Class of 2024

Abigail Ahyong, MD
Rural Training Track

Abby (she/her) was born and raised in Ketchikan, a rural island town in southeast Alaska. She attended the University of WA (Seattle) and obtained a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology, where she also marched as a proud member of the UW Husky Marching Band. She spent 2 years teaching English in a rural mountain town in Japan and traveling around SE Asia. Her upbringing and time abroad solidified her passion for rural medicine and serving communities with limited access to care.

She attended the University of AZ College of Medicine in Tucson, participating in the Rural Health Professions Program and graduating with Distinctions in Rural Health and Community Service. Growing up in a predominantly white community, she never saw physicians that looked like her and wanted to create a space for Filipinx pursing medicine to connect with one another. She created and hosted the 1st National Filipinx in Medicine webinar, gathering premed and med students from across the US and Philippines to hear from Filipinx physicians about their journey into medicine, impact their culture had on their decision to become physicians, and advice for the next generation.

Abby is excited to be part of the Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine program and Rural Training Track. As both a Filipino-American and person born and raised in a rural town, she is focused on bringing full-spectrum family medicine care to communities of color in rural America and abroad.

Outside of the hospital she enjoys hiking, rock climbing, cooking, and trying out new restaurants.

Abby is excited to introduce fellow Filipinx co-resident, Lucia Amore! Lucia is bringing her warm personality, beautiful smile, and Aloha-spirit to the PNW. When she’s not advocating for equitable care or helping patients through important, stressful situations, you can find her dazzling her co-residents with her beautiful voice and ukulele. She’s always up for an adventure, especially if entails trying a restaurant recommended by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt!

Lucia Amore, MD
International Community Health Services

Lucia Amore (she/her) was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, to her horticulturist mother from the Philippines and social worker father from Hawaii. Raised with good food and an awareness of the growing complexities of living in Hawaii, she set out to learn a new perspective she hopes to one day bring back home.

In her time during undergrad and medical school, she became fascinated with how the social determinants of health, like access to food, education, regular healthcare, shape every aspect of the patient’s experience of life and medicine.

Lucia is inspired by her mentors and patients, especially those at the Homeless Outreach and Medical Education Clinic at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, the type of doctor she wants to be cares for the underserved members of our community.

Inspired by federally qualified health centers and the breadth of services they provide to patients, she is proud to join the kind and understanding team at the International Community Health Services. Thank you to the team for their patience with me, and thank you to the patients.

Drawn to the mission of the Cherry Hill Residency of meeting patients where they are at and providing thorough care in all aspects of a patient’s life, she looks forward to all the ways she’ll grow during training.

In her free time, she enjoys exploring the delicious food scene of Seattle and experimenting in the kitchen. On her days off, you can find her reconnecting with nature, playing music, or visiting her friends’ dogs.

Lucia is proud to introduce her co-intern, Wendy Coard! Wendy cares for underserved patients as if they were family. The passionate way she cares extends beyond the clinic as she is a resource for advice and comfort at intern support group. She has a talent for making us laugh and enjoy the moment, while capturing these times of joy as our resident phone photographer.

Wendy Coard, MD
Cherry Hill

Wendy (she/her) was born in Lima, Peru and raised in sunny South Florida since migrating to the United States in 1997. She relocated with her husband to Washington in 2010, and they both fell in love with the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She finished her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Science in General Biology. Her personal experiences with social and healthcare inequities led her to immerse herself in healthcare policy and advocacy organizing as an undergraduate student. She prioritized serviceship and community engagement within BIPOC communities and provided mentorship to those underrepresented in medicine, particularly Latinx students, through a variety of organizations including the Alliance for Equal Representation in Medicine (AFERM).

She attended University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) where she continued her avid involvement in advocacy and serviceship to underserved communities. To further her understanding and perspective on the breadth of inequities different communities face, she pursued and completed the Underserved Pathway, Latinx Health Pathway, and the LGBTQI+ Health Pathway at UWSOM. During her sub-internship rotation at Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine residency program, she was blown away by the residents and faculty members she encountered. By the end of her four weeks as part of their FM inpatient service, she was inspired by the like-minded individuals and their cohesive dedication to social and health justice.

