Spiritual Care Services & Information

To contact a Chaplain:

Call the Spiritual Care Department
In the hospital - Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center - extension 57484
Outside the hospital - 310-825-7484 Link opens phone app

In the hospital - UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center - extension 98170
Outside the hospital - 424-259-8170 Link opens phone app

Spiritual Care Department
UCLA Health
Box 951733
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1733

Spiritual Care services include

• Regular visits week days from an interfaith Chaplain assigned to your Nursing Unit
• Visits from an interfaith on-call Chaplain for emergencies and urgent requests 24/7
• An interdisciplinary healthcare team that includes a Chaplain
• Texts and holy writings from varied faith traditions
• Literature for special spiritual care needs
• Grief and crisis support
• Liaison with local faith communities to meet your specific needs
• We are available to people of all faith traditions with various beliefs, as well as those of no religious affiliation. If you have questions or specific requests, please contact us.

In the News

Spiritual Care Staff

ACPE Educators

Chaplain Blake Arnall, MDiv, BCC, is the Interim Director of the Spiritual Care Department. He is an ACPE Certified Educator and a commissioned minister with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He holds a BFA from Art Center College of Design and a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. He is a member of the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and has been a Board Certified Chaplain since 2007. He completed his ACPE Certified Educator training at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He has experience providing chaplaincy care to oncology, transplant and psychiatric patients and their family members. He has served on Palliative Care Teams and Ethics Committees for over ten years. Prior to joining UCLA Health, he was the Manager of Pastoral Education at Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia, California.

Staff Chaplains - Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

Rev. Chitra Rao, MDiv, is the Oncology Staff Chaplain at the outpatient UCLA Bowyer Oncology Center and on the inpatient Hematology and Stem Cell Transplant Unit at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She is an Episcopal priest and a board-certified chaplain with APC. Prior to coming to UCLA she served as an oncology staff chaplain for six years on the pediatric and adult patient units at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, CA and later as a hospice chaplain and bereavement supervisor.  Rev. Rao received a Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and completed her CPE residency at the University of North Carolina Hospitals, where her chaplaincy experience was concentrated in neonatal, obstetrics and gynecology. Additionally, she earned her Bachelors from MS University of Baroda in India and graduate degrees in Special Education from Long Island University, New York and in Audiology from Montclair State University, New Jersey.

Rev. Karl Baker, MDiv, BCC, is a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains and serves as a Staff Chaplain focusing on Pediatrics at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He is an ordained minister of Mennonite Church USA. Rev. Baker holds a Bachelor’s degree in Ministry from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, and a Master of Divinity from Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas. He completed his Clinical Pastoral Education residency at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, where he trained in a range of adult medical units including intensive care, transplant, and general medicine. Prior to becoming a chaplain, he served as a pastor in local churches in Texas and California. His work in pediatrics emphasizes age-appropriate spiritual care, family-centered support, and interdisciplinary collaboration to care for children and adolescents facing acute and chronic illness.

Staff Chaplains - UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center

Rabbi Dena Trugman, MAJS, is a Palliative Care Chaplain at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center. She received ordination and a Master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in Newton, MA, and she holds dual undergraduate degrees in History and English from Northwestern University. Prior to joining UCLA Health, Rabbi Trugman was a staff chaplain at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, where she primarily served patients receiving inpatient physical rehabilitation due to traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, and stroke. She also has significant experience working with oncology, trauma, burn, renal, dementia, cardiac, and critical care patients. Rabbi Trugman completed her training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Hebrew SeniorLife, a long-term care facility in the Boston area.

Rev. Moon Rhee, MDiv, MTheo, BCC, is a Staff Chaplain at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from New York University, a Master of Divinity from Princeton Seminary and a Master of Theology from Columbia Seminary. He is an ordained pastor of the International Ministerial Fellowship and a board-certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). He completed his CPE residency at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. After serving for sixteen years as a pastor, he started his second career as a chaplain. Before joining UCLA Health, he worked at Mission Hospital, VITAS Health, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, and Riverside University Health System Medical Center as a staff chaplain, hospice chaplain, and palliative care chaplain. He primarily served patients with terminal illnesses and patients at the end of life. He also served patients in Neurosurgery, Trauma ICU, Neuro, Vascular, Orthopedic, Plastic Units, and so on.

The Spiritual Care Department also includes an Office Administrator.  As part of the Spiritual Care Department's team, CPE interns, residents and staff serve the spiritual and religious needs of the Medical Center's patients, patient-family members, staff and faculty.