Year 5. June 29. Many Trainees and Much to Celebrate
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, June is a busy month for our trainees; we bid farewell to outgoing classes of residents, fellows and students and welcome new ones. In addition, our trainees represent the UCLA Department of Medicine (DoM) at major conferences across the country throughout the year, and late spring is a busy time for these meetings. This week, I continue to recognize our graduates and share some of the ways in which they have represented us with distinction on the national stage.
Graduating Dermatology Residents and Fellows Celebrate Excellence at Commencement
On Wednesday, June 10, the UCLA Dermatology Residency Program, Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship Program and Dermatologic Oncology Fellowship Program sent off the class of 2026 with flying colors and celebrated the faculty who supported their growth during this pivotal time in their careers. The graduating residents were Ryan Carlisle, MD; Jennifer Liu, MD, PhD; Justine Seivright, MD; Nishadh Sutaria, MD and Shannon Wongvibulsin, MD, PhD. Sameeha Husayn, DO graduated from the pediatric dermatology fellowship program and Daniel Wenzel, MD graduated from the dermatologic oncology fellowship program.
“It has been a privilege for us to watch this class grow to be outstanding dermatologists,” Program Director Marcia Hogeling, MD, said.
Commencement award winners included Comron Maleki, MD, who received the program’s Outstanding Service Award, and Teachers of the Year Caroline N. Opene, MD; Michael O. Nguyen, MD, PhD; and dermatopathologist Chandra N. Smart, MD.
Congratulations to all!
A Happy Send Off for Our Med-Peds Residency Graduates
On June 12 the UCLA Med-Peds Residency Program celebrated the commencement of four exceptional new graduates. In her remarks to the class of 2026, Program Director Gifty-Maria Ntim, MD shared that witnessing this group close this chapter of their training marked a milestone in her own career, as they were her first intern class as a program director.
“I honestly could not have asked for a better class to start off with when I was myself learning the ropes of the program and navigating how to wear the many hats that come with this role,” Dr. Ntim said. “I have been left a better person because of my interaction with these four amazing human beings, who have all left an indelible mark on our residency program.”
This year’s graduates are Andrew Fahmy, MD; Jester Galiza, MD; Kalei Hosaka, MD and Katherine Halper, MD.Here is where they are off to next, along with Dr. Ntim’s thoughts on what makes them special.
Dr. Fahmy will serve as pediatrics chief resident next year and aims to enter a pediatric cardiology fellowship after that.
“Andrew’s love for learning, coupled with being an outstanding, curious physician make him the person I will seek to care for a loved one with a congenital heart issue,” Dr. Ntim said.
Dr. Galiza will join Harbor Community Health Centers as a primary care physician.
“Jester is the epitome of a physician who is always thinking about how to use their position to make the world around them better. He’s been pivotal in having our program examine itself and find practical ways to live out our stated program values,” Dr. Ntim said.
Dr. Hosaka will head home to Hawai’i, where he will enter a geriatrics fellowship at the University of Hawai’i.
“Kalei has been such a gift to our program and has helped us all connect to our humanity whilst striving to provide the highest level of care to patients and their families,” Dr. Ntim said.
Dr. Halper will remain here at UCLA as a dual Med-Peds hospitalist next year.
“I think this is a big gain for UCLA because Kate is the person everyone wants on their team — smart, driven and able to take ideas from conception to fruition. I can’t wait to see the impact she’ll have as a bridge builder on the inpatient side caring for patients with eating disorders,” Dr. Ntim said.
Congratulations Andrew, Jester, Kalei and Katherine! I would also like to salute the graduating Med-Peds residents on the recent completion of their annual capstone project, a culminating educational and professional development experience for them as they transition to the next phase of their careers. This year was the first that a Med-Peds graduating class has collaborated with the Hammer Museum on their capstone project, and the partnership was very well-received. Dr. Ntim worked with one of the museum’s associate directors of academic programs to curate a special session that served as the backdrop to facilitate conversations about what they learned as residents.