Wendy is beyond excited to be a Cherry and be among such motivated and dedicated co-residents as she explores her interests in academic medicine, health equity and advocacy, LGBTQI+ health, and sports medicine.

Outside of medicine, Wendy loves travelling, photography, long drives with 90s-00s jams accompanied by her tone-deaf singing, spending time with her family and friends, has a healthy obsession with the color blue and marathons…the Netflix type.

Michaela Fallon, MD
Rural Training Track

Michaela (she/her) was born at Swedish First Hill and raised right here in the beautiful city of Seattle! She attended Tufts University, earning a B.A. in History, focusing on the effects of Portuguese colonization around the globe. When not ranting about the effects of imperialization, she enjoyed playing Ultimate Frisbee and singing in her college a cappella group. After graduation, she moved to Ireland for a year before returning to the US to pursue her dream of practicing medicine.

Michaela then attended Washington State University's Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, where she was a member of the inaugural class. While there, she was a co-founder of the LGBTQI+ Health interest group, working to expand visibility, access, and understanding of the unique health needs of the LGBTQI+ population, and the importance of gender-affirming practice and care. In medical school, she also solidified a passion for rural medicine, spending time in rural Washington and falling in love with the complexity and intimacy of rural medicine. Her other passions include addiction medicine, family planning, and any mini-procedure she can get her hands on.

She could not be more excited to be at her dream program, one that truly works for an anti-racist and equitable health system and does not limit this vision to an urban population.

Michaela is a proud cat mom to Mad-Eye Mewdy and Barnacle, still plays too much Ultimate Frisbee, and loves over-explaining board games and any opportunities to disconnect and be in the wild.

Next up is the absolute legend of a human, Ryan! When they aren't saving lives and making patients cry out of pure happiness and love, you can find them making recommendations for the best bubble tea spots in town, judging my manual driving skills, singing along to Steven Universe, advocating for their communities, and being an overall gift to society.

Ryan Fang, MD
International Community Health Services

Ryan (they/them) spent their childhood, undergraduate, medical school, and now residency all in the greater Seattle area. Growing up with their loving immigrant parents and rabble-rousing siblings (one of which can be found on the class of 2021 page), Ryan is constantly afforded the space to continually explore queerness and what Asian diaspora means to them. On this quest, Ryan has found community and solace in celebrating LGBTQ identities and fighting for anti-racism.

Their involvement at the University of Washington School of Medicine included co-founding the Queer/Trans Students of Color student group, mentoring and mock interviewing for Alliance for Equal Representation in Medicine, and acting as the Communications Vice President for National APAMSA (Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association). Ryan is also an active member of Parisol (Pacific Rim Solidarity Network), an anti-capitalist, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, and Chinese diaspora organization for revolutionary international solidarity.

Their clinical interests include LGBTQ health, immigrant health, obstetrics, and abortion care. A few of Ryan's favorite things include piano, video games, anime, speedskating, and the color orange. Ryan did not choose the boba life - the boba life chose Ryan.

Have you ever encountered someone who has already pondered and identified meaning in your life before you’ve even met them? Or perhaps you’ve come across someone who strikes you as so enlightened that surely they’ve uncovered the whereabouts of Carmen San Diego. Well, look no further as next up is the esteemed and fabulous Dr. Yanzi Jiang!

Yanzi Jiang, MD
Cherry Hill

When they were five, Yanzi (she/they) wanted to be a painter, a carpenter, AND a truck driver. While these dreams are yet to be fulfilled, Yanzi did become a family physician! They first appreciated the power of family medicine when they volunteered at a community health center in college. There, Yanzi did motivational interviewing with patients, helping Yanzi understand that taking care of someone's health can help that person live a more fulfilling life. Years later, Yanzi started medical school where they explored the potential of community health workers within family medicine. This experience deepened their love for the relational nature of family medicine that uniquely positions family physicians to partner with communities.

