Please direct any inquiries to our Program.

Carina Pambakian (Program Coordinator): [email protected] 

Bear Waters (Recruitment Coordinator): [email protected]

Primary Care Program Leadership

Mina W. Ma, MD

Mina W. Ma, MD

Director, UCLA Internal Medicine Residency Primary Care Program

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.

Lisa J. Skinner, MD

Lisa J. Skinner, MD

Program Director, UCLA Internal Medicine Residency Program 

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.

Arash Nafisi, MD

Arash Nafisi, MD

Assistant Program Director

Dr. Arash Nafisi received his Bachelors of Science degree from UCLA and his medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency training at Einstein / Montefiore’s Primary Care / Social Internal Medicine program in 2013 and completed his Medical Education Fellowship at UCLA. 

Portrait of Dr. Ariana Wilkinson

Ariana Wilkinson, MD

Assistant Program Director

Dr. Ariana Wilkinson is Assistant Program Director for the VA/Santa Monica Track. She grew up in Central California and obtained her Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley. She then obtained her medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School before returning to California for residency in the UCLA Internal Medicine – Primary Care VA/Santa Monica Track. She also completed Medical Education Fellowship at UCLA.

Stephanie Young

Stephanie Young, PsyD, MPH

Dr. Stephanie Young is a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, board-certified clinical neuropsychologist, and licensed clinical psychologist serving as the Director of Mental Health Education for the Primary Care residency program. She has a degree in psychobiology and MPH in community health sciences from UCLA and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University. She created and leads the program’s integrated mental health training based at UCLA.

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Neil Paige, MD, MSHS

Vice Chair for Education, VA Greater Los Angeles Medical Center

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. 

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Soma Wali, MD

Chair, Department of Medicine, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center 

Dr. Soma Wali received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles and her MD from the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine at Chicago in 1994. She completed residency training from 1994-1997 in Internal Medicine at the Olive View-UCLA Program; followed by one additional year as Chief Resident.

Primary Care Key Faculty 

Spotlight: Dr. Hijab Zubairi

Dr. Zubairi is one of the key teaching faculty at UCLA Santa Monica Clinic and a faculty lead for the Health Equity & Advocacy Pathway (HEAP). In Dr.Zubairi’s own words, “The HEAP pathway...has been such an honor to help establish and continue to grow. One take away I'd like applicants to know is that Health Equity and Advocacy Pathway is for everyone: including residents, faculty, and patients. This pathway provides residents the 2.0 experience where they can take a deeper dive into a population, health issue, or community and really focus on individualized clinical, research, and advocacy skills.” Dr.Zubairi is deeply committed to community engagement and advocacy. She often recruits residents to join her volunteer efforts at various food pantries, homeless clinics, or asylum evaluations. 

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Key Faculty - UCLA - VA

  • Brianna Cowan, MD 
  • Ariana Wilkinson, MD
  • Maile Borthwick, MD
  • Rachel Dajani, MD
  • Shahryar Manavi, MD
  • Evelyn Chang, MD

Key Faculty - UCLA - Olive View

  • Laxmi Suthar, MD
  • Arash Nafisi, MD
  • Nathaniel Pedley, MD, MBA
  • Sahar Soleymani, MD
  • Kenny Pettersen, MD, MPH
  • Gezman Abdullahi, MD
  • Diana Lopez, MD

Key Faculty - UCLA - Santa Monica

  • Kat Chen, MD, PhD
  • Alan Chu, MD
  • Allison Diamant, MD MSHS
  • Mary Fok, MD
  • Gavin Ho, MD 
  • Joshua Khalili, MD
  • Jessica Liao, MD
  • Mina Ma, MD 
  • Arineh Melkonian, MD
  • Samira Nourbakhsh, MD
  • Aimee Nguyen, MD
  • Vanessa Olvera, MD
  • Sarah Takimoto, MD
  • Maddie Treasure, MD
  • Devesh Upadhya, MD
  • George Yen, MD
  • Peter Young, MD
  • Hijab Zubairi, MD, MPH
  • Stephanie Young, PsyD, MPH