“We intentionally create space for graduating seniors to reflect on their combined Med-Peds training and engage in collaborative discussions with faculty and staff that supports career readiness and long-term success,” Dr. Ntim said.
This project powerfully exemplifies the numerous unique and meaningful opportunities UCLA residents can expect by training here, and I am grateful to Dr. Ntim and the rest of our program LEADERS for finding new, creative ways to help trainees reach their highest potential as physicians. Great work, all!
Trainees Knock Informaticist Projects Out of the Park
I am proud to share that six of our outstanding residents recently completed the Resident Informaticist Program, a challenging and robust year-long curriculum to help new physicians become informaticians — clinicians who leverage their knowledge of information technology to help institutions optimize their use of electronic health records (EHR), automated workflows and other investments to maximize the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of care. The program culminates in a virtual symposium during which participants present the results of a project they have worked on with a team throughout the year.
Here are this year’s graduates from the DoM:
- Edward Wang, MD, a cardiology fellow, developed a project titled “Optimizing Comprehensive Flowsheets for Cardiology”. His mentor was Magdalena E. Ptaszny, MD.
- Minji Kim, MD, an infectious diseases fellow whose project was titled “Duplicative HIV 4th Generation Ag/Ab Alert”. Dr. Kim was mentored by Annapoorna R. Chirra, MD; Thalia M. Nguyen, MD and Tara Vijayan, MD.
- Monique Almond Antonia Prince, MD, MPH, an infectious diseases fellow who developed a project titled “Implementing an Automated Context-Aware IV to PO Antimicrobial Stewardship Intervention” within the infectious diseases division. Dr. Prince’s mentors were Russell Kerbel, MD, MBA and Abraham Lin, MD, MS.
- Aleksandr Talishinsky, MD, whose project was titled “Chest Pain Clinical Care Pathway Admission Order Set”. Dr. Talishinsky’s mentor was Dr. Kerbel.
- Caroline Zuniga Buse, MD, whose project was titled “Implementation of Oncologic/Neutropenic Fever Order Set in the Next Day Clinic”. She was mentored by Dr. Lin and Hawkin E. Woo, MD, MPH.
- Zoee D’Costa, MD, whose project was titled “Implementation of a Best Practice Advisory to Increase Sacubitril/Valsartan Use in Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction”. Dr. D’Costa was mentored by David J. Cho, MD, MBA.
I am thrilled to share that Dr. Buse also received one of the symposium’s two awards for the quality of her work.
“I was so excited that my team's hard work was recognized!” Dr. Buse said. “The creativity and impact of the projects I learned about during the symposium were impressive and every one of them deserved this award.”
Dr. Buse's team built a smartset for management of oncologic fever in the Next Day Clinic as part of a new pathway — led by UCLA heme-oncology fellow Madeline MacDonald, MD, MS — that manages low-risk febrile oncology patients within UCLA Immediate Care. The smartset operationalizes a validated protocol from MD Anderson for outpatient management of neutropenic fever.
“The strength of the smartset is how it integrates decision support throughout, surfacing clinical guidance and patient information at the right time so that a provider using the smartset, who may have never managed neutropenic fever before, can safely and confidently manage this chief complaint,” Dr. Buse said. “The goal of this pathway is to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and admissions for low-risk oncologic fever, minimizing nosocomial infectious exposures and improving the patient experience by providing timely care in a lower-acuity setting.”
Dr. Buse shared that she was encouraged to apply to the resident informatics program by a health services research mentor, but prior to the program she knew very little about clinical informatics.
“This experience has left me with the belief that informatics is an incredible field for implementing innovative ideas across a health system, from quality improvement projects like this smartset and other EHR interventions to helping to decide how AI is incorporated into clinical workflows,” she said. “I have evangelized about this program to coresidents, as I really do feel that it has given me the experience that will allow me to apply an informatics lens to my future work within health services research and quality improvement.”
