2014-2015 Board

Alejandro Ochoa is currently a second-year medical student and is also a member of UCLA PRIME, a 5-year MD/Master’s program for students interested in working with underserved communities. Alejandro was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Madera, California, a small agricultural town thirty minutes north of Fresno. He majored in Public Health Promotion & Disease Prevention at the University of Southern California (USC). Prior to medical school, Alejandro worked for an outreach program in the Anaheim School District for two years as an academic counselor for low-income first generation high school students. Subsequently, he worked for a medical clinic as a physical therapist assistant implementing various rehabilitation exercises and therapies to help patients recover from various injuries or disabilities. Alejandro’s research interests include community interventions focused on preventative health outcomes, access to care for vulnerable populations, and medical education focused on population health and community medicine. Alejandro is also interested in academic/health system leadership, and using health services research to improve the quality and value of care delivered to underserved communities. Currently he has been involved in projects exploring how community health centers (CHC’s) can promote individual and community action around health disparities to reduce these inequities, improve outcomes, and engage patients in their health.

When Joe Torres was 8 years old, his family immigrated to Covina, California from Veracruz, Mexico. He has travelled a long distance to reach his dream of attending medical school, but the experiences along the way have refined his character. He began his path to higher education by attending Mt. San Antonio Community College as an AB-540 student. In 2002, his parents returned to Mexico leaving him alone and financially responsible. Still undocumented, he was unable to receive financial aid. Through immense dedication, working low-wage jobs, commuting 80 miles daily and with loans from family and friends, he graduated from UCLA in 2006 with a B.S. in Biology. He was unable to pursue medical school right after college due to his undocumented status and lack of financial support once again. Meanwhile he worked as a director at a retirement center, in charge of the basic medical care for the elderly. In 2008, he married his best friend and for the next 2 years they went through the stringent process of attaining his residency. Then, after being out of school for 5 years, he completed the UCSD Postbaccalaureate program where he achieved provost honors, assisted in a heroin vaccine research and taught underserved youth. Joe is excited to be a second year medical student at the UCLA PRIME/DREW program and is interested in addressing health disparities in underserved areas. Over the past year he has been involved in LMSA, UCLA Student Run Homeless Clinic, and has mentored with at-risk probation youth. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his wife and infant son Sonny, attending Dodger games, and watching MMA.

Joel was born in Hawthorne, CA to immigrant parents from Mexico and Guatemala. Among the various Los Angeles neighborhoods he grew up in was the small city of Lennox, CA, where CDU/UCLA LMSA now holds its health fair twice a year. His childhood interests had very little to do with medicine, and more to do with cartoons and doodling in notebooks. This interest led to a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Southern California. Several years after graduating, family health issues and inspiration from a friend in medical school served as motivation to pursue medicine. Joel completed his medical prerequisites while working full time for a biotechnology company and later as an emergency medical technician. Joel has volunteered for several hospitals throughout Los Angeles, has been part of the leadership team for an undergraduate hospital volunteer group, has served as a medical interpreter, and continues to volunteer for health fairs and student-run clinics that serve the poor and homeless of Los Angeles. Having lived his entire life in underserved communities, Joel is dedicated to working in areas where poverty is prevalent and access to quality health care is absent. In his free time, Joel enjoys spending quality time with his family and his dog Walnut, doodling during lectures, biking, and following current events.

Noel Carrillo was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California. He comes from a low-income Latino family that immigrated to the U.S. and he has witnessed first-hand the health disparities that affect the Latino community. His passion for working with underserved populations stems from the fact that he grew up in a neighborhood where gang violence was rampant, health disparities were present and where educational opportunities were limited. These factors motivated him to succeed in school in order to reach his goal of becoming a physician and to be able to give back to his community, as well as other underserved communities. After attending Garfield High School in East, Los Angeles, he moved to the bay area where he attended the University of California-Berkeley and majored in Integrative Biology and Psychology. During college, he was an active member of Chicanos/Latinos for Health Education and he volunteered at a non-profit where he helped immigrant families receive political asylum. He also volunteered at a HIV/STD community clinic in San Francisco known as Magnet, where he served the LGBT population. He was also part of the Mentoring in Medicine Program at Highland Hospital, where he got the opportunity to shadow physicians and residents in the Emergency Department. After college, he moved back to East Los Angeles, where he volunteered at White Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department. He also began working as a health educator in a non-profit that focused on providing HIV/STD prevention information to gay Latino men in South and East Los Angeles. In addition, he worked as a health educator for another non-profit where he provided information on treatment options and clinical trials to patients with pancreatic cancer. Now, as a current member of the PRIME Program at UCLA and as a LMSA Lennox Health Fair coordinator, he hopes to continue working with underserved populations. His goal is to work as a physician in an underserved neighborhood and to establish a mentorship program for future underprivileged pre-medical students and a non-profit that provides medical care and resources to underserved patients.

