UCLA-VA Multi-campus PM&R Residency Program

UCLA-VA Multi-campus PM&R Residency Program is an ACGME-accredited residency program in physical medicine and rehabilitation based in Los Angeles, California. With four clinical fellows in pain medicine and 26 PM&R residents enrolled in the program, it is one of the largest PM&R residency programs in the West Coast and one of a handful of PM&R programs in the U.S. to have its own pain medicine fellowship program.

UCLA Medical Plaza

History

The program started in 1955. The program has trained over 200 physiatrists thus far. As with other VA-affiliated programs, UCLA-VA Multicampus Program grew in part due to increasing federal funding for research and development in the field of prosthetics and rehabilitation in the 1950s and 1960s. The Vocational Rehabilitation Administration (later Social and Rehabilitation Service) provided grants to support training programs for physiatrists and emerging PM&R departments. Research, and to lesser extent technology, was an important part of these training objectives.

West Los Angeles VA Medical Center opened in 1977 and the PM&R Department established an immediate presence, caring for patients who returned from the recent conflicts in Southeast Asia. The UCLA-VA Multicampus Program grew in size in the 1970s and 1980s with the addition of residents from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center.

Rotating hospitals

West Los Angeles VA Medical Center

Residents in PM&R care for patients in the following hospitals:

  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
  • Children's Hospital Los Angeles
  • Long Beach VA Medical Center
  • Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center
  • UCLA Medical Center
  • VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
  • California Rehabilitation Institute beginning in 2016

Faculty


The current faculty includes

UCLA

  • D. E. Fish, MD MPH
  • J. P. Prager, MD MS
  • J. Jung, MD

VA

  • D. Aragaki, MD
  • A. Basu, MD
  • E. Ben-Ozer, MD
  • S. A. Chrissian, MD MS
  • B. Darvish, MD
  • A. Dumas, MD
  • G. Etnyre, MD
  • S. Gohari, MD
  • H. S. Kim, MD
  • C. F. Kunkel, MD
  • L. S. Miller, MD
  • A. Miranda, MD
  • N. Kerendian, DO
  • A. Nastasi, MD
  • D. Opava-Rutter, MD
  • R. Ovsiowitz, MD
  • S. Pangarkar, MD
  • Q. G. Pham, MD
  • A. M. E. Scremin, MD
  • O. U. Scremin, MD PhD
  • M. Tran, MD
  • A. Wallbom, MD MS
  • M. Zappaterra, MD PhD
  • M. D. Zirovich, MD

Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center

  • Z. A. Ayyoub, MD
  • M. Scott, MD

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

  • S. Bamshad, MD
  • J. M. Baumgarten, MD
  • S. Hsu, MD
  • C. Mathis, MD
  • A. Meyer, MD
  • M. Nasmyth, MD
  • K. Paresa, MD
  • R. Riggs, MD
  • J. J. Pryde, MD MS

Long Beach VA

  • L. Chen, DO
  • S. Chun, MD

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

  • K. Craig, DO

California Rehabilitation Institute

  • D. Alexander, MD
  • J. Baumgarten, MD
  • J. Bryson, MD
  • C. Boudakian, DO
  • A. Dorsch, MD
  • M. Nasmyth, MD
  • S. Rao, DO

Residents (Chief Residents in bold)

Graduating Year

Name

2003

E Bernotus MD, A Fakheri MD (now A. Coppelson, MD), C Gordon MD, G Hunter DO, E Minkoff DO, B Mevorak MD, P E Shirazy MD, G. Wang MD

2004

J Altman MD, D Aragaki MD, J B Boston MD, J Chang MD, U Ghazi DO, M Massih MD, A Parti DO, M Saber MD

2005

B Ahangar MD, C Carvalho DO, J Ho DO, J Baumgarten MD, H Kim MD, K Lai DO, R Oshiro MD, S Patel DO, M Zirovich MD

2006

V Castellano MD, A Gluzman MD, D Hyams MD, S Karten MD, N Kerendian DO, S Kilmann MD, J Nguyen MD JD, T Nguyen DO, S Rao DO

2007

A Asher MD, N Banks MD, L Chen DO, J Jung MD, A Lavian MD, B Lenkin MD, A Rivera MD

2008

R Brizzie DO, B Nguyen MD, S Chi MD, G Nguyen MD, W-C Lee, MD, M Nasmyth MD, S Schultz MD, N Vuong MD

2009

A Basu MD, T Cha MD, T Flanagan MD, E Kim DO, O Mandal MD, G Ozoa DO, M. Silva MD, K. Zaffarkhan MD

2010

E Y Chang MD, B Charchian MD MS, J Chen MD MHS, H Dedes MD, G. Kalioundji MD, S Miller MD, J Moradkhani MD, G Raymond DO, B Thomas DO

2011

W Chang MD, K Dhingsa MD, S Hsieh MD, W Kim MD, L Gleason MD, Q Nguyen MD, N Perrizo DO,

2012

D Benton DO, L Firestone MD, E Huang MD, C Lee MD, P C Lee MD, M Ngo MD, C Ornelas MD, S Yee MD

