Leopoldine Matialeu, MD
I grew up in Cameroon and moved to the United States in 2005. I encountered many challenges, during my transition, including learning English, acclimating to the culture, and dealing with homelessness. I attended Cañada College and obtained my bachelor in biochemistry and MD degree from UC Davis where I also participated in the Rural PRIME program, one of the underserved leadership tracks. I feel very fortunate to be part of the combined program at UCSD. I chose combined training because of its holistic approach, which addresses both the mental and physical aspect of care.
I started 5th year with 6 months of Family Medicine and it has been great having 12 weeks of electives during this block. I have been able to do rotations that I enjoy such as wound care, weight management, OB with midwives, integrative medicine, and physical therapy. In January, I will be transitioning to my 6 months of psychiatry at which time I will the senior on the VA Substance Abuse Residential Recovery Treatment Program (SARRTP). This is a 28-day treatment program that is coordinated collaboratively between mental health care providers including MDs and NPs, addiction therapists, social workers, psychologists and therapists to provide care for both substance-independent psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders.
This is also a leadership year, which has had the extra challenge of Covid 19 pandemic and national fight for racial and social injustice. I find myself using multiple skills that I’ve learned during the leadership conference at the beginning of the year including transparency, reliability, humility, and willingness to learn from our imperfect attempts. We are fortunate to have such an amazing group of residents who make our chief job all worthwhile.
I’m excited for the last year of residency! It has been such an extraordinary journey filled with awe as well as painful growth moments. Looking forward, I will start reaching out and talking to different FQHCs in the San Diego community. Given that I am a NHSC student to service recipient, I owe the government 3 years of service after graduation. As such, I envision having a primary care panel and being a psychiatrist consultant for my primary care colleagues. Hopefully, I will get to fit global health opportunities/work into my contract!!