Yanzi values vulnerability, gratitude, curiosity, celebration, beauty, joy, and accountability. In their free time, they enjoy kite flying, gardening, hiking, camping, and beaching.

Next is Jessie! She's from Oakland - NOT San Francisco (big difference). She's also dynamite disguised in a cute packaging. Ask her about how she wants to make the world a better place. Here's Jessie.

Jessie Mai, MD, MPH
Carolyn Downs

Oakland-born and raised (and proud!), Jessie (she/her) grew up in a safe haven for immigrants, refugees, and people of color. While she experienced immense health and social inequities, she was blinded to the structural and institutional causes of such inequities, and accepted these conditions as “normal”. When she finally left her hometown to attend college at UC Berkeley (a mere 10-minute drive away), she was blown away by the disparity that existed, but luckily found her community through student organizing, youth mentorship, and political education.

She fought to instill these values into her medical education at UCSF’s PRIME-US program, a special track for students committed to the urban underserved, where she was an active student organizer with White Coats 4 Black Lives (WC4BL), partnering with BIPOC community organizations to challenge racism as a public health issue. She also completed an MPH program at Harvard, where she served as an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Fellow, and learned to leverage her power and privilege as a physician to advocate for dismantling the school-to-deportation pipeline at the Massachusetts State Legislature.

Ecstatic to be joining the inspiring family that is Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine, Jessie hopes to contribute to the program’s robust anti-racism work, as well as serve the community through the Black Panther Party-founded Carolyn Downs clinic! She is excited to further her interests in reproductive justice, adolescent health, DEIA work, and health policy. With her precious free time, she can be found cooking, watching other people’s dogs play at the park, dancing, or trying to rekindle her graffiti skills from her youth.

Stacey Martinez, MD
Sea Mar

Stacey Martinez (she/her) attended SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, where she quickly jumped into activism. She implicated herself in the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) in leadership roles at Regional and National levels. Her prolific involvement includes Co-Director as well as part of the Board of Directors for the National board. It is by way of this dedication and work that she brought new policies into work and new scholarships in order to further the cause of the organization; the mission of helping Latinx students in medical education. Stacey believes in the importance of maintaining and retaining this underrepresented student demographic. Through LMSA she has helped close the gap for them, especially those that are the first generation to undertake this profession. As a medical student, Stacey was also awarded the Nightingale Fellow, which was awarded to medical students that were involved in Quality improvement initiatives and ensuring patient care was improved in many ways to improve the experiences of medical students in the rotations.

Stacey Martinez is a lifelong New Yorker and decided to take the leap to the West Coast due to the appeal of the Sea Mar clinic site where the patient population is near and dear to her heart, specifically working with Spanish-speaking patients and immigrant populations. Stacey is excited to continue advocating for the needs of the Latinx community and learning and immersing herself in community medicine here in Seattle. While in Seattle, she looks forward to exploring the Pacific Northwest with her dog Ruby.

Arthi Narayanan, MD
Cherry Hill

Arthi (she/her) spent the majority of her childhood in Redmond, Washington, a suburb of Seattle (fun fact: she volunteered at Swedish hospitals during high school!). She traveled a few thousand miles away for college at the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied neuroscience, sociology, and history and developed her passion for health policy and community engagement. She worked for a health advocacy nonprofit and collaborated with Pennsylvania legislators to ensure that more state funds were allocated towards social services. She also conducted research about different political parties’ stances towards addiction and substance use and ways to improve addiction-related health policy.

Arthi stayed at the University of Pittsburgh for medical school, where she was selected for a longitudinal Social Medicine Fellowship, a special track for medical students dedicated to social justice. She was inspired by her mentors who demonstrated how a doctor could become intimately connected to the communities they served. In her final year of medical school, she helped create an anti-racism course that became a mandatory part of Pitt Med’s curriculum, and she was honored to serve as an instructor for the course before graduating.

