Class of 2020

Jennifer Chronis, MD 

I’m a Michigan native who is super stoked to transplant to the West Coast! I grew up in Ann Arbor, MI (Go Blue!) and stayed in town to complete my undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in Neuroscience with a minor in Global Change. There I expanded my interests in behavioral and public health and was fairly certain I wanted to pursue a medical career in primary care. I then moved to Detroit to attend Wayne State University SOM. 

Training in Detroit, I became aware of the psychosocial determinants of health, and the necessity of quality primary care in both prevention and management of chronic diseases. I also developed my passion for community health and wellness. These values along with my broad range of medical interests made my choice of family medicine a no-brainer. I love that FM physicians can treat patients literally from birth to death, and everything in between. My specific interests within the field include integrative medicine, sports medicine, behavioral health, and procedures. I chose UCSD because, beautiful weather aside, the program has advanced training opportunities in all of these areas. Additionally, San Diego is an extremely diverse community which provides a great variety of patients and well-rounded learning experience.

Outside of medicine I love being outside! Which also made San Diego an obvious choice. Some of my favorite free time activities include hiking, biking, swimming, jogging, yoga, snowboarding, and now I’ll have to take up surfing! I love to travel and have ventured to 6/7 continents so far (Antarctica, you’re next!). I’m also very passionate about nutrition and cooking, so when I’m not out being active or working, you can usually find me in a kitchen! 

Hannah Green, MD 

I was born and raised in San Diego, as the youngest of three siblings. I attended UCSD for both college, where I studied history, and medical school. After undergrad, I spent six months learning Spanish in Guatemala. I chose Family Medicine for its focus on the underserved and its wide scope of practice. My interests within Family Medicine include pediatrics and palliative medicine. I am really excited to continue my education at UCSD, and feel grateful for the opportunity to stay in the city I love. On my own time, I enjoy playing with my two dogs, hiking, and reading.

Michael Hadley, MD 

I was born and raised in a small town in Central Indiana. My Mother was a school teacher, my Father a pharmacist. My three brothers and I were very involved in swimming and loved being outdoors, and one of us always seemed to be injured. As a result, we became very good friends with our family physician. I’m not sure we had speed dial back then, but my Mom definitely had his number memorized. It was during those frequent office and ER visits and that I became enamored with medicine and the idea of being a family doctor. I got sidetracked, however, and would spend several years in the business world before finally attending medical school.

I attended Purdue University for undergrad and earned a BS in Finance. I then moved to Chicago to work for a large consulting firm developing software for major corporations. After a few years in Chicago and a few more in Atlanta, I attended UC Berkeley to pursue an MBA at the Haas School of Business. I graduated at the height of the first dot-com boom, so I naturally stayed in in the technology world working for several venture-funded software companies as a product manager and marketing executive. When the technology industry underwent a major reset after 9/11, I started a management services company to provide business tools and services to independent hotels and restaurants. It was during this time working with the extremely hard-working and culturally diverse employees that make the industry run that my passion for healthcare was reignited. I found helping people with personal health and life challenges to be far more rewarding than my other daily responsibilities.

After completing all the necessary pre-medical requirements at UC Berkeley, I was accepted to the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH. I chose UC San Diego FMRP partly because it would get me and my family (including two little girls and two dogs) back to the state my wife and I love dearly. But mostly because I wanted the best training possible in a place that really values Family Medicine as a specialty. And, as the healthcare industry continues to evolve, I want to be work alongside the leaders in making progressive change toward a sustainable future. 

Lily Ho-Le, MD

I grew up in the great land down under in the city of Melbourne. I went to medical school at the University of Melbourne, completing my MBBS in 2013. Australian doctors generally take several years after graduating to choose their specialties, so from 2014- 2016 I worked as a general hospitalist and later as a locum doctor in rural and metropolitan hospitals around Australia.

Spending all this time rushing around hospitals made me realize how much I enjoyed the quieter moments when I could sit down and get to know my patients. Also, seeing patients at their sickest and trying to treat them at the end-stages of their disease made me want to do more to prevent the onset of illness through preventative care and health education. The final thing that drew me to family medicine was the breadth of practice, the fact that we can do a little something for everybody – man, woman or child.

Late in 2016 my husband and I made the move to the United States so that he could commence graduate studies here. I have since been enjoying the fantastic Mexican food, the hiking and the all year-round free outdoor yoga classes. My other hobbies are dancing (contemporary/modern and salsa) and watching Gilmore Girls with my husband.

I’m looking forward to this next adventure in my medical career with UCSD, and am hoping to explore opportunities in global health and sports medicine.

Sarah Ledbetter, MD 

I was born in Abilene, TX but spent the majority of my childhood in Denver, CO. I left Colorado to attend college in Santa Barbara, CA where I studied Neuroscience. My interests in nutrition and public health brought me to the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, MA where I earned my M.S. in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition. During graduate school, I volunteered at a free clinic staffed by Family Physicians which was deeply meaningful and fulfilling work. This first sparked my interest in Family Medicine and ultimately drove my desire to become a physician.