2013

B Carroll DO, M Chen MD, S Choi MD, M Ignatius DO, K Kao MD, A Nguyen MD, M Perez MD, C Schulz MD, S Song MD

2014

C Bui MD, J Davis MD, R Gurai MD, D Lee MD, S Hsu MD, S O'Brien MD, M Tran MD, M Zappaterra MD PhD

2015

A Chang MD, D Chung MD, L Jim MD, P Law MD, S Lee MD, R Mignosa DO, E Pang DO, M Zall DO

2016

K Cachola MD, T Cushing MD, S Flores MD, M Givens MD, R Lee MD, J Padilla MD, A Saby MD, R Sood DO, C Vora DO

2017

D Barroga MD, M Darling MD, A Ghaffari MD, A Markosian DO, D Nguyen MD, G Rudd-Barnard MD, K Swaminathan DO, L Szafranski DO, R Zhang MD

2018

J Collins DO, I Dworkin MD, D Estrada MD, J Khwarg, MD, V Ma MD, U Nanda DO, G Sharma MD, J Zheng DO

2019

L Chang DO, A Ghatan DO, K Kamboj DO, A Leung DO, C Manh MD, J Mayberry MD, K Vu MD, K Yang MD

Notable alumni

  • Dixie Aragaki (2004) – Program Director, PM&R Residency Program, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System / UCLA
  • Arash Asher (2007) – Director, Cancer Survivorship & Rehabilitation Program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
  • Vincenzo Castellano (2006) – Medical Director of the Integrative Care Center, Hospital for Special Surgery
  • Frederick Davis – Former Chief, Department of PM&R, Kaiser West Los Angeles Medical Center
  • Armen Dumas (1981) – private practice in the San Fernando Valley and VA staff
  • Robert Galbraith (1981) – private practice in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles
  • David Hyams (2006) – Physiatrist, Department of Orthopaedics, Hospital for Special Surgery
  • D. Casey Kerrigan (1991) – Former Chair, Department of PM&R, University of Virginia
  • Quynh G. Pham (1996) – Program Director of PM&R Pain Fellowship Program and Associate Program Director of PM&R Residency Program, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System / UCLA
  • A. M. Erika Scremin (1983) – Chief, Department of PM&R, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
  • Neal K. Sheade – Chief Emeritus, PM&R Department at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center
  • Steve Yoon (Pain Fellow) – A team physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers
  • Allen S. Chen (Pain Fellow) - Director of Physiatry for the Columbia/New York Presbyterian Spine Hospital, New York City
  • Eric Chang (2010) – former Pain Medicine Attending Physician at University of California at Irvine College of Medicine; NIH RMSTP K-12 Fellow 2011-2014
  • Beny Charchian (2010) – Founder of the The Joint and Spine Institute in Beverly Hills, CA
  • Mauro Zappaterra (2014) – Physician with the Synovation Medical Group in Pasadena, CA

Program directors

  • D. Aragaki, MD (Program Director, PM&R Residency Program)
  • D. E. Fish, MD MPH (Associate Program Director, Pain Medicine Fellowship)
  • Q. G. Pham, MD (Program Director, Pain Medicine Fellowship)

Pain medicine fellowship program

The pain medicine clinical fellowship program was started in 2001.

Pain fellows (Pain fellow of the year in bold)

Year

Name

2001–2002

D. E. Fish, MD MPH

2002–2003

S. Bamshad, MD

2003–2004

R. Esquires, MD; S. Pangarkar, MD

2004–2005

J. B. Boston, MD; D. Marcus, MD; A. Q. Nguyen, DO

2005–2006

J. Gorze, MD; A. Jones, MD; H. Kim, MD; M. Zirovich, MD

2006–2007

A. Chen, MD MS; C. Lin, MD; S. M. Patel, MD; N. Walters, MD

2007–2008

D. Alves, MD; A. Gordon, MD; J. Jung, MD; A. Lavian, MD

2008–2009

J. P. Behr, MD; C. Janssen, MD; A. Mukai, MD; K. Wang, MD

2009–2010

S. Bassi, MD; A. S. Chen, MD; G. Ozoa, DO; S. Yoon, MD

2010–2011

B. Charchian, MD; B. Gerstman, MD; A. Kim, DO; J. Pan, MD

2011–2012

E. Ben-Ozer, MD; W. Kim, MD; J. Lee, MD; N. Perrizo, DO

2012–2013

J. Berk, MD; S. Dechter, DO; C. Fisher, MD; P. Lee, MD

2013–2014

M. Miedema, MD; M. Poliak-Tunis, MD; D. Rivera-Buscaglia, MD; B. Tribuzio, DO

2014–2015

J. Lee, DO; N. Muraoka, DO; S. L. O'Brien, MD; J. Solberg DO

2015–2016

B. Joves, MD; E. Leung, MD; E. Pang, DO; A. Vu DO

2016–2017

P. Le, DO; R. Sood, DO; C. Vora, DO; H. Yung MD

See also

  • PM&R Residency Programs in the United States