Dr. Buse expressed her gratitude to Dr. MacDonald; to her mentors on the project; to Sidharth R. Anand, MD, MBA; and to Richard K. Leuchter, MD , as well as to the leaders who support the UCLA Resident Informaticist Program. The projects were judged by a panel of UCLA Health IT professionals and senior leaders, and, as Dr. Buse said, the competition was fierce! Well done, Caroline!
Please join me in congratulating all of these exceptional trainees!
Endocrinology Rockstars Showcase Science at ADA Scientific Sessions
Fellows and faculty from the UCLA Divisions of Endocrinology, General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research (GIMHSR), Nephrology and across the DoM showed up and showed out in New Orleans in early June at the 86th Annual American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions. Our influence on the field was palpable as dozens of DoM Bruins shared their expertise and invaluable research in the form of more than 27 poster and oral presentations.
“It was wonderful to see such a wide breadth of DoM projects and researchers at the 2026 ADA Scientific Sessions. I am especially proud of the many mentees and junior faculty who were highlighted in this year's program,” Tannaz Moin, MD, MBA, MSHS, an associate professor of medicine in the UCLA Division of Endocrinology, said. “To see so many of them in action, presenting their work and networking with colleagues from across the globe is a proud moment for us all!"
Among the junior faculty who presented at the conference was endocrinologist Amanda C. Leiter, MD, a mentee of Dr. Moin who was recruited to UCLA this past year with dual training in endocrinology and health services research and a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases K award. Dr. Leiter shared a poster titled “Calibration of a Diabetes Microsimulation Model Improves Mortality Prediction in Breast Cancer Survivors,” which described a microsimulation model she is developing to predict clinical trajectories in breast cancer survivors with diabetes and identify personalized treatment strategies for them. Her work will help on an important yet underserved subset of patients: Breast cancer survivors with diabetes face unique management challenges that are different from the general diabetes population, but they are excluded from diabetes treatment trials.
“This poster showed the work confirming that the diabetes model I’m building accurately predicts mortality in breast cancer survivors, a key step in building it,” Dr. Leiter explained. She noted that during the conference she spoke with other scientists who are developing diabetes microsimulation models and potential collaborations for future work to optimize diabetes and metabolic care in the setting of cancer survivorship. She also met an investigator with complementary research interests, and they are now writing a commentary article together on GLP-1 receptor agonists and cancer.
“Attending ADA has multiple benefits, which include networking with other scientists, learning about the latest advances in diabetes management — which is important for health services research — and deepening relationships with UCLA faculty who also attend,” Dr. Leiter said. “Beyond research, I also love attending clinical talks and always learn clinical pearls that I can apply to my diabetes clinical practice.”
Kimberly D. Narain, MD, MPH, PhD, an internist and obesity medicine specialist at the Iris Cantor UCLA Women’s Health Center, presented two posters at the conference. One examined the role of high-deductible health plans (HDHP) in access to bariatric surgery for people with Type 2 diabetes and employer-sponsored health insurance, who reside in low-income neighborhoods. The results showed that having a HDHP made it more than 60% less likely that a patient would have bariatric surgery relative to traditional health insurance plans.
Dr. Narain's second study used a microsimulation model to predict the potential benefit of eliminating non-adherence to medications due to cost among people who have Type 2 diabetes, low incomes and employer-sponsored health insurance. The results showed that doing so would be linked with a reduction of the gap in disability-free life-expectancy of 14% among individuals making less than $30,000 per year, relative to individuals making more than $50,000 per year.
The second study's results attracted the interest of the physician learning platform ReachMD, which interviewed Dr. Narain about cost-related medication non-adherence. Reflecting on her time at the conference, she shared that one particular session that stood out to her was on intrauterine exposures and protective factors in the development of Type 1 diabetes.
“I’m really excited by research that broadens my conceptualization on the ways to prevent disease,” Dr. Narain said.
Congratulations to who all those who presented at ADA! Visit this page to learn more about our presentations at the conference and relive some of the highlights from the conference in the photos below.
