Leadership
E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD
William S. Adams Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Chair and Executive Medical Director
Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA Health
Dr. E. Dale Abel graduated with Distinction from the University of the West Indies School of Medicine and obtained a DPhil at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He trained in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University, where he was chief resident and in endocrinology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical school. Dr. Abel has had a distinguished career in endocrine and metabolism research. His pioneering work on glucose transport and mitochondrial metabolism in the heart guides his current research interests: molecular mechanisms responsible for cardiovascular complications of diabetes. His laboratory has provided important insights into the contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction and aberrant insulin signaling, to heart failure risk in diabetes. Recent work has focused on mitochondrial mechanisms that mediate inter-organ crosstalk that may influence the pathophysiology of insulin resistance and mitochondrial pathways linking metabolism with increased risk for atherothrombosis. Dr. Abel recently completed terms as President of the Endocrine Society and President of the Association of Professors of Medicine. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Association of Physicians (AAP), the American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA), National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Lisa J. Skinner, MD
Program Director
Site Director IMS Resident Continuity Site
Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Lisa Skinner is the Program Director of the internal medicine program and an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine. Originally from Missouri, Lisa lived in Chicago, New Jersey, and Alabama before finally settling in California. She obtained her undergraduate degree at UCLA and a Master’s in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Lisa then attended the Yale School of Medicine, where she earned her MD in 1999. She and her husband, Michael, couples matched at UCLA, and Michael has become a devoted Angeleno after having spent his childhood and early adulthood in the Northeast. In 2003, after a year as Chief Resident, Lisa became a hospitalist and Associate Program Director. She has spent the bulk of her clinical career practicing primary care at the Iris Cantor Women’s Health Center at UCLA and helped build the ambulatory continuity experience for the medicine residency. She teaches about women’s health, preventive medicine, clinical teaching, and the role of effective feedback for developing physicians. When she is not in the hospital, Dr. Skinner enjoys cooking, traveling, and exploring Los Angeles’ neighborhoods and restaurants with her family.
Mina Ma, MD
Associate Program Director
Director, UCLA Internal Medicine Residency Primary Care Program
Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Mina Ma is the Director of the UCLA Primary Care Program as well as an Associate Program Director in the Department of Medicine Training Program. She grew up in the Bay Area and obtained her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley, and then her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her internship, residency and chief residency at UCSF/Mount Zion where she stayed on as an Assistant Program Director before relocating to Southern California with her husband, an oncologist at UCLA. After joining the faculty in the Iris Cantor UCLA Women's Health Center, she found a natural transition back into medical education. As a clinician educator, she is passionate about promoting the development of the next generation of primary care clinicians and health care leaders. When she is not caring for her patients, she enjoys being with her family in the outdoors, lakeside camping or sierra skiing, and her new found love of scootering.
Wendy Simon, MD
Associate Program Director
Associate Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
A San Francisco Bay Area native, Dr. Wendy Simon studied creative writing and biology at Stanford and obtained her medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco. She made a deal with her husband to spend three years training in Los Angeles while he completed a postdoctoral fellowship, but that deal expired in 2008 and she’s not only still here, but now uses articles in front of freeway numbers. You’ll find her attending on the wards as a hospitalist and leading quality initiatives in hospital medicine. In the residency program, she teaches medical simulation, quality improvement, practice performance feedback, and makes everybody write SMART goals. Within the department, she serves as the medical director of inpatient quality. Outside of medicine, she’s a soccer mom of two boys and enjoys reading, cooking, and running.
Edward S. Lee, MD
Associate Program Director
Associate Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Edward Lee is a hospitalist and an Associate Program Director of the internal medicine residency program. He spent most of his childhood in Texas and graduated with a BA in Mathematics and a minor in Business from Baylor University. He then attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He and his wife couples matched to UCLA in 2007 and have never left Los Angeles. He served as chief resident in 2010 before joining the hospitalist section. His clinical time is divided between most of our inpatient sites, including Ronald Reagan, Santa Monica, and the VA. In addition to patient care, his academic and research interests focus on high fidelity simulation and cardiac arrest/resuscitation. He helped build our simulation curriculum, which now spans all three years of residency with multiple experiences for our trainees. Within the residency program, he’s probably best known for creating the yearly schedule, but he is more interesting than that! He enjoys spending time with his wife (an anesthesiologist at UCLA), playing random games with his two children, and running for exercise/stress relief.
Associate Program Director
Associate Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Casey Kaneshiro is an Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program and an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine. He was born and raised in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. He completed his undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Hawaii before moving to Los Angeles to complete his internship, residency and chief residency at the Cedars Sinai/VA Greater Los Angeles Internal Medicine Training Program. He spent 3 years as an Associate Program Director at Cedars Sinai before joining the program leadership team at UCLA. He also serves as the site director for the UCLA Internal Medicine Program at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and directs the Night Hospitalist Service at the West LA VA. Clinically, you’ll find him at the West LA VA attending on the wards as a hospitalist. He is passionate about resident education, mentorship, and career development. Outside of the hospital you’ll find him either on the golf course, playing his ukulele, playing Pokemon, or cheering on his beloved San Francisco 49ers.
Associate Program Director
Assistant Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Kelley Chuang is a hospitalist at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. Born and raised in Colorado, she has moved all over the country--undergrad at Duke, a few years as a high school science teacher in D.C. while earning a Master's degree in teaching, medical school at Mount Sinai in NYC. She moved to LA to complete her internal medicine residency training at UCLA, and loved the UCLA community so much she decided to stay put. She served as a VA-based chief resident from 2017-2018. She spends her clinical time attending on general medicine wards at the West LA VA. She is also the VA site director for the UCLA Neurology interns during their medicine PGY-1 year. Dr. Chuang is passionate about curriculum development in digital learning, clinical informatics, and clinical coaching for resident learners. Outside of medicine, you'll find her taking long neighborhood strolls with her husband and son, reading her Kindle, balcony gardening, dog-sitting for Dr. Paige, or playing video games.
