UCSF Fresno Celebrates the Class of 2023
It takes 11 years or more to produce a practicing physician after high school, depending on the specialty. On June 15, UCSF Fresno celebrated the completion of years of training for more than 100 graduates including medical residents and fellow physicians, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery dental residents, a Head and Neck Oncology and Microvascular Reconstruction fellow and two Emergency Medicine physician assistants.
2023 Award Winners
Henry J. Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching
Ivance Pugoy, MD
Associate Clinical Professor, Internal Medicine, UCSF Fresno
Outstanding First-Year Resident
Nam Huynh, MD
UCSF Fresno Internal Medicine Residency Program
Outstanding Resident or Fellow Teacher
Tania Zavalza Jimenez, MD
UCSF Fresno Family and Community Medicine Residency Program
Outstanding Attending Teacher
Robert Julian, DDS, MD
UCSF Fresno Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Faculty
Outstanding Non-Physician Teacher
Francisco Ibarra, PharmD, BCCCP
Emergency Medicine Clinical Pharmacist (CRMC)
Borba Faculty Research Award
Geetha Sivasubramanian, MD
UCSF Fresno Internal Medicine Faculty
Borba Research Award
Sujana Balla, MD
UCSF Fresno Internal Medicine Residency Program
Hunza Chaudhry, MD
UCSF Fresno Internal Medicine Residency Program
Leon S. Peters Resident of the Year
Sarah Koser, MD, MPH
UCSF Fresno Emergency Medicine Resident
Leon S. Peters Fellow of the Year
Emmily Poole, MD
UCSF Fresno Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellow
VA ICARE Award
Rameen Atefi, DO
UCSF Fresno Internal Medicine Residency Program
Fresno Madera Medical Society Steven N. Parks, MD, Leadership Award
Avinash Sharma, MD
UCSF Fresno Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship
Graduate Stories from the Class of 2023
Monique Kaur Atwal, MD
Selma native Monique Kaur Atwal, MD, is completing a four-year residency training program in Psychiatry at UCSF Fresno. After graduation, Dr. Atwal will work for the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health Transitional Age Youth Program and serve as volunteer Psychiatry faculty at UCSF Fresno. Dr. Atwal is a graduate from the UC San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (SJV PRIME) and UCSF Fresno Sunnyside High School Doctors Academy. She became a physician because she enjoys helping others and grew up in a community where access to health care was limited.
Brandon J. Croft, MD
Visalia native Brandon J. Croft, MD, completed a three-year residency training program in Internal Medicine at UCSF Fresno. After graduation, he will continue his education in the three-year UCSF Fresno Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. By the time he completes his graduate medical education, he will have spent six years training at UCSF Fresno, but Dr. Croft’s first exposure to the UCSF School of Medicine regional campus in Fresno was 10 years ago in 2013. Prior to entering medical school, he worked in the UCSF Fresno Clinical Research Center and as a scribe with the UCSF Fresno Department of Emergency Medicine. Scribes are employed by Central California Faculty Medical Group and work with UCSF Fresno Emergency Medicine physicians to document patient information at Community Regional Medical Center. He also studied at UCSF Fresno from 2018 to 2020 as a student in the UC San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (SJV PRIME).
Victoria Green, MD
Victoria Green, MD, completed a three-year residency training program in Internal Medicine and is staying to complete a three-year UCSF Fresno Gastroenterology Fellowship.
Dr. Green grew up in Kingston, Jamaica in the Caribbean. She went to Campion College for high school and then entered medical school at University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Jamaica. She completed five years of medical school and one year of medical internship. She then moved to the Bay Area to be with her husband while he completed his PhD. She worked for two years in research at Stanford and then worked as a medical scribe in an asthma and allergy clinic to gain more hands-on experience before matching with UCSF Fresno for residency.
Marie Mihara, MD, FAWM
Marie Mihara, MD, FAWM, completed a three-year Family and Community Medicine residency at UCSF Fresno. After graduation, she will join the faculty in the UCSF Fresno Family and Community Medicine Department. “I am fortunate to be able to stay here as clinical faculty next year,” said Dr. Mihara. “I will split time between our inpatient Family Medicine, Family Medicine Obstetrics services, and the outpatient clinic at Camarena Health in Madera. I hope to share my love of medicine with future learners.” Dr. Mihara successfully couples matched, completed a fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM), and is one of just a few physicians who provide gender-affirming care in the San Joaquin Valley. She also became a member of the Mountaineer unit of the Fresno County Search and Rescue Team.
Dan Ward, MD
Dan Ward, MD, completed a four-year residency training program in Emergency Medicine at UCSF Fresno. After graduation, he will serve as an active-duty Emergency Medicine physician in the U.S. Air Force and will stay on at UCSF Fresno as per diem faculty. Dr. Ward was motivated to pursue a career in medicine as a child when he watched his mother receive care for a debilitating autoimmune condition. Dr. Ward was born and raised in Fresno. He attended Bullard High School and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s in chemistry from Fresno State as part of the Smittcamp Family Honors College. He also received associate degrees in engineering, Mathematics and Health Information Technology from Fresno City College. He earned a medical degree from the UCSF School of Medicine.
Tania Zavalza Jimenez, MD
Tania Zavalza Jimenez, MD, completed a three-year residency training program at UCSF Fresno in Family and Community Medicine. After graduation, she will stay on as faculty in the Family and Community Medicine Department. Born in Mexico, Dr. Zavalza Jimenez moved to San Francisco with her family and then relocated to Turlock. A desire to help people, especially the underserved and those who do not speak English, motivated her to become a physician. She also felt called to work with undocumented and migrant communities. Being undocumented herself at one point, made college and becoming a doctor more challenging, she said.