Evelyn’s strong commitment to building healthy communities that surpass the barriers of access stem from her growing up in the diverse communities of the South Bay Area of Los Angeles County. As a Southern California native from Hawthorne, she is proud of the diversity that lies within her county. As the eldest daughter of Latino immigrants, she places strong values in family, community, strong work ethic, and education. She believes health and education are the foundation to building a vivid future of our youth and our communities. She is passionate about mentoring and empowering our youth and building healthy communities in which every individual has the opportunity to thrive. She received her undergraduate degree from Loyola Marymount University where she pursued her degree in Biology. She is proud to continue her passion for civic-service and medicine through UCLA PRIME (Program In Medical Education). She is elated to be part of the Lennox Health Fair team as the marketing coordinator as it is a health fair that is close to her heart, as it takes place in the heart of the city of her infancy. She is ecstatic to be part of a team that shares her life-long vision of being on a healthcare team dedicated to providing all patients with accessible, high quality, affordable and sound medicine and very much looks forward to helping her team work alongside the Lennox community to bring the best it has to offer to one of our most vibrant and beautiful cities.

Josue Fernandez grew up in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico and moved to the United States to continue high school in Lodi, California. During his undergraduate years at UC Davis, he was a Spanish interpreter for Imani Clinic, a student-run clinic, in Sacramento, CA. Through this experience, he discovered his love and passion for medicine. Upon finishing his B.S. in Electrical Engineering, he went on to do a Post Bac Program at UC Davis. Some of his past work included working as a volunteer bilingual sex educator for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the International Spanish Red Cross, and Solidarios para el Desarollo. Josué is currently the treasurer and fundraiser for LMSA, co-coordinator for the Anesthesiology Interest Group, and distribution coordinator for RENEW. In addition, he currently conducts research in the CORE Lab (Cardiac Outcomes and Research). He is always interested in promoting mentoring events and organizing different ways for doctors/medical students/undergraduates to interact together. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, and exploring the food scene in LA!

I was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States with my family when I was seven. I was placed in an ESL class and learned English in my first grade class in Oxnard, California. After one year we moved to Gardena as my mother was offered a teaching position at a public elementary school in Compton and I enrolled in this school as well. I enjoyed my time at this school even though school shootings during school hours were not uncommon and lock-downs where teachers would turn off the classroom lights and close the doors to try to calm my and my classmate’s anxiety. I excelled at school and I participated in a poetry contest where I represented my school and recited “From Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, after little more than a year of coming to this country. During this time my family did not have health insurance and obtaining care when we were sick was challenging. Life certainly was not a crystal stair for us, and neither is it for most people, but living through these experiences made me more sensible to the medically underserved. During middle school I was taught 7th grade science by Dr. James, a retired Indian cardiologist who described to us the wonders and power of medicine and science. This planted the seed of medicine in me. I graduated valedictorian from my middle school and attended Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School where I further explored a career in medicine through summer programs like “Jovenes Por la Salud” and coursework. At UCLA I involved myself in clubs like Chicanos for Community Medicine where I had the opportunity of speaking to physicians who encouraged us to seek a career in medicine. At one of these meetings I was presented with the opportunity of participating in a summer fellowship where I became more knowledgeable of medical issues afflicting certain medically underserved areas in Los Angeles. This inspired me even further to do my part to lessen the shortage of physicians in these areas. My experiences at the hospital this first year in medical school have given me a taste of the fulfillment and satisfaction this career provides. I continue on my life mission to provide exceptional care and improve people’s health, one patient at a time, both in and out of the hospital. In my spare time I enjoy playing soccer, going camping, and reading. I want to eventually do a triathlon and go whitewater rafting.

Stefanie Gopaul grew up in the small city of Mount Vernon, New York. Although she has many wonderful memories of her hometown, she recalls how the socioeconomic factors in her neighborhood dramatically influenced the health and quality of life of those in her community. Through her volunteer work in high school, Stefanie became more aware of the health disparities within underserved communities, leading her to a career path of practicing medicine in those communities. After high school, Stefanie received a scholarship to attend the University of Southern California (USC). Although nervous about leaving her family and friends, she ventured to the West Coast to follow her dreams of becoming a physician. At USC, Stefanie completed her pre-medical coursework, while mentoring inner-city elementary school students, volunteering at the Norris Cancer Hospital, and conducting molecular biology cancer research. She graduated from USC in 2010 with a B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and a B.A. in Biological Sciences. After college, Stefanie completed the UC Davis School of Medicine Postbaccalaureate Program in 2011, and in 2013, she was accepted into the Charles Drew University/David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, PRIME program. Through the PRIME program, Stefanie helped to implement a mentorship program working with underserved youth in Highland Park. She currently serves as the Mentorship Chair on the UCLA PRIME Council and will serve as the LMSA Lennox Health Fair Co-Chair for the 2013-2014 academic year. Her goal is to become a primary care physician working to enhance the quality of care provided to patients in medically underserved communities.

