Academic Communities

Jim Murphy, M.D.

Blue Academic Community Director

Dr. Murphy is a radiation oncologist and faculty member in the Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences where he sees patients, teaches, and conducts research. Prior to UC San Diego, he completed his residency at Stanford, medical school at the University of Michigan, and undergraduate degree at Columbia University.

Dr. Murphy teaches in the Master of Advanced Study program at UC San Diego, and he oversees a research group that focuses on clinical epidemiology, health disparities, and health services research. Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his wife Heidi Yeung (also a physician at UC San Diego) and their two young children.

Jorge Fernandez, M.D.

Green Academic Community Director

Dr. Fernandez is a board-certified emergency physician and has been a faculty and attending physician at the UC San Diego Department of Emergency Medicine since 2012. He went to college at Duke University, where he majored in comparative area studies (a multidisciplinary major focusing on minority and international studies). He attended medical school and completed his internship training at UC San Francisco, and he completed his emergency medicine residency training followed by a medical teaching-learning certificate program at the University of Southern California, where he subsequently served as director of emergency medicine medical student education, facilitated the 2nd year Integrated Case Series course, and co-directed 3rd year Intersessions 1 and 2 courses, at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Since moving to UC San Diego, Dr. Fernandez has served as the assistant associate residency program director as well as the director of medical student education within the Department of Emergency Medicine. He also serves on the board of directors of the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), as well as on the UC San Diego chancellors advisor committee on gender identity and sexual orientation. He completed the UC San Diego National Center for Leadership in Academic Medicine certificate program in 2016 and the AAMC Medical Education Research Certificate program in 2018. His scholarly interests include medical education, physician wellness, diversity inclusion, environmental sustainability. For fun, he enjoys time with his wife, young children, surfing, yoga, mindfulness meditation, bicycle riding, snowboarding and other outdoor activities.

Joe Ciacci, M.D.

Orange Academic Community Director

Dr. Ciacci is the program director for UC San Diego neurosurgery residency and Chief of Neurosurgery at the Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Dr. Ciacci has extensive experience with neuro-oncology of the spine and brain. He has completed neuro-oncology fellowships at UC Los Angeles and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Ciacci was on the faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for 9 years prior to joining the faculty at UC San Diego. He has been a visiting professor and has given lectures throughout the United States and internationally.

Dr. Ciacci's primary interests are tumors of the spine and brain, complex spinal reconstruction, spinal cord injury, closed head injury, and stereotactic radiosurgery of the spine. His research focuses on stem cell modulation of spinal cord injury and concussion in athletes.

Lori Wan, M.D.

Purple Academic Community Director

Dr. Wan is dual-board certified in internal medicine and pediatrics and has been the UC San Diego Combined Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program Director since 2001.

She is a UC San Diego School of Medicine alumnus, class of 1995, after which she completed her combined medicine/pediatrics residency training at UC San Diego Health followed by a primary care women's Health fellowship.

Her interests are in medical education, mentorship, and career development for both medical students and residents. She is also currently vice chair of the UC San Diego Graduate Medical Education Committee. Besides her clinical interest in taking care of patients of all ages, she also enjoys spending time with her own family.

Charley Coffey, M.D.

Red Academic Community Director

Dr. Charles “Charley” Coffey, is a board-certified otolaryngologist and fellowship-trained head and neck cancer surgeon who specializes in diagnosing and treating patients with a broad range of benign and malignant tumors of the head and neck.

Dr. Coffey studied biology and English at Emory University before earning his M.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He completed his residency in otolaryngology at the Medical University of South Carolina and then pursued a fellowship in head & neck surgical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He currently serves as Division Chief of Head & Neck Surgery at the Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Chief of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery at UC San Diego Health.

Dr. Coffey has been deeply involved with our students for more than a decade, including as co-director of the Surgery Core Clerkship, associate director of the Surgery Master Clinician Program, and as the designated specialty advisor for students pursuing otolaryngology. He has played pivotal roles in both the Practice of Medicine course and the Careers in Medicine programming, and serves on multiple SOM committees focused on student support and curriculum including being a member of the committee on educational policy, executive member of the recruitment and admissions committee,  vice chair and chair of the core curriculum committee,  chair of the committee for teaching recognition and gratitude, and serving on multiple workgroups that were involved in the formation of the COAST curriculum.

Gina Frugoni, M.D.

Yellow Academic Community Director

Dr. Gina Frugoni specializes in obstetrics & gynecology. She has leadership experience in directing obstetrics and gynecology services at UC San Diego Health and has a clinical focus in transgender health care. She has also had long-time substantive involvement in pre-clinical courses in the School of Medicine (e.g., the Endocrinology, Reproduction and Metabolism 1 course, Ultrasound course, the Practice of Medicine (POM) course and the Reproductive Health and Justice elective).