have a path like hers, Shawnda recommends developing strong communication and problem-solving skills as quickly as possible. Her work requires serving as the liaison between clinicians, administrators and staff, “so being able to listen, prioritize, and stay calm under pressure is key,” she said.
“Also remember that even non-clinical roles have a direct impact on patient care,” Shawnda said. “Take pride in the behind-the-scenes work and be adaptable.”
One fun fact about Shawnda that sets her apart from many of us in the DoM: She doesn’t drink coffee!
“That surprises people in a medical setting,” Shawnda said.
I share Shawnda’s coffee habit, and even though you may be impressed that Shawnda manages to get so much done without the help of a cup of joe, I can attest that this remains possible! Please join me in thanking her for her invaluable service to our missions.
Gail Thames, Division Administrator
Gail Thames has spent more than three decades keeping research operations running smoothly in the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. Her extensive responsibilities range from divisional administration and budgeting to facilities planning, grants management and advising the division chief on organizational strategy.
“I often serve as the bridge between faculty and the many administrative offices across campus, helping turn big ideas into well-supported, well-executed programs,” Gail explained.
Gail also manages the center’s clinical research unit, where she oversees clinical studies from conception to completion. This work includes ensuring compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Institutional Review Board requirements, clinical trial budgeting and contracts, investigational new drug submissions, and supporting faculty with study design, grants and publications. She also leads and mentors a diverse team of research staff, with a focus on collaboration, compliance and continuous improvement.
“At the core of my work is a commitment to supporting high-quality research while making the administrative side feel seamless and human,” she said.
For Gail, the best part of the job is working with people and building relationships. She enjoys partnering with faculty and staff to solve problems and support their work and finds it rewarding to see research projects move from concept to execution.
“Knowing that my work helped create the structure and stability that allowed my division chief and faculty to focus on research and patient care is fulfilling,” she said.
Gail’s career as an administrator has taught her how to operative effectively in a large, academic medical system where one must balance institutional policies, faculty needs and operational realities while keeping the mission top priority.
“Success isn’t just about policy or process — it’s about listening, building trust, and aligning people with a shared mission,” Gail said. “I’ve learned to balance faculty needs, operational realities, and institutional priorities while keeping teams supported through constant change.”
Gail, you are an essential part of our work — we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you for all that you do!
A Day in the Life: Anige’r Oriol, MD
As it does for all chief residents, the life of Anige’r Oriol, MD can differ dramatically depending on the day. But every morning begins the same way: with a bit of peace.
“I love to sleep, so I’ll take every minute of that, but when I do wake up, I’ll put on some calming music while I get ready for the day,” she said.
After that, it’s off to a morning of meetings, like the one she has every Tuesday with residents. Her role as the inclusive excellence chief resident puts her in charge of planning educational activities around health equity with the help of physicians like Nupur Agrawal, MD, MPH and Hijab S. Zubairi, MD, MPH, the Internal Medicine Residency Program Health Equity and Advocacy Pathway co-directors and creators of a curriculum around physician advocacy that residents are following as part of their training. One recent Tuesday, Dr. Oriol led a session on physician advocacy that started with a debrief on world events and conversations about their impact on patients.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing patients being afraid to seek care because they are worried about being targeted when at medical facilities, so we wanted to help trainees learn how to approach that so they can advocate for their patients,” she explained. After hearing from residents about their experiences, the group watched videos of physicians speaking to their legislators and practiced making calls themselves.
“Many of us actually spoke to someone directly in the office,” Dr. Oriol said. “I think it surprised us that it only took five or ten minutes. The person on the other end of the phone was very grateful for all the work we are doing.”
After her morning meetings wrap up, Dr. Oriol typically spends lunch at noon conference or commuting over to the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where since her intern year she has been helping a panel of primary patients manage chronic pain and substance abuse use disorders. They have grown quite fond of her.
“Since I’m completing my final training, I’ve been reminding my patients that I’m going to transition away from them — or, sometimes, they’ve been reminding me,” she said. “A lot of them have been congratulating me and telling me that they’ll miss me. It’s nice to see that I’ve truly built some relationships in primary care.”
Those relationships nourish the souls of both the provider and the patient. One of the only women among Dr. Oriol’s patient panel is a Black Veteran who has expressed gratitude for being able to see a physician who understands the unique struggles that Black women face.
“Recently she reflected on how she feels fortunate that she feels like she can inherently trust me with her care because I’m also a Black woman, which is not something you get to hear every day,” Dr. Oriol said. “It’s really nice to get those reminders of why you went into medicine.”
Dr. Oriol finds that some of her favorite moments during her day are the ones where she gets to interact with her colleagues. She enjoys chatting with the trainees, faculty and medical students who pop in to the chief residents' office where she often camps out to knock out emails and other tasks.
“There are not a lot of physicians who look like me, and so to be able to reflect back someone’s identity at the VA as a Black woman is very important to me,” Dr. Oriol said. “My schedulers have assigned me patients who specifically requested a Black physician, and I feel really grateful that I’m able to provide that to them.”
After she finishes up at the VA — or, on other days, at Ronald Reagan Medical Center — Dr. Oriol heads to meetings with the IM residency program team or to evening events for trainees. They’re currently gearing up for Match Day, which takes place Friday, March 20.
“We’re almost done there and are getting really excited for what’s to come for the program,” Dr. Oriol said.
