Our Fellows

Our Fellows

2024-2025

Sonal Gandhi, MD

raised in New Delhi, India, drew inspiration from her grandparents' battles with cancer to pursue a career in medicine. She graduated from one of India’s oldest and most prestigious medical schools, Lady Hardinge Medical College. Seeking to broaden her horizons and contribute to the global medical community, she ventured to New York City for Internal Medicine residency at Mount Sinai. She aims to pursue additional training in medical oncology and is driven to integrate palliative medicine principles into the standard of care for all patients with cancer. Her research and academic interests include improving the quality of equitable cancer care delivery, communication skills, and patient-reported outcomes in clinical trials.

Lizette Garcia, MD

was born and raised in Downey, CA. She attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in Biological Basis of Behavior, and attended medical school at USC. She completed internal medicine residency at UCLA, and is excited to stay here for Palliative Care fellowship. She is passionate about reducing health care disparities, especially in end of life care and oncology. In my free time, I enjoy trying new restaurants, hiking the many trails in LA, and spending time with my partner and family.

Kevin Hopkins, DO

grew up in New Jersey, attending college there before completing medical school in Arizona. He completed residency as part of the MedStar Baltimore IM program, developing an interest in the uniquely humane practice of palliative care while in training there. An avid crossword, museum, and game enthusiast, his clinical and research interests include exploring the ways in which word choice and language might influence outcomes in palliative discussions, overcoming difficulties in achieving ethical informed consent (particularly in emotionally traumatic situations), improving palliative treatment of patients with substance use disorders, and identifying ways to become a better clinician-educator.

Adria Lam, MD

was born in New Orleans but grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. She graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Physician-Scientist program with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 2018 and an MD with distinction in research in 2021 from Albany Medical College. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Ohio State University. Her interests in palliative care stemmed from her work with the American Medical Association’s Committee on Bioethics and Humanities. She would also like to explore the intersection between addiction medicine and palliative care, and plans to pursue a career in academic medicine and education. 

Kevin La, MD - 2nd year Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine fellow

was born and raised in San Jose, California. He graduated from UC Davis before attending UCSD for his MD and UC Berkeley for his MPH. His residency in Internal Medicine was completed at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles. He seeks a career in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine to pursue his interests in patient access and literacy and impact health systems and policy. 

Annie Phung, DO

is a native of Southern California, calling Long Beach her home. She graduated from University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor’s degree in Biological sciences. Afterwards, she earned both a Master’s in Biomedical Science and Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Georgia. She then completed her family medicine residency training at Northwestern McGaw Family Medicine Residency at Delnor Hospital in the Chicago area. She is excited to return to California and with fellowship, hopes to integrate her passion for primary care, palliative medicine, and medical education in her career path. 

Wilson Ricketts, MD

is from Birmingham, AL. He graduated from Covenant College outside of Chattanooga, TN and attended medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During medical school he took a year off to attend Duke Divinity School as a theology, medicine, and culture fellow, earning a certificate in theology and healthcare. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine & Pediatrics at UCLA in 2024. He is interested in palliative care for children and adults, international palliative care capacity building, and exploring the ethics and spirituality of medicine through film.

Sarah Soliman, MD

was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from USC in 2015, Keck School of Medicine in 2019, and the Combined Internal Medicine and Peds Residency Program at USC in 2023. After residency, she worked as an Internal Medicine Nocturnist/Hospitalist at UCLA for a year. She was involved in projects to include patient life narratives in the EMR, community education projects, and several labor union efforts during her time as a resident. Sarah became interested in Hospice and Palliative Medicine for its humanistic approach to patient care, which combined her interests in the arts/humanities, patient advocacy, and patient narratives. In her free time, she enjoys writing, hiking, cooking, and petting cats and dogs.

Christine Willinger, MD 1st year Geriatrics Palliative Medicine fellow

was born and raised in suburban New Jersey. She graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Biophysics, followed by a NIH research fellowship in cardiovascular epidemiology at the Framingham Heart Study. Christine received her MD and MPH degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. She moved to Los Angeles for residency in the UCLA Internal Medicine Primary Care Program, after which she served as Ambulatory Chief Resident. She aspires to practice person-centered outpatient care for older adults with serious illness. Additional interests include medical education, quality improvement, and global health.