Program Leadership

Rebecca Berman, MD, FACP | [email protected]
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Rebecca Berman is our program director for the Internal Medicine Residency program. After completing her chief residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, she joined Mass General Hospital, where she built a network of student-faculty primary care practices, the Crimson Care Collaborative (CCC). Over 1000 Harvard Medical students have participated in CCC gaining early exposure to primary care, to care for the underserved and interprofessional education opportunities. In 2013, Dr. Berman returned to BWH to direct its primary care residency program and was recruited to UCSF in 2018. To help reduce pay disparities and improve diversity in medical leadership positions, she teaches nationally on negotiation skills for physicians. Other areas of interest include novel curricular design, health literacy and care for the underserved. When not in the hospital, she can be found hanging out with her partner and three kiddos, exploring Golden Gate Park or reading a novel.

Daniel Wheeler, MD

• ​​​​Hometown: Bloomington, MN
• Specialty: Hospital Medicine
• Areas of academic interest: mentorship, clinical learning environment, communication
• Main site: San Francisco VA
• Role in residency: APD for Mentorship & Advising; Chief Resident Professional Development
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life:
• One of my favorite things about internal medicine is the opportunity to work and learn together as a team, and our residents are the best teammates around. They are extraordinary, inspiring people. Whether it’s thinking through a case at morning report, caring for patients on the wards, or collaborating on ways to improve the residency, I am so privileged to work with them every day. It’s also a lot of fun! In terms of my personal life, I love being outside – spending time with my family, golfing, and working to improve my novice gardening skills.

Daniel Wheeler, MD

Bryn Boslett, MD

• Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA 
• Specialty: Infectious diseases  
• Area of academic interest: ambulatory education, HIV primary care, social safety net, quality improvement, health systems administration 
• Main Site: UCSF Parnassus 
• Role in residency: APD of categorical ambulatory affairs 
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: I love working with my Firm residents and witnessing their personal and professional growth over the time we have together – it's so inspiring to be a part of their journeys. Hosting residents in clinic and on the inpatient consult service and getting to teach them about HIV medicine and infectious diseases is another one of my favorite things. Outside of work, I enjoy living in sunny San Carlos with my husband and two daughters, where we enjoy gorgeous hiking, excellent restaurants, and abundant free parking!

Bryn Boslett, MD

Sarah Goglin, MD

• Hometown: Charlotte, NC
• Specialty: Rheumatology
• Area of academic interest: Medical education, systemic vasculitis, antiphospholipid syndrome
• ZSFG (although I also see patients at UCSF Health)
• Role in residency: APD of subspecialty education
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: I love working with and supporting residents in exploring their interests and goals to build a career they are passionate about and fulfilled by. Outside of work, my husband and I love living on the peninsula with our three amazing girls and spend most of our weekends playing outside and cheering for them on the sidelines of their sports games.

Sarah Goglin, MD

Sarah Alba-Nguyen, MD, MPH

• Hometown: El Paso, TX
• Specialty: Hospital Medicine
• Area of academic interest: DEIA, medical education, mentorship, professional identity development
• Main Site: UCSF Parnassus
• Role in Residency: APD for DEI and recruitment
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: Working with residents is the hands down the best part of my job. I love working with residents as they explore the ways in which they bring their authentic selves to medicine and navigate their personal and professional career interests. Being a part of someone finding their “aha!” moment is the best. Outside of work, I find my joy and meaning in the important people in my life, music, and the outdoors. My wife, young daughter, and I spend all the time we can enjoying the beauty of the Bay Area with our friends and family. You can often find us at the beach, trying to encourage our daughter to love surfing like her moms do!

Sarah Alba-Nguyen, MD, MPH

Megha Garg, MD, MPH

• Hometown: Tampa, Florida
• Specialty: Internal Medicine/Hospital Medicine
• Area of academic interest: Social justice education, transitions of care, care of Veterans, hospital operations
• Main Site: San Francisco VA
• Role in residency: APD of Curriculum, Faculty Development, and Quality Improvement
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: I love being on the inpatient medicine service with residents and seeing their growth over time, and really enjoy getting to know residents on a personal level. I live in the Outer Sunset and love finding new running routes on the west side of the city. You can also find me trying to grow tomatoes in the foggy weather with my two boys!

Megha Garg, MD

Alyssa Perez, MD

• Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
• Specialty: Pulmonary and Critical Care
• Area of academic interest: medical education, trainee/physician wellbeing, mentorship/coaching, DEI, Lung Transplant, Cystic Fibrosis
• Main Site: UCSF Parnassus
• Role in residency: APD of Wellbeing and Assessment
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: my favorite thing about working with residents and my role as an APD is getting to be a Firm Lead! I get to serve in a mentorship role and help residents figure out and pursue their own unique professional and career goals. I also get to know them as people and spend time with them outside of the hospital/medicine. I also love when I get to work with residents on the Advanced Lung Disease Service or in clinic! My fun fact is that I have a loving and opinionated geriatric cat, Minnie , who is the best.