Fellows and Faculty Shine at ENDO 2026
Our conference coverage continues with ENDO 2026, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society. Faculty participants included Angela M. Leung, MD, MSc, who gave the conference’s “Year In” presentation for advancements in thyroid research and appeared on a panel; and Estelle M. Everett, MD, who presented research during two oral presentation sessions and led a networking and mentoring session as a chair of the Endocrine Society Committee for Opportunity and Reaching Excellence.
Our endocrinology fellows also had a great showing. Those who presented at ENDO included Brian D. Young, MD, PhD, whose poster “Vasomotor Symptoms on Gender-Affirming Testosterone Therapy” described research he conducts under his mentor Shira M. Grock, MD; Senxi Du, MD, MPH, who presented a poster titled “Areas of Opportunity in Diabetes Care Delivery: Perspectives from Our Hispanic/Latino Patients” alongside her co-fellow Diana Torres Pinzon, MD, MPH, who together conducted the project under the mentorship of Matthew J. Freeby, MD; and Alexandra Lim, MD, whose poster “A Case of Marine-Lenhart Syndrome: Grave's Disease Stimulating New Onset Autonomous Hyperactivity in Preexisting Nonfunctioning Thyroid Nodules”described research she conducts under the mentorship of Nikita Mogar, MD.
“These presentations reflect our fellows’ commitment to advancing equitable, evidence-based care and showcase some of the excellent work being done by fellows in our training program,” Stephanie Smooke Praw, MD, interim chief of endocrinology and director of the UCLA Thyroid Center, said.
Dr. Du and Dr. Torres Pinzon’s presentation focused on project they conducted as part of a quality improvement initiative with the Diabetes Steering Committee to better understand barriers to glycemic control among Hispanic and Latino patients at UCLA, who are at elevated risk of poor glycemic control compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Through patient interviews, they found that patients in this population would like more diabetes education — specifically culturally-tailored education — and social support for diabetes. Their project also showed that Hispanic and Latino diabetes patients at UCLA would benefit from improved access to diabetes technology and healthcare providers, such as endocrinologists and diabetes educators.
“We hope these findings form the foundation for quality improvement (QI) initiatives that can improve glycemic control in our vulnerable patients. Our next steps are to focus on standardizing educational resources for patients across clinics in primary care and endocrinology and providing more culturally tailored education,” Dr. Du said. Other attendees who stopped by their poster were interested in how Dr. Du and Dr. Torres Pinzon planned to utilize their findings, as well as how the interviews they conducted as part of their project are overall low-cost, especially as transcription and analysis have become easier with Zoom.
“It is an incredible opportunity to attend these conferences as a fellow because of the learning and networking opportunities,” Dr. Du shared. “It is very helpful to get feedback from other people on my research, but I most value being able to attend the education sessions at these conferences. These sessions focus on updated guidelines and nuances in management, and hearing from experts in the field is invaluable.”
Dr. Lim’s poster described a case study involving Marine-Lenhart syndrome, a rare form of hyperthyroidism that is defined by the presence of both Grave’s disease and autonomous hyperfunctioning thyroid nodules and occurs in around 0.26-1% of Grave’s disease patients. The patient in her case study developed Marine-Lenhart Syndrome type 3 with Grave’s disease plus two autonomous hyperfunctioning nodules and one cold nodule from previously known thyroid nodules that were nonfunctioning two years prior. The case stimulated robust conversation among trainees and attendings alike, including some who had never heard of Marine-Lenhart syndrome before.
“Presenting at ENDO for my third time in my early career has helped me solidify my learning from challenging endocrine patient presentations and to share my own research,” Dr. Lim said. “I truly believe that being able to teach others on a topic allows you to better understand and grasp concepts to a deeper degree in any field, for that matter!”
Congratulations to our fantastic ENDO 2026 presenters! I greatly enjoyed seeing all of your work and already look forward to next year. For complete details on their participation, please visit this link.
