Vanessa Lauzon will graduate from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California where she has excelled academically and demonstrated not only a strong commitment to the underserved, but also a strong leadership skill-set in organized medicine. Vanessa is an AOA member, two-time Dean’s Scholar, and a USC Trustee Scholar. She is the National Director of the Medical Education Leadership Institute of the American Medical Student Association and coordinated AMSA’s effort to train medical student fellows to bring important medical education principles to their home institutions. She has strong experience in free clinics and non-profit humanitarian organizations based in the Los Angeles area and volunteered with Healing Hearts Across Borders providing healthcare to indigent patients in Tijuana, BC, Mexico. She also designed and fully implemented Keck School of Medicine’s medical Spanish program. In her free time she enjoys Latin American literature, cooking, and gardening.

Kristy Lamb will graduate from the Georgetown University School of Medicine where she demonstrated strong interest in working with patients struggling with substance dependence, as well as at-risk women. She volunteered with Prevention Works in Washington, DC to facilitate a needle exchange program in her region and sought out additional experience in dual diagnosis out-patient rehabilitation. In her first year of medical school, Kristy worked at Casa de Gabriella, a women’s shelter with a focus on victims of domestic violence as a health educator. Her interest in international health brought her to Costa Rica where she participated in the set-up of a free clinic in the small town of Quesada. Her own interest in personal fitness has lead her to run several marathons and triathlons and fueled her interest in promoting preventive health through fitness and integrative medicine. Aside from time spent staying active, Kristy is a movie buff and tries to take in a film festival whenever she can.

Making Winter a Little Warmer
UCSD Professor and Residents Reach Out to Homeless

Kim Edwards | December 3, 2007

With less than 72 hours notice, Dr. Margaret McCahill founding director of the UCSD Combined Family Medicine-Psychiatry Residency program, and a crew of dedicated volunteers helped get the city’s winter homeless shelter up and running. On Saturday, Nov. 17, in just six hours, the team screened 225 shelter guests. Two were sent to the emergency room and all other medical issues were addressed on site

“First of all, we do the right thing: we take care of everyone, immediately. If we can serve them reasonably in a clinic setting, the guests walk into the shelter with, among other things, their medications and a flu shot…and we potentially curtail emergency room visits,” said McCahill.

McCahill noted San Diego’s aging homeless population. “An aging population is more apt to have multiple medical problems. Sadly, the condition these people are in, many newly homeless, is often directly related to a lack of access to healthcare.”

McCahill’s life work is dedicated to the medical and psychiatric needs of the homeless community and those with no access to health care.

“Dr. McCahill is truly a community professor,” said Dr. Jim Dunford, professor of emergency medicine, UCSD School of Medicine, and medical director, City of San Diego. “Programs such as the combined residency program are going to be pivotal to future planning for homelessness.”

Saturday’s all-out effort included UCSD Medical Center physicians and residents; faculty members and students from the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy; students from UCSD’s Healthcare Opportunities, Preparation and Empowerment (HOPE) program; Point Loma Nazarene nursing students; and staff from the community clinic at St. Vincent de Paul Village.

Dr. Chris Searles, the Co-Director of the UCSD Combined Program and his team of combined residents will make follow up visits throughout the winter season, providing ongoing care for those who might not otherwise get medical help.

Welcome to the New First-Year Residents!

Our Combined Residency Program looks forward to two new first-year residents joining our team in July 2007. Our two newest colleagues are:

Shayna Davis, M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York
Melissa Deer, M.D. from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine

Welcome to Shayna and Melissa!

GWish Award Comes to San Diego !

We are very pleased to announce that the UCSD Family Medicine Residency Training Program is one of four national recipients of The 2006 GWish Spirituality and Medicine Awards for Curriculum Development for Primary Care Residency Training Programs. This prestigious award is given by the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health and The John Templeton Foundation, to support the development of courses that enable resident physicians to learn how to incorporate spiritual considerations into their patient assessment, treatment, and ongoing care. The Course Director is Margaret E. McCahill, M.D., the Founding Director of the UCSD Combined Family Medicine-Psychiatry Residency Program and a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at UCSD School of Medicine.