Alyssa Perez, MD

Lekshmi Santhosh, MD

• Hometown: All over the world! Most recently, Pewaukee, WI
• Specialty: Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine/Hospital Medicine
• Area of academic interest: Medical Education, Transitions of Care, Clinical Reasoning, Women in Leadership
• Main Site: UCSF Health
• Role in residency: APD of Curriculum, Assistant PD of Inpatient Affairs
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: I LOVE being a Firm Lead and getting to know residents deeply and advising them on their soul-searching for career exploration. I live right near Parnassus so I love running into residents and introducing my kiddos to my “doctor friends” when we’re out and about in the neighborhood! Outside of work, I enjoy exploring all the great food in the Bay Area, traveling, and laughing at and with my toddlers.

Lekshmi Santhosh, MD

David Chia, MD

• Hometown: Rochester, MN
• Specialty: Hospital Medicine
• Area of academic interest: Medical Education, Point-of-Care Ultrasound
• Main Site: ZSFG
• Role in residency: APD of Inpatient Affairs
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: My favorite things are mentoring residents, sharing my love for physical exam and bedside ultrasound, teaching on rounds, and designing systems that optimize for both patient care and resident experience. My fun fact is I really enjoy exploring and traveling.

David Chia, MD

Joan Addington-White, MD, FACP | [email protected]

Joanie Addington-White MD is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). She is the Program Director of the San Francisco General Primary Care Track. She went to Medical School at the University of Chicago and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University. Before assuming her responsibilities at UCSF, Joanie was a faculty member in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, where she started and served as the Program Director of the Internal Medicine Primary Care Track Residency. She is passionate about practicing medicine in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, complex medical issues, care of the patient with a history of incarceration, and HIV primary care. Dr Addington-White teaches about health equity, general internal medicine, and focuses on creating a curriculum and program which attracts and mentors a diverse group of residents. She leads the Health Equity pathway for the Internal Medicine residency.

Ryan Laponis, MD, MS, FACH | [email protected]

Ryan Laponis is the Program Director for the Primary Care/General Internal Medicine (UCPC-GIM) Residency. After completing residency in UCPC-GIM, he served as Chief Resident of Ambulatory Medicine. As a faculty member in the Division of General Medicine he has served as Associate Program Director of the UCPC-GIM Residency as well as Educational Site Director at the Mount Zion General Medicine Clinic. As an educator, he is a member of UCSF's Academy of Medical Educators supporting faculty in building their teaching skills in UCSF's Center for Faculty Educators and nationally is a faculty member in the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Teaching Educators Across the Continuum of Healthcare (TEACH) program mentoring and sponsoring future educational leaders. Equally passionate about improving relationships in healthcare, he teaches and has led educational programs in relationship-centered communication nationally as Fellow in the Academy of Communication in Healthcare.

Lisa Ochoa-Frongia, MD | [email protected]

Lisa Ochoa-Frongia, M.D. is a clinician-educator and Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF, in the Division of General Internal Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH). Dr. Ochoa-Frongia is a practicing primary care physician and Associate Medical Director at Richard Fine People's Clinic. She is also the Ambulatory Site Director for the UCSF Internal Medicine Residency at SFGH.

Dr. Ochoa-Frongia is currently studying best practices in the treatment of anxiety and depression in the primary care setting, behavioral health integration in safety-net clinics and mental health curricula for primary care providers.

Mia Williams, MD, MS​​​​​​​ | [email protected]

Mia Williams is Assistant Program Director for the UCSF Primary Care/General Internal Medicine Residency Program (UCPC-GIM). She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF and cares for patients at the Mount Zion campus. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona, her master's in Clinical Research from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and her medical degree at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of CWRU. Mia completed IM residency at UCSF as a member of the UCPC-GIM Residency Program.

Mia cares deeply about DEI including anti-oppression and anti-racism for learners, faculty and patients. She leads the DGIM quality improvement workgroup that focuses on improving care for patients with limited English proficiency and is one of the School of Medicine’s Anti-Oppressive Curriculum Component Liaisons. At the national level, Mia works on sponsorship and mentorship through the Society of General Internal Medicine.

Era Kryzhanovskaya, MD | [email protected]

Irina (Era) Kryzhanovskaya is the Associate Program Director for the UCSF Primary Care/General Internal Medicine Residency Program (UCPC-GIM). Era earned her medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, then journeyed west for Internal Medicine Residency at UCSF in the UCPC primary care track. Era stayed on for an inpatient chief resident year at the San Francisco General Hospital before returning as faculty to the UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine (DGIM). She has distinguished herself as an outstanding clinician-educator, having been inducted into UCSF’s Academy of Medical Educators in recognition of her extensive undergraduate medical education leadership, her curriculum development expertise as well as her nationally recognized teaching and leadership around caring for patients with substance use disorders. Board certified in addiction medicine, Era started an embedded addiction medicine clinic at DGIM and wants to ensure all health professions learners graduate with competence in addiction medicine! Era is the co-host of Curbsiders Teach, a medical education spinoff of the popular Curbsiders podcast, and brings her energy and enthusiasm for primary care to the APD role!

