Emergency Medicine PGY-3 Residents

Hobbies, facts and interests
I’m a pretty big nerd and love a good board game, video game, or anime. Hosting board game nights with friends is one of my favorite past-times. My fiancé and I also got into white water rafting on the American River a couple years ago. And while I’m not the stereotypical EM outdoorsy/backpacking type, I am down to go on a hike that involves a good amount of shade and maybe a waterfall at the end of it.

Why Fresno?
UCSF Fresno offers a rare blend of community, county, and academic training that made it the right program for me. The privilege to take care of a diverse and underserved patient population in a high-volume, high-acuity yet mission-driven Emergency Department will not only prepare me to practice anywhere but will also continue to drive my engagement in health policy and advocacy during and after residency. Additionally, during my interactions with the residents, it was refreshingly apparent that Fresno fosters an approachable and supportive culture which really stood out to me on the virtual interview trail. Lastly, Fresno is a great fit for my lifestyle with easy access to the outdoors, and the perfect distance from my family and my partner’s family in Northern and Southern California respectively. For all these reasons, UCSF-Fresno was my top choice for residency and I am beyond ecstatic to be training here!

Interesting fact about you
I was a band nerd in high school and played the French horn, but during football season I got to be the drum major of the marching band for two years!

Hobbies
Hiking, backpacking, climbing, camping, swimming, hanging out at the lake with a paddle board and a few beers, updating my Spotify playlist, and finding good food and coffee

Professional Interests
Education, wilderness medicine, toxicology

Why Fresno?
I love the proximity to the Sierra Nevadas, the quiet easy living of the city, and the amazing EM training that our program has to offer!

Hobbies
Hiking, backpacking, baking, hanging out with my cats, and visiting breweries

Professional Interests
Wilderness medicine, EMS

Why Fresno?
I rotated at UCSF Fresno during my 4th year of medical school and was struck by the immense knowledge and capabilities of the residents, the diversity of the patient population, and the amazing teaching from faculty. I knew my goal was to be trained in that kind of environment.

Hobbies, facts and interests
I love hanging out with my family and friends. I also love traveling to new places, trying new foods and learning about other cultures. My goal is to travel to every continent, and hopefully, get to bring my parents with me. My interests and passions revolve around mentorship and community health outreach.

Why Fresno?
I grew up in the Central Valley and as a pre-med and medical student, my goal has always been to come back and serve the Central Valley communities. I’m a first-gen Mexican-American who grew up in a farm-working and Spanish-speaking family, and I feel very blessed to train at an amazing EM program at UCSF Fresno!

Hobbies
Running, biking, skiing, camping, hiking, building stuff

Professional Interests
Wilderness medicine, education

Why Fresno?
I heard of UCSF Fresno’s unmatched reputation, and it was backed by all the amazing people I met along the interview trail. From the patient population and acuity, to the number of procedures, it was the obvious choice. You also can’t beat the great access to mountains, beaches, and plenty of other outdoor places to explore.

Interesting fact about you
I've visited every national park in the US

Hobbies
Snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, climbing, most other type 2 fun experiences, soccer, tennis, dumb reality TV

Professional Interests
EMS and wilderness medicine

Why Fresno?
I'm not sure there's another ED out there that can match Fresno's volume, acuity, and organized chaos. Our program emphasizes appropriate triaging of sickest first, efficient disposition, and procedural competency. I'm practicing critical care nearly every shift, even in our "low acuity" zones. It can be a stressful environment, but the support from the faculty and fellow residents is palpable every day. When I'm not working, I can go decompress in the Sierra Nevadas or head to the beach. What's better than that?

Hobbies, facts and interests
Training martial arts (boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu), cooking, trying new restaurants with my wife, and playing with our new English Lab puppy, Archie. Life-long Dodger fan, but lover of all sports…except golf.

Fun Fact: I tore my left retina in a sparring session while preparing for an upcoming competition. My vision was back to normal relatively quickly, but it took about a year to fully recover before training again. In one of my follow-up appointments, my retinologist asked if I was interested in pursuing a different career path.

Why Fresno?
I was looking for a residency program that combined a supportive, inclusive culture with the clinical rigor focused on treating the medically underserved in a diverse patient population. It was very clear after interviewing with the faculty and residents of Fresno EM that this program exemplified everything I was looking for. Also, being close to family, friends, and mentors in the So-Cal area was a major contributing factor.

Hobbies, facts and interests
My family is my biggest motivator, greatest treasure, and best reward at the end of a long shift. It includes my husband (Fellipe), 5-year-old son (Dani), and 1-year-old daughter (Ella). We LOVE new experiences and places, though find we’d rather do our own cooking (i.e., “Kitchen ChEMistry,” as it’s called in our house) than go out to eat. (488 unique recipes and counting!) To get around, Fellipe and I enjoy hopping on our Harleys and going wherever the road takes us.

