Medell Briggs-Malonson, M.D., M.P.H.
University of California, Los Angeles
Medell Briggs-Malonson, M.D.(VA Scholar) is an Emergency Medicine physician who completed her undergraduate studies at UCLA with a degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Dr. Briggs received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a Master’s of Public Health in Health Care Management from Harvard School of Public Health. She then completed her Emergency Medicine training at Harbor-UCLA where she also served as Chief Resident during her last year of residency. Dr. Briggs has worked on various projects including evaluating the leading causes of child mortality at the Department of Health and Human Services, developing community action plans to address health care disparities, and serving as a resident representative on committees to improve the distribution of health care services throughout Los Angeles County. Her research and policy interests include racial and socioeconomic health disparities, health care financing, and emergency health services accessibility. As a Scholar, Dr. Briggs plans to investigate the impact that declining emergency services has upon the health of low income communities of color.
Deepa Camenga, M.D. is a pediatrician who received her undergraduate degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology from Yale. She received her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency and chief residency at the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong at the University of Rochester. Dr. Camenga is interested in adolescent smoking cessation and parental attitudes towards second hand smoke exposure among premature and term newborns. She is also interested in understanding the experiences of low income adolescents and young adults as they transition from pediatric to adult care.
Alejandra Casillas, M.D., M.P.H.
University of California, Los Angeles
Alejandra Casillas, M.D. is an internist who completed residency in the Internal Medicine Primary Care program at the University of California San Francisco, and was chief resident at UCSF. She received her undergraduate degree at Harvard College in neurobiology and also completed her MD at Harvard Medical School, where she co-directed a community clinic mentoring program for "at-risk" minority adolescents. While in residency at UCSF, she worked on a project comparing mental health measures between immigrant and non-immigrant groups across various ethnic populations. She presented this research at SGIM 2008. As a scholar, she has worked with the Los Angeles County Office of Women's Health on messaging about the HPV vaccine among minority women. Currently she is working with the California Medical Association Foundation on a statewide ethnic media campaign for cervical cancer prevention, targeted towards Latinas in California, as part of a national cervical cancer-free initiative. Her interests involve community medicine and systems issues in the delivery of health care, and health messaging and media efforts, particularly for vulnerable immigrant populations.
Rebecca Dudovitz, M.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
Rebecca Dudovitz, M.D. received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, at Davis with a major in philosophy. Afterwards, she attended UCLA medical school where she earned her MD. She completed her pediatrics residency at UCLA in the Community Health and Advocacy Training (CHAT) Program and stayed on as chief resident before entering the Clinical Scholars Program. Her research interests include investigating the relationship between academic achievement and health outcomes and adolescent substance use prevention.
E. Jennifer Edelman, M.D.(VA Scholar) is an internist who received her undergraduate degree in human development and human biology, health, and society from Cornell University. She received her medical degree from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Edelman completed internal medicine residency and chief residency at Yale. Her research interests focus on primary and secondary HIV prevention.
Stephen G. Henry, M.D. (VA Scholar) is a general internist who completed residency at the University of Michigan and medical school at Vanderbilt University. His research goals center around promoting patient-centered care and improving patient-doctor communication. Some of his specific interests include improving pain management in primary care, advancing qualitative and mixed methods for studying doctor-patient interactions, assessing communication quality, and exploring the role of medical epistemology in clinical judgment and medical decision making.
Sophia Jan, M.D. obtained her undergraduate degree from CUNY Brooklyn College and medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center. She then completed a combined residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where she served as chief resident. She is broadly interested in disparities in healthcare access and how children with special healthcare needs transition to adult care.
Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H. University of Pennsylvania
Jeff Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H. (VA Scholar) received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Michigan State University, and his public health degree from the University of Michigan. He completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His current research interests include improving access to care for low-income populations and the use of public policy tools such as health incentives, insurance benefit design, and regulations to encourage healthy behaviors.
Elise Lawson, M.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
Elise Lawson, M.D. (VA Scholar)is a general surgeon who received her undergraduate degree from Harvey Mudd College and her medical degree from Stanford University. She has completed 2 years of general surgery residency at UCLA and will finish her training after completion of the Clinical Scholars Program. Dr. Lawson’s research interests include methods of surgical quality measurement, use of quality improvement methodologies (six sigma, lean, etc) in a surgical setting, and improving shared decision making between surgeons and patients through the use of appropriateness criteria and risk calculators. After residency, Dr. Lawson plans to pursue fellowship training in colorectal surgery.
Lenard Lesser, M.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
Lenard Lesser, M.D. completed his family medicine residency at Tufts University Family Medicine Residency at Cambridge Health Alliance, where he was chief resident. He studied nutrition at Cornell University and then continued to medical school at the University of Rochester. He is a Pisacano Leadership Scholar, which recognizes future leaders in family medicine. He currently works on nutrition advocacy with the National Physicians Alliance and serves on the Board of Directors of the North American Primary Care Research Group. His research interest is in policy solutions to obesity and poor nutrition.
Demetria Malloy, M.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
Demetria Malloy, M.D.(VA Scholar) completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University in human biology in 2000 and her medical school education at Tufts University School of Medicine in 2005. She went on to complete a residency in internal medicine at the Cedars Sinai/UCLA-VA combined internal medicine residency program and then served as chief resident over that program for the 2008-09 year. She is interested and currently pursuing research in health disparities, provider-patient communication, and medical adherence issues. Other interests include philanthropy/charity, traveling and sports.
Raymond Perry, M.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
Raymond Perry, M.D. is a pediatrician who received his undergraduate degree in physiology and neurobiology from University of Maryland- College Park and his medical degree from Emory University. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Chicago. His primary research interests are in adolescent health, as well as in the use of new media resources—particularly text messaging-- for health awareness. His fellowship work has involved collaboration with public health organizations and high schools to evaluate preventive sexual health interventions for teens. He is also interested in studying health disparities and barriers to health services utilization, particularly among minority adolescent males and young men.
Amy Tsou, M.D., M.A. (VA Scholar) received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia before pursuing studies in studies in religion at Westminster Theological Seminary. She trained at the University of Pennsylvania for medical school and completed residency in the department of neurology. Her research interests include end of life care, cultural factors impacting decision-making and the role of media in healthcare.
