DoM faculty contribute immensely to medical education at the DGSOM throughout all 4 years of the curriculum. Dr. Adriana Izquierdo (WLAVA Hospitalist) has served as the Director of the Early Authentic Clinical Experience course since its inception two years ago. In this role, Adriana has worked with community-based clinics across Los Angeles to build supportive partnerships while providing first year medical students with opportunities to integrate with interprofessional teams, develop their professional identities and contribute meaningfully to patient care.

Dr. Lindsay Wells (Med-Peds UCLA Southbay) is Co-Chair of the Structural Racism and Health Equity Theme at DGSOM. In the last year, she and her team have created and delivered over 30 hours of new content to first year medical students. Lindsay’s work is helping to prepare all medical students at UCLA to continuously search out interventions that will facilitate more equitable treatments and outcomes as they set off on their journeys as physicians.

Multiple DoM faculty are Core Educators for first year medical students, leading organ-based themes within the Scientific Foundations of Medicine course. Dr. Tara Vijayan (UCLA ID) leads the Infectious Diseases Theme, Dr. Gary Schiller (UCLA Hematology/Oncology) leads the Hematology Theme, Dr. Holly Middlekauff (UCLA Cardiology) leads the Cardiology Theme, Dr. Christopher Cooper (Emeritus Pulmonary/Critical Care) leads the Respiratory Theme, Dr. Kirsten Tillisch (GI and Integrative Medicine UCLA and WLAVA) leads the GI Theme and Dr. Jane Weinreb (Endocrinology WLAVA) leads the Endocrinology Theme.

Directors of other key first-year medical student experiences include Drs. Gifty Ntim and Emery Chang (UCLA Med Peds) who oversee LGBTQ education, Dr. Susan Duan (UCLA Med Peds) who directs Disabilities Education and Dr. Rashmi Mullur (Endocrinology and Integrative Medicine WLAVA) who directs Integrative Medicine Education.

Numerous DoM faculty have been chosen to serve as Educators for Excellence. These individuals have continuity with a small group of medical students throughout their first year and help them acquire top-notch skills in history taking, physical examination, ultrasound, clinical reasoning and oral presentation. Educators for Excellence for this past year include: Drs. Oladunni Adeyiga, Nupur Agrawal, Olivia Arreola-Owen, Rachel Brook, Cal Burton, Donald Chang, Susan Duan, John David Fernandez, Sarah Goldgar, Kevin Ikuta, Monica Jeong, Henry Kirolos, Tyler Larsen, Amit Levi, Kathryn Melamed, Cindy Nguyen, Vikas Pabby, Diane Reed, Sarah Schoenbrun, Evan Shih, Arielle Sommer, Pamela Tsing, Annie Wang, Serena K. Wang, George Yen and Kristopher Yoon.

Dr. Wendy Simon (UCLA Hospitalist) has skillfully run the Internal Medicine Clerkship across all sites for the last 8 years and will now be handing over this role to Dr. Tyler Larsen (Hospitalist WLAVA). Dr. Antonio Pessegueiro (UCLA Hospitalist) began a very successful tenure as Director of the Intersessions Course over the last year. DGSOM students in their clerkship year attend a week of Intersessions activities prior to each 8-week block of clerkships. Intersessions provides hands-on training to prepare students to thrive on rotations. Creating content for students preparing for 8 different clerkships has been a feet of creativity and collaboration. Antonio has risen to the challenge and the new course has been given rave reviews by students. Drs. Danny Kahn and Estebes Hernandez (UCLA Hospitalists) direct the CPX experience which tests the clinical skills of all students at the end of their clerkship year.

In the fourth year of the DGSOM curriculum, Dr. Edward Lee (UCLA Hospitalist) is the Director of Electives for all experiences in the Department of Medicine. Several members of the DoM play critical roles in the “Colleges” system which provides mentorship and teaching to students navigating a key year in their training focused on taking on intern-level patient care responsibilities while choosing a specialty and navigating the residency match. Dr. Edward Ha (UCLA Hospitalist) is a Co-Chair for the Acute Care College, Drs. Rachel Brook (UCLA Hospitalist and Primary Care) and Marmar Vaseghi (UCLA Cardiology) Co-Chair the Academic Medicine College and Dr. Allison Diamant (UCLA GIM) Chairs the Primary Care College. In addition, Dr. Alex Glaeser (UCLA Hospitalist) acts as a Vice Chair for the Acute Care College and Dr. Ana Rivera (UCLA  Primary Care) is a Vice Chair for the Primary Care College.