Why Fresno?
Just as my choices in schooling and husband illustrate, I never settle for anything but the best. I’m THRILLED to be at this academic program where everyone is as excited to learn and better himself as I am, where we get to be on the cutting edge of what’s known in Emergency Medicine and have the opportunity to expand those borders for our own benefit, as well as the whole specialty’s. I’ve always had a passion for Global Health and am also excited to carry that work forward here with others who share my interest.

Other advanced degrees/where?
MS in Earth Systems Science at Stanford

Interesting fact about you
Before medical school, I completed a Master’s in Earth Systems Science at Stanford to study environmental determinants of health, worked in illustration at RogueMark Studios, and became proficient at folding clothes while working at Patagonia.

Hobbies
I love running/hiking/backpacking with my dog, bike touring, playing ultimate frisbee, cooking/eating good (mostly vegetarian) food, and making/enjoying visual art.

Professional Interests
During medical school, I completed a year-long pathology externship with the University of Iowa Pathology Department, which allowed me to work on a combined public health/forensic pathology project to examine how we document (or could be better at documenting) deaths that occur in the presence of law enforcement in Iowa (and the country, more broadly). I also created an illustrated video as part of a larger humanities project that I jokingly call my medical *magnum opus* (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMgXUEoXiY0). The video complements a paper I published looking at the ethics of self-care in medical education.

Why Fresno?
I grew up in Fresno and coming home for residency is such a gift. While rotating here as a visiting Sub-I during my fourth year of medical school, I was first blown away by the kindness and inclusiveness of the UCSF Fresno residents and staff and secondly by the volume and acuity of patients cared for at CRMC. I saw EM residents running the traumas coming in with calm and confidence and remember thinking wow, I want to be like them. I knew immediately that training at UCSF Fresno would prepare me well for any future path in Emergency Medicine. I am honored to learn from and care for patients in the Central Valley – a place of arid beauty, remarkable diversity, incredible produce, deep inequities, and easy access to some of the most amazing mountains in the world. I am excited to practice medicine joyfully, to be humbled by my patients, and to be a part of the UCSF Fresno family.

Hobbies, fun facts and interests
Spending time with my fiancé Francisco and our pup Kodi! Yoga, hiking, dancing (salsa anyone?), reading (lovin’ audiobooks, too!), cooking, trying new activities! I LOOOVE potluck-BBQ hangouts!

Why Fresno?
The Central Valley is home and Fresno has a lot to offer its residents and its community. I am excited to working in Central Valley population of Fresno. There is so much opportunity here from educating our patient population as well as mentoring aspiring physicians from the local universities such as UC Merced, CSU Fresno, CSU Stanislaus, and Fresno Pacific University. The opportunity of teaching future physicians aside, we also have the wonderful outdoors just a couple hours away! Wonderful location and wonderful people!

Hobbies, facts and interests
I grew up working in the motorcycle industry with my family and I still love to ride dirt bikes and UTVs and taking family/friend camping trips to the desert to ride. During medical school, I worked with the Alpinestars Mobile Medical Team providing trackside emergency medical care at professional AMA Supercross races and hope to continue that during my career. In my free time I love to cook, binge a new show on Netflix, golf, drink local microbrews, and spend time with my beautiful wife and our golden retriever Levi.

Why Fresno?
I actually worked as a scribe in this very emergency department before medical school and that is when I fell in love with this department and emergency medicine as a whole. Even as a scribe I found myself surrounded by incredible residents, faculty, and mentors. The pathology and volume are so incredible here that I always just assumed that was how all other departments were until I rotated in other departments during medical school. Fresno and the patient population have a special place in my heart, so coming back to serve my community has always been my goal. I feel incredibly privileged to train here at UCSF Fresno knowing that all the residents before me have become highly competent emergency physicians.

Hobbies, facts and interests
Love your typical EM shenanigans: climbing, backpacking, running, snowboarding, etc (although I notably don’t own a bike, sorry Dr. Glaucomflecken). I’ve also recently become a pretty avid chef (complete with mistreated sourdough starter), aspiring plant dad, and my nerdy-guilty pleasure is chess.

Why Fresno?
No program on the application trail left me more impressed. Fresno is a place to come if you want to get an exceptional, hands-on training. We have an incredible, diverse, and very sick patient population that will leave you seeing dozens of 'once in a career' diagnoses during your training. The number of procedures and hands on learning is unparalleled; plus being a blend of academic institution at a community hospital, we get to do procedures that are very rare in a purely academic setting. The area is wonderful and beautiful with incredible access to mountains/nature and has the central coast not far off. And to round it off, the residents here are an amazing, tight knit, social group.