Jeff Kohlwes, MD, MPH - Director | [email protected]

Jeff Kohlwes is a Professor of Medicine at the San Francisco VAMC. After growing up on a boat in Sausalito, he was an undergraduate at UC Davis and a medical student at Dartmouth. After being a resident and chief resident at UCSF he was medical director of the methadone and AIDS clinic at ZSFG for two years. He was then a RWJ Fellow at the University of Washington before returning to run the PRIME Residency Program in 2000 focusing on residency scholarship where his residents have published almost 300 first author publications. His research focuses on residency training tracks, and scholarship. As Associate Editor for JGIM he developed the Exercises In Clinical Reasoning Series to create a case-based curriculum for educators. In 2018, Jeff was awarded the UCSF Academic Senate Teaching Award for senior faculty for his ongoing contributions as a teacher, mentor and scholar. An avid outdoorsman, Jeff has climbed most of the highest west coast mountains and raft-guided throughout the west.

Beth Cohen, MD, MA - Associate Director | [email protected]

Beth Cohen is an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF and a Staff Physician at the San Francisco VA. After completing medical school and residency at UCSF, she joined the SFVA as a Women's Health fellow. Since joining the faculty in 2008, she has developed a clinical research program designed to improve the health of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. She studies the mechanisms connecting PTSD to chronic physical illness as well as the comparative effectiveness of treatments for PTSD. She is actively involved in research training through her roles in the PRIME program and the SFVA based Measurement Science QUERI.

Joan Addington-White, MD - Director | [email protected]

Joan Addington-White is the track director for the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Primary Care program. She joined UCSF in October. Prior to coming to UCSF, Joanie was a faculty member in the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, where she launched and served as the Program Director of the Internal Medicine Primary Care Track Residency and the Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Categorical Residency Program. Joanie's foci include clinical care of the underserved, complex medical issues, HIV, and training the next generation of physicians.

Katherine Lupton, MD - Director ​​​| [email protected]
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Dr. Kate Lupton is a general internist based at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. She is a primary care provider at the Richard Fine People's Clinic and attends on the inpatient medicine teaching service at ZSFG.

Dr. Lupton's educational interests include ambulatory and primary care education for medical students and residents, equity and inclusion in medical education, physician workforce diversity and the clinical care of underserved and vulnerable patients. She is a core preceptor for medicine residents with continuity clinic at ZSFG and serves as a Resident Advising and Development (RAD) coach with the medicine residency program. She is Director of SPAN (Specialty Practice Ambulatory Sub-Internship), a required longitudinal ambulatory capstone clerkship for 4th year UCSF medical students. Dr. Lupton is a member of the UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators. She is a graduate of the Harvard Macy Program for Educators in the Health Professions and the UCSF Teaching Scholars Program. Nationally Dr. Lupton serves on the Education Committee for the Society of General Internal Medicine.

Edgar Pierluissi, MD - Director | [email protected]

Edgar Pierluissi has cared for vulnerable populations his entire career and is committed to healthcare quality improvement. He grew up in Chicago and received his MD from Harvard Medical School and completed training and Chief Residency in Internal Medicine at UCSF and a fellowship in Quality Improvement through the Veterans Affairs National Quality Scholars Fellowship. After working at the County of San Mateo as a staff physician, as the medical director of the North County Health Center, and as VP for Quality Improvement for the San Mateo Medical Center and community clinics, he returned to join the UCSF Division of Geriatrics in 2006 as the Founding Medical Director of the Acute Care for Elders Unit at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. He has led the Health Systems Leadership track focusing on quality improvement and healthcare policy since 2012. He was named a Master Clinician in the Department of Medicine in 2018. When he is not working you can find him backpacking, flyfishing, traveling, baking bread, making jam, or in his garden.

Neil Shah, MD, PhD - Director | [email protected]

Neil Shah is the Edward S. Ageno Distinguished Professor in Hematology/Oncology and has served as Director of the Molecular Medicine Residency Pathway since 2015. He completed his MD and PhD training at UCLA, where he remained for clinical training in Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology. He was recruited to UCSF in 2006 and has led a laboratory research program focused on targeted therapeutics for hematologic malignancies. In addition to working to support lab-based physician-scientists, he is working to make this career path a reality for individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Aparna Sundaram, MD -- Associate Director | [email protected]

Aparna B. Sundaram, MD is an Assistant Professor in Residence at UCSF, where she attends in the intensive care units at Moffitt-Long Hospital. Dr. Sundaram received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Northwestern, and came to UCSF for Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine fellowship. After completing additional research training with Dr. Dean Sheppard, she joined the faculty of the division in 2014. Dr. Sundaram has also taken an active role in mentorship of trainees and has served as a facilitator for the inquiry curriculum in the UCSF School of Medicine.

Dr. Sundaram’s primary academic focus is the development of a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms of smooth muscle mediated airway narrowing that play a role in chronic airway diseases such as asthma and COPD. Her current research focuses on the role of cellular tethering proteins in regulating force transmission, with the goal of leveraging these targets to design more potent inhibitors of smooth muscle contraction using a combination of in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo models of disease.