While Arthi cherished her time in Pittsburgh (and will talk nonstop about how much she loves it), she is thrilled to return to her roots in the Pacific Northwest. She is honored to train at Swedish Cherry Hill, surrounded by individuals dedicated to ensuring just and equitable care for our most vulnerable communities. Arthi’s clinical interests include preventative health, obstetrics, reproductive justice, and health policy.

Outside of medicine, Arthi enjoys photography, listening to audiobooks while taking long walks, watching Hamilton and loudly singing along, and eating any and all desserts.

Andrea Pilotta Gois, MD, MS
Sea Mar

Andrea (she/her) was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, and moved to the United States in 2010. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2014. As an undergraduate, Andrea participated in service opportunities in the areas of education, hospice care and immigrant support services.

In 2015, she pursued a Master in Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and then stayed at Tufts to complete her medical studies. During medical school, she was part of the Sam W. Ho Health Justice Scholars Program (HJSP), which focuses on developing knowledge and skills needed to promote health equity in medically underserved communities.

Andrea has broad interests within family medicine, but she’s particularly passionate about immigrant and refugee health, addiction medicine, geriatrics, and health equity. She is thrilled to be joining the Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine residency program where she can continue to learn to provide compassionate, culturally and linguistically appropriate, quality healthcare for patients from underserved communities. She also feels honored to have the opportunity to care for Spanish-speaking patients in her continuity clinic at Sea Mar and hopes to continue working with this population in the future.

Kumuda Pradhan, MD
Seattle Indian Health Board

Shelbie Shelder, MD
Seattle Indian Health Board

Shelbie (she/her) is from mashkiigong (Muskegon, Michigan), a city along the western shore of Michigan. Shelbie is very proud to say that she is a Michigander, a state with the longest freshwater coastline in the United States. She is a citizen of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians tribe. For undergrad, she moved away from the western side of the state to attend Michigan State University (MSU), home of the Spartans, GO GREEN! She majored in nutritional sciences and minored in Epidemiology and Global Public Health. Shelbie became interested in public health and advocacy after witnessing both her and her family members’ struggle to navigate the healthcare system. Ultimately, she chose a career in medicine to help bridge the gap between public health and medicine.

After graduating from MSU, she moved to Duluth, Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota Medical School. She spent her first two years on the satellite campus in Duluth focusing on rural and Native American health. During medical school, she was the president of the Association of Native American Medical Students (ANAMS) chapter in Minnesota. For her last two years of medical school, she was in a longitudinal program focused on urban underserved health at a FQHC in Minneapolis.

Shelbie is ecstatic to be starting residency at the Seattle Indian Health Board, her dream program. She is so excited to share their mission, “For the Love of Native People”, treating every patient as a relative. She is also an Indian Health Service (IHS) scholar, which affords her the opportunity to practice at an IHS clinic after completing residency.

Outside of medicine, Shelbie enjoys consuming copious amounts of ice cream, pursuing famous chef J. Kenji López-Alt’s Seattle food recommendations, cuddling with her geriatric cat “Penelope”, trail running, backpacking, van camping, and hiking.

Lisa Skarling, MD
Rural Training Track

Lisa Skarling (she/her) is honored to be part of the Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency Rural Training Track! Hailing from a mosquito-filled marsh in Elk River, Minnesota, she took the scenic route to medicine, receiving a Master’s in Music Education from the University of Kansas and working as a board-certified music therapist in hospice and pediatrics in Minneapolis. Through years of witnessing the disparities affecting her patients of all ages, her desire to have a stronger voice in advocacy led her to family medicine.

At the University of Minnesota Medical School, she organized a symposium on improving healthcare for gender-diverse communities, initiated the school’s first trauma-informed care workshop, and served as volunteer coordinator and board member for MN COVIDsitters, arranging free childcare for frontline workers in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her experiences in the Rural Physician Associate Program reinforced her passion for empowering BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folks in rural communities like her own hometown.

Lisa is grateful to every person she gets to care for in Seattle and Port Angeles. When she is not in the hospital or clinic, she enjoys playing games, swing dancing with her wife, and exploring the gorgeous, practically mosquito-free forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Elesa Yihdego, DO
Carolyn Downs