Kristin Schwab Jensen, MD
Associate Program Director
Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Dr. Kristin Schwab Jensen is a pulmonary and critical care physician. Originally from Baltimore, Kristin went to Princeton University for college and then the University of Pennsylvania for medical school. When she matched at UCLA for residency, she assured her East Coast family that she’d only be out in LA for training…though they were soon on to her, as she continued at UCLA for a chief residency year and then her pulmonary/critical care fellowship. She now splits her clinical time between UCLA and Olive View. She is passionate about ICU survivorship (and helped start UCLA’s Post-ICU Clinic), pulmonary rehabilitation, health equity, and medical education. In her free time, she loves skiing, exploring National Parks with her husband and son, and playing beach games.
Rachel Brook, MD
Associate Program Director
Associate Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Rachel Brook received her MD from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine and completed her IM residency at UCLA. She served as a chief resident in 2013-2014, then became a hospitalist and primary care physician with a focus on women's health. She is a prolific educator who has taught in nearly every existing medical school course at the DGSOM at UCLA. She was Chair of the Doctoring 1 course, Vice Chair for the Academic Medicine College, and was one of the inaugural members of the DGSOM Educators for Excellence. In addition to being an APD, she is currently the Director of Clinical and Career Coaching for our residency program. She has won multiple teaching and mentoring awards, including the Ambulatory Teaching Award, Inpatient Teaching Award, & Mentor of the Year Award from the UCLA IM Residency program, and the DGSOM Wilbur S. Schwartz MD Prize for Kindness, Compassion, and Humanity for her dedication to the physician-patient relationship and mentoring the next generation of healthcare leaders. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys playing fetch with her adorable dog Zoe and making floral arrangements with flowers from the local farmer's market.
Shatara (Tara) Townes, MD
Associate Program Director
Clinical Instructor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Tara Townes graduated from UCLA with a double major in physiological science and biology before pursuing her medical degree at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. A first-generation college graduate, Dr. Townes co-founded the UCLA Health Equity Hub and has been deeply involved in advancing initiatives to promote equity and inclusion throughout her academic and professional career. She completed her residency & chief residency at UCLA where she served as one of the Ronald Regan/ Santa Monica UCLA Hospital chief residents and as the EDI chief resident. During residency, she enjoyed being involved in the Medical Education Pathway where her project focused on strategies for efficacious development of pipeline programs for URiM students. During her chief residency, she spearheaded the development of a revamped EDI curriculum, and she is poised to bring this expertise to her role as an APD. Tara is currently a Primary Care Physician at UCLA and attends on Inpatient Medicine Wards throughout the year. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach, hiking, re-playing the GTA series on her PS5 (San Andreas, of course) and exploring new LA restaurants with her amazing fiancé (and college sweetheart). She is also an avid Laker and Dodger fan and loves to cheer on her home teams.
Associate Program Director
Assistant Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
After receiving her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, Dr. Tina Mosaferi completed her Internal Medicine Residency as well as her Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Fellowship training at UCLA. She currently cares for our veterans within the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System as both a primary care physician and an endocrinologist. Dr. Mosaferi has had a longstanding passion for medical education and serves as the DGSOM Scientific Foundations of Medicine Endocrine Core Educator. With the goal of further supporting trainees during their career milestones, she is also the Associate Director of the UCLA IM Residency Professional Development Coaching Program and the Chair of the Fellow Career Development Committee of the Clinical Association of California Endocrinologists. When not caring for patients or delving into our outpatient curricula, Dr. Mosaferi enjoys visiting her local farmer’s market, trying new West LA restaurants, and keeping up with her gardening.
Vice Chair for Education, VA Greater Los Angeles Medical Center
Clinical Professor of Medicine, Internal Medicine
Dr. Neil Paige received his medical degree from the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency at the Stanford University Medical Center. He completed the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA and received a Master’s of Science degree in Health Services Research from the UCLA School of Public Health. He has long been involved in residency education serving initially as Program Director for the VA Greater Los Angeles Internal Medicine Training Program and then as the Associate Program Director for the Cedars-Sinai/VA Greater Los Angeles Internal Medicine Training Program. He was an Associate Program Director for the UCLA Internal Medicine Residency Training Program from 2013-2021. He currently serves as Vice Chair for Education and Deputy Chair for the Department of Medicine at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.
Jodi L. Friedman, MD
Vice Chair for Education, UCLA Department of Medicine
Clinical Professor, General Internal Medicine
Dr. Jodi Friedman, a native Californian, grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She earned her undergraduate degree from UC Santa Cruz and her MD from UC Irvine School of Medicine. She completed her internship, residency and chief residency at UCLA Medical Center. After serving as an Associate Program Director from 1995 to 2003, she was named as the Program Director for the Department of Medicine Training Program. During her 16 years in that role, she oversaw the expansion of the residency, developed our Pathway programs, and trained nearly 800 internists. In 2019 she handed over the reins as PD to serve as the Vice Chair for Education for the UCLA Department of Medicine. Her interests as a clinician and a teacher include women’s health, preventive medicine, and primary care. She also loves making guest appearances with the residency band, Ultrasound, at our Spring Retreat and spending time with her wife, kids, and two dogs.