Kaitlin was born in San Jose, CA and raised in Folsom, CA. She grew up in a loving, supportive mixed race family. Kaitlin attributes her compassion, open-mindedness, and love of meeting and interacting with new people to her wonderful family. Kaitlin graduated from UC Berkeley in 2011 with a major in Molecular and Cell Biology after which she spent a year working in an ophthalmology clinic and another year working for an international health care aid non-profit based in San Francisco. Kaitlin is a proud Drew/UCLA medical student at DGSOM and couldn’t be happier with her school and her amazing classmates. Currently, she is a secretary three times over for LMSA, SNMA and her Drew class of 2017. Kaitlin is very proud to be a member of all three groups and plans to be a positive contributor to the three organizations during her time at UCLA and in her personal mission to better understand the causes of health care disparities, work to decrease the amount disparities and help diversify the field of healthcare.

Christopher Hanuscin was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from Palisades High School in 2009. He was varsity captain for both his high school’s football team and lacrosse team. Due to his academic excellence in the classroom and his leadership characteristics shown outside the classroom, he was awarded the Posse Foundation Full Tuition Leadership Scholarship to attend Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Posse Foundation identifies leaders in urban high schools around the Los Angeles community and sends them in groups known as “Posses” to prestigious universities across the country. During his four years at Tulane University, Chris walked-on to the division one varsity football team, participated in different organizations, and acquired his B.S in Cell and Molecular Biology. He also minored in Psychology and Business. He was elected as Vice President for both GENTE, the Latino student organization on campus, and Men of Color, the African American male student organization on campus. He also was a pre-hearing administrator for the Office of Misconduct, where he acted as a student representative on the hearing board for misconduct cases. Right before Chris graduated from Tulane University in 2013; he was awarded the Tulane 34 award, which recognizes the top 34 students in the entire university for their excellence in academics, their volunteer commitment in the community, and leadership qualities shown throughout their educational career at Tulane University. Chris matriculated into Charles R. Drew/ UCLA School of Medicine in 2013 and plans to continue his passion in working in underserved communities. He currently serves as the Lennox Health Fair Volunteer Coordinator in LMSA and Community Service Representative in SNMA for the 2014-2015 academic year.

Ken Kitayama was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Japanese-Peruvian parents who themselves were born and raised in Lima, Peru. He grew up in southern California and later went on to graduate from Columbia University in 2010, where he double-majored in Neuroscience & Behavior and Hispanic Studies. Ken spent the next year conducting research in the Department of General Pediatrics at the Columbia University Medical Center, evaluating e-health interventions and a youth medical program, both of which were designed to improve outcomes in the Harlem/Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan. He then returned home to California where he volunteered at the Orange County Health Care Agency, assisting with Medi-Cal enrollment and a pilot obesity prevention program at the Family Health Clinics. The year prior to enrolling in medical school, Ken completed a term of service with Community HealthCorps (AmeriCorps) at AltaMed Health Services, a large Federally Qualified Health Center in Los Angeles, working on routine HIV testing at primary care clinic sites. As a member of UCLA PRIME, Ken was also involved in a project designed to implement study skills workshops and mentorship activities for at-risk youth at Optimist Youth Family Homes. Ken’s research interests include the application and evaluation of appropriate e-health interventions adapted for optimal impact in under-resourced communities. He is also interested in the articulation of cross-cultural identity, both historically (i.e., the artistic manifestation of the clash between Iberian and pre-Hispanic civilizations) and in the modern day (i.e., third culture individuals’ search for personal identity).