Dr. Oriol finds that some of her favorite moments during her day are the ones where she gets to interact with her colleagues. She enjoys chatting with the trainees, faculty and medical students who pop in to the chief residents' office where she often posts up to knock out emails and other tasks.
“Those interactions can be fun to break up the day, and you never know what's coming through the door — it may be as simple as fielding a question or getting help with something more difficult, like a difficult patient situation that they may need some advice on,” she said. “Or they're just wondering what snacks are coming in next week!”
Bottom Row, Left to Right: Dr. Wendy Simon, Dr. Rachel Brook, Dr. Lisa Skinner, Tricia Barrow, Dr. Anige'r Oriol, Bella Nadler, Dr. Mina Ma
Although being a chief resident comes with challenges, Dr. Oriol believes the experience has given her knowledge that will be priceless as she continues her career as a hospitalist.
She loves learning from the program’s leaders, like Program Director Lisa J. Skinner, MD.
“I applied to become a chief resident because I knew I wanted a career as an academic hospitalist, but I wanted some additional skills that I hadn’t had a chance to develop before this, especially administrative tasks that I believe will be helpful to my career as a clinician, teacher and leader,” Dr. Oriol explained. “I wanted to work with our residency leadership to see how they’ve gotten so far in the hopes that I will be at that point sometime in my career.”
Utibe Essien, MD, MPH and Team Receive R01 Grant for Alzheimer’s Research
I am proud to share that Utibe Essien, MD, MPH, associate vice chair for community engagement and inclusive excellence, has received a $2.2 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health! He will work alongside a team that includes co-principal investigator Michelle Keller, PhD, MPH at USC; DoM faculty John N. Mafi, MD, MPH and Li-Jung Liang, PhD, as well as colleagues in the neurology department; and Cristina Punzalan, MPH in the UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research to launch a research project that could ultimately lead to better access to therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Dr. Essien was thrilled to receive his R01. This grant represents a major milestone for early-career researchers, as it demonstrates their readiness for independent work.
“To say I was ecstatic is an understatement,” Dr. Essien said. “Getting this R01 was especially meaningful in a time when so many grants were being impacted by current policies and there was so much uncertainty around federal funding. I was very proud of the work that my colleagues and I put towards this grant and very grateful to my mentors whose support and guidance over the years helped me to achieve this goal.”
Dr. Essien has spent the past decade studying pharmacoequity, a term he coined in 2021 that describes the goal of ensuring that everyone has affordable access to novel, evidence-based medications. While his research up to this point has mainly focused on improving pharmacoequity in cardiovascular disease, the 2021 Food and Drug Administration approval of the first-ever drug to slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease prompted him to shift his research towards access to anti-amyloid therapies, the class of drugs that represents the bulk of forthcoming Alzheimer’s treatments.
“This work is so important because there are nearly 7 million Americans with Alzheimer’s and it has significant morbidity and mortality associated with it, as well as impacts on families as a whole,” Dr. Essien said. Some populations are much less likely to receive the care they need, such as visits to neurologists who can prescribe medications to help them manage the condition, and few studies so far have looked at what drives these variations in care or what patient-centered interventions might improve outcomes.
Over the next four years, Dr. Essien and his team will study the key elements that influence these gaps, such as specialist referrals from primary care to neurology in addition to patient health and interpersonal factors that influence whether a doctor will prescribe medications. They will also partner with a community advisory board and stakeholder advisory group to develop, refine and assess the feasibility of a patient navigation intervention that could help older adults with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) access care.
“This project allows us to connect the dots with EHR data, patients, caregivers and primary care physicians’ experiences to inform a clinical trial of a navigation system that advances access to ADRD therapies,” Cristina said.
Dr. Essien shared a few gems for early-career researchers who are writing their R01. First, he suggests finding a topic you are passionate about, even if it is not directly connected to previous awards.
“My first R01 was not directly connected to my K award but it’s on a topic I’m obsessed with and that is what kept me going during the challenging months of grant writing,” Dr. Essien said
Next, surround yourself with a great team.
“My co-PI on this grant, Dr. Michelle Keller at USC, has been a perfect partner in this work,” Dr. Essien said. “We also have great collaborators in DoM including Drs. Mafi and Liang, and in other departments like neurology. Collaboration is critical to a successful proposal.”
He also passed along a tip he learned from colleague Kenrik Duru, MD, MS: If possible, align your R01 proposal with an NIH request for applications (RFA), a formal statement that solicits grant applications for research in a specific scientific area with the aim of accomplishing defined agency program objectives.
“It seemed like I would never find a perfect RFA for our work but one actually came, just a couple months before we submitted for our grant,” Dr. Essien said. “We spoke to the program officer and ensured our work was aligned, and the rest is history.”
Dr. Essien also shared that he is thankful to work at UCLA.
“We are fortunate at UCLA to have so many resources, collaborators, and mentors to be successful in this field – even in these uncertain times – I hope we can all join together to keep doing critical work that will transform the lives of our community here in LA and beyond,” Dr. Essien said.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Essien and the rest of the team on this fantastic achievement!
An interesting phenomenon happened early last week. It marked the beginning of Lent, Ramadan and the Chinese New Year. A quick calculation reveals that nearly 80% of the planet’s population could be observing one of these traditions. To the extent to which the DoM shares some of these demographic characteristics, I hope that for those who are observant, the season will be meaningful.
Dale
P.S.
Sharing a recent picture of four generations of Abels.
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