DoM Internal Medicine LEADERS Turn Out for SGIM 2026 Annual Meeting
The Society for General Internal Medicine (SGIM) annual meeting brings together hundreds of physicians and scientists in internal medicine (IM), and when they convened in Washington D.C. in early May for SGIM 2026, many of our rockstar residents, fellows and faculty were among them.
One of the fellows who took part in the meeting was Saya Yusa, MD, MS, who this past month graduated from the UCLA Preventive Medicine Fellowship Program. Dr. Yusa shared a poster that laid out a study she conducted to evaluate the impact of politics and policies on patients and clinicians in a safety-net health system. Her mixed-methods approach found that safety-net clinicians are experiencing moral injury driven by policy-level forces that are beyond their control — but that, despite this, their commitment to the work and patient population remains strong.
“In some clinicians, the current environment even strengthens their motivation to work in the safety-net setting,” Dr. Yusa said. She herself will soon be starting as faculty at Mission Community Hospital in its family medicine residency program, where she will help develop the residency’s community medicine and advocacy curriculum. She found that the conference gave her an opportunity to connect with and learn from others who are teaching advocacy in graduate medical education.
Furthermore, “presenting at SGIM was a great opportunity for me to connect with others who are interested in the impact of the current political environment and policy on clinicians and patients in the safety-net setting,” she said.
Incoming chief resident Alexandra Kaufman, MD also presented a poster at the conference, sharing a write-up on a clinical case of a patient at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center who developed a rare ophthalmic complication of acute pancreatitis called Purtscher-like retinopathy, which leads to vision loss. She cared for the patient as a resident in the ICU alongside her attending Gina Lee, MD.
“Attending the SGIM annual meeting was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge in clinical practice and medical education by hearing from various clinicians around the country,” Dr. Kaufman said. In preparation for her role as a chief resident next year and her longer-term goal of becoming a hospitalist, she attended sessions on professional development.
“Additionally, the conference had various opportunities to learn updated clinical guidelines and practical strategies for improving patient care that I have brought back to our residency program and plan to continue to incorporate in my future career,” she said.
For a full run-down of DoM members who took part in SGIM 2026 and their research, please visit this link. Congratulations to all!
Apply to the UCLA Biodesign Accelerator Fellowship by July 3
I would like to encourage faculty and staff with entrepreneurial ambitions and a concept or prototype of a medical device or diagnostic tool to consider applying to the UCLA Biodesign Accelerator Fellowship. This is a unique opportunity to leverage the networking opportunities and resources we have at UCLA to accelerate your innovation.
Under the leadership of the Biodesign Clinical Director Rushi Parikh, MD, FACC, FSCAI, fellows will de-risk early-stage milestones, prepare for pitch competitions and learn how to effectively raise funds from investors. The program runs from September to June, starting with a two-week bootcamp during which executives in healthcare, medtech and investor communities will introduce participants to design thinking methodologies, product design and development, data utilization, manufacturing, regulatory strategy, intellectual property, healthcare economics and more. Bootcamp is followed by monthly workshops, regular one-on-one mentorship meetings, project-focused deliverables and numerous opportunities for fellows to network and pitch their products.
“Fellows will learn the central tenets of the Biodesign innovation framework, and in doing so, accelerate their innovations,” Dr. Parikh said.
The program’s alumni network is supportive and tight knit, with a successful track record. More than 53 fellows have passed through the accelerator track to date, spanning nearly 20 clinical specialties at UCLA health. The path to commercialization for innovations that were boosted by the program has run the gamut from spin off companies running first-in-human clinical trials to licensing of technology to large multinational enterprises. Former Accelerator fellows have continued in C-suite or founder positions following completion of the fellowship.
The application deadline is Friday, July 3 at 11:49 PM. Visit this link to apply; you will be asked to submit a CV and a short personal statement describing an identified need or concept you want to address and how the accelerator will benefit your goals. Good luck!
Dale
P.S.
In this season of comings and goings, when I went in the DoM’s office suite last week, I ran into a group of outgoing residents and some of our new Z-Pack chiefs decorating their office.
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