Gabriel Lopez was born in Long Beach and grew up in Chino, CA as the final addition to a family of seven. His parents crossed the U.S. border illegally from Mexico in the late 70’s with the hopes that their future children will have the educational opportunities that they were denied as children themselves. An enthusiastic high school biology teacher sparked a passion for science and upon entering the University of California, Riverside as an undergraduate he soon majored in biological sciences. With a multitude of experiences granted by his involvement with the UCLA PREP program, scientific research, volunteer work in hospitals he knew that a career in medicine was a perfect match for him. However, it was only after taking three years of full-time service through AmeriCorps programs that he recognized his life’s passion for serving underserved communities. Two of the three years was spent tutoring and mentoring middle and high school students in Boyle Heights, a primarily Latino underserved neighborhood near East Los Angeles. A third year was spent serving aboard a mobile outreach clinic where Gabriel helped to bring immunization events and health education to medically underserved communities in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. He is now proud to be a part of the UCLA chapter of the Latino Medical Student Association as the Co-Chair of the Lennox Health Fair. Alongside a passionate and committed group of fellow medical students and community advocates, he is excited to continue to build on the over 20 year service legacy that the Lennox Health Fair provide its community members. Gabriel is eternally grateful to his loving and supportive family and friends and enjoys to spend most of his free time with them. You can find him with his family at Disneyland or running by himself around the UCLA campus. If you do, please feel free to say "hi!"

Elizabeth grew up in North Hollywood, CA. and attended UC Berkeley where she majored in Physiology and Metabolism. During her time in undergrad, she was actively involved in diabetes health education on the UCB campus and the surrounding low-income minority communities in Berkeley. After graduating undergrad, she worked for 3 years as a clinical research assistant at UCSF and UCLA. Currently, she is in the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program and continues her passion in community health awareness through her involvement as a Lennox Supplies Coordinator. In the future, she envisions practicing medicine in the low-income, primarily Latino Community where she was raised and where most of her family resides. In addition, she plans to use her native Spanish-speaking skills and her interest in conducting community based research to improve health education and accessibility to medical care in her community. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, and enjoying the warm and sunny Los Angeles weather.

Gianna is originally from Paterson, New Jersey, the daughter of a fiery Italian, and a mellow Colombian, both qualities that she likes to think she inherited. After her mother moved to Medford, Oregon, she split her time between Paterson and Medford, traveling back and forth with her favorite uncle, Oswaldo. She graduated from North Medford High School, where Mrs. Warren inspired her to pursue a career in medicine after introducing her to an amazing anatomy class. She went on to study Biology and Sociology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Gianna chose these areas of study because she was interested in not only science and health, but also the intersection of race, class and gender in medicine. After college, Gianna became a Teach For America corps member, and taught high school biology at Richmond High School in Richmond, CA, where she had the opportunity to educate talented, dedicated, passionate students. Richmond, as one of California’s most underserved communities, truly proved that a career in service was what she wanted most, and reinforced that medicine was the perfect blend of what she is passionate about: service, science and people. Now, as part of the UCLA PRIME program, she is able to nurture her passion for serving the underserved and is surrounded by likeminded medical students. As Mentorship Chair and Wellness Chair, Gianna hopes to continue to work with young, passionate individuals, while focusing on keeping LMSA well.

Jorge Torres was born in Corona, CA and raised in Perris, CA. Jorge is a first generation born Mexican American and he is also the first in his family to pursue a higher education. Jorge has a history of community service, unique patient contact experiences and both clinical and biomedical research. In his undergraduate years at UC Berkeley where he earned his BA, he became a patient advocate for children with neuromuscular diseases during his volunteer service at The Muscular Dystrophy Association as a camp health counselor, captain fundraiser and spokes person. Jorge integrated his experiences of neuromuscular disease as a clinical and translational researcher at UCSF’s Children’s Hospital beginning in 2008. In 2010, Jorge would spend the next three years being deeply involved in conducting biomedical research relevant to type 2 diabetes and muscular disease at UCSF. Later, in 2013 he began pursing his medical education at UCLA. As a first year medical student, Jorge became a Medical Student Representative as well as the Undergraduate Mentorship Co-Coordinator for the LMSA chapter at UCLA, where he continues to be involved in the community through health clinics such as the Lennox Health Fair, food drives, advocacy, clinical research and mentorship.

Marisa was born and raised in Santa Ana, CA. She attended Stanford University where she participated in Barrio Assistance, a mentoring program for students from low income families in East Palo Alto, MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán), an organization that aims to foster cultural awareness and educational outreach to Chican@/Latin@ students, and the Stanford Premedical Association. In her latter years at Stanford, Marisa also became a tutor for a program called H.E.L.P. (Health Education for Life Partnership with kids). Through H.E.L.P., Marisa developed a health and science curriculum that she, along with other students in the program, taught weekly to 4th, 6th and 8th graders at a local school. After graduating from Stanford with a degree in Human Biology, Marisa worked as a medical scribe for a podiatrist for two years before matriculating to the UCLA/Drew program to pursue a doctorate in medicine. She continues to educate local communities through opportunities such as the Lennox Health Fair organized by LMSA, and hopes to apply her passion for helping underserved communities to the field of orthopedic surgery. In her spare time, Marisa delights in playing soccer, hiking, going to the beach, spending time with her family, and reading fiction novels.