Program Leadership

Rebecca Berman, MD, FACP | [email protected]
​​​​​​
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

Alekist Quach, MD

• Hometown: Oakland, CA 
• Specialty: General Internal Medicine 
• Area of academic interest: Medical education, communication in healthcare, DEIA, mentorship and resident support 
• Main Site: SFVAHCS 
• Role in residency: APD of Ambulatory Affairs for Categorical Residents 
• Something you love about working with residents + other fun fact about personal life: One of the greatest joys of my role is the opportunity to work with our incredible residents across a wide range of clinical and educational settings — including primary care clinic, the SFVA ED, inpatient wards, the PRIME pathway, and as a Firm Lead. I deeply value the relationships I build with residents and feel honored to serve as a sounding board, mentor, and advocate throughout their training.  
  
  Before medical school, I worked in both pediatric and adult oncology in academic medicine and biotech. Long before that, I taught classes and wrangled kids at rock climbing gyms in Berkeley, Rhode Island, and Sydney, Australia. Outside of medicine, my other full-time job is being mom to two energetic little boys. Our family spends most weekends on mini adventures in and around San Francisco and the Bay Area! 

Alekist Quach, MD 

Sarah Goglin, MD

• Hometown: Charlotte, NC
• Specialty: Rheumatology
• Area of academic interest: Belonging and equity in medicine, medical education, mentorship, professional identity development
• ZSFG (although I also see patients at UCSF Health)
• Role in residency: APD for Recruitment and Community, Opportunity, Recognition, and Engagement (CORE) 
• 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: belonging and equity in medicine, medical education, mentorship, professional identity development
• Main Site: UCSF Parnassus
• Role in Residency: APD for Recruitment and Community, Opportunity, Recognition, and Engagement (CORE)
• 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, Inclusion and belonging, health equity, 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 mentorship, belonging and health equity, and medical education. She leads the DGIM quality improvement workgroup that focuses on language access and 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.

David Chia, MD - Director ​​​| [email protected]
​​​​David Chia is the HPE Pathway Director, which is a UME- and GME-wide experience aimed at cultivating future clinician-educators within academic medicine and involves a 4-week course on learning theory, direct teaching, curriculum development, learner assessment, professional development and scholarship, longitudinal medical education activities, and a mentored scholarly project with dissemination. 

Josue Zapata, MD, MBA - Director | [email protected]

Josué Zapata is the Associate Chief of the Medical Service at the San Francisco VA Healthcare System and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCSF and previously served as the Associate Chief of Staff for Quality, Safety, and Value at the SFVA. He is also a medical educator for students and residents and serves as a coach within the Bridges curriculum at the School of Medicine.

Josué received his undergraduate degree from New York University. He subsequently earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a Masters of Business Administration focusing on healthcare and leadership from Harvard Business School. Josué' is a proud graduate of the UCSF Internal Medicine Residency program and HSL Pathway.

Josué currently works in the San Francisco VA Division of Hospital Medicine where he cares for veterans on the inpatient wards, in the emergency department, and in conjunction with surgeons during the perioperative period. Josué's scholarly interests include quality and value improvement, leadership in academic medicine, and professional development of trainees, as well as supporting diversity in healthcare.

He currently lives in the Outer Sunset with his wife, Carly (also UCSF IM c/o 2015), and their two children, Sofia (9) and Rafael (6). When not teaching about health care systems and leadership he spends much of his time taking his kids to their various sporting activities and parks around the city. He also enjoys surfing, podcasts, and consuming acai bowls.

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.