At Tufts University School of Medicine, my interests immediately drew me to Family Medicine. I later discovered during my clinical rotations that I also really enjoyed surgery and initially pursued Otolaryngology. During my PGY1 year of Otolaryngology at Boston Medical Center, however, I found that surgery was not actually a great fit for me. I resigned from the program after completing my intern year and then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Boston Medical Center. My research was focused on novel biomarkers and metabolic reprogramming in early colon carcinogenesis. During my postdoctoral fellowship, it became clear to me that Family Medicine is where I actually belong. My interests in nutrition, public health and prevention over the life span are a natural fit. I also like developing healing partnerships with patients over time and believe in approaching patients as whole persons rather than diseases or problems to be fixed.

I’m thrilled to be part of the UCSD Family Medicine Residency. UCSD offers an ideal combination of everything I was looking for in a residency program. It’s a strong academic program that is well suited for my interests in integrative medicine, community health, LGBTQ health and caring for underserved populations. The faculty, staff and residents are also incredibly warm, friendly and supportive. Plus, the location is perfect! After more than 10 years in Boston, I’m very excited to finally return to sunny Southern California!

In my free time, I enjoy music, spoken word art, poetry, theater, dance, cooking, yoga, camping, hiking and exploring new places. 

Laika Nur, MD 

I was born and raised in the city of Chicago! (Go Cubs! Go Hawks! Go Bulls!) Until now, the farthest I had gotten was Northwestern for undergrad (Go ‘Cats!)! There, I majored in Psychology and minored in Religious Studies. I was pretty sure I was going to be a professor and sit in coffee shops and classrooms for the rest of my life (it still sounds nice). However, I worked for the football team as a Sports Medicine and loved it so much that I went to medical school instead.

During medical school, I satisfied my love for teaching through the SNMA Pipeline Program for Chicago Public School students interested in medicine. I grew the program and created a longitudinal tract for students to participate over multiple years during high school. These experiences reinforced my desire to be in a program with ample opportunities for teaching and working with all kinds of students. I liked all of my rotations third year so, Family Medicine was a natural choice. The West Coast and San Diego were an easy sell too, especially for Family Medicine. I still have a soft spot for Sports Medicine and Adolescent Medicine so UCSD is an awesome place to be!

Outside of medicine, I like to travel, to eat and to exercise. I have a food blog titled, Not Just Dinner and a Movie. I am passionate about beach volleyball and indoor cycling (I am a total Flywheel groupie), but hopefully will be transitioning to year round outdoor cycling in San Diego. Lastly, I am staying loyal to my Chicago sports teams and Big Ten football!

Ariel Portera, DO

I grew up in a health conscious home in the San Francisco Bay Area. My love for the ocean brought me to San Diego State University for undergrad where I studied Biology and Business Management. Fortunately, my family soon followed and I have since called San Diego my home. With both of my parents being chiropractors, I naturally felt drawn to Osteopathic Medicine. I attended medical school at LECOM in Florida, where I was able to further develop my skills in osteopathic manipulation. During that time I developed a particular interest in the use of OMT to treat newborns and children with special needs.

I chose Family Medicine because it provides the opportunity to treat diverse patient populations and engage in all aspects of patient care. I am a believer that the best healers are those who address the mind, body and spirit. My true passion lies in integrative and functional medicine, practices that perfectly compliment primary care.

My initial attraction to UCSD was rooted in the opportunity to explore both integrative medicine and osteopathy in an academically rigorous setting. During my Sub-I at UCSD I fell in love with the program. The residents are family here and I immediately felt at home. I am looking forward to spending the next three years working along side these amazing physicians! During my spare time I enjoy Pilates, yoga, cooking, hiking, travel and spending as much time at the beach as possible. I can also be spotted at the Little Italy Farmer’s Market when I have an occasional Saturday off.

Elizabeth Sophy, MD 

Hi! I’m Elizabeth. I grew up in the small town of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. I first moved out West for college at the University of Southern California, where I double majored in biology and American Studies and Ethnicity. It was during my time at USC that I discovered my passion for working with underserved populations and partnering with community advocates while spending time with the homeless and working poor of South Central Los Angeles.

After college, I deferred my medical school acceptance to live and work for a health and development non-profit organization in Honduras for two years. This experience only further solidified my goal of providing medical care and social support to those most in need. I attended medical school at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, a city with a diverse urban underserved population that provided me with many opportunities for community outreach. I have always loved people and felt compelled to understand how life experiences have affected a person’s circumstances and health status, so the continuity of care across a patient’s lifetime offered by family medicine was a natural interest for me. Not to mention the diversity of options offered only by family medicine—my interests range from adolescent medicine to palliative care and everything in between!

I was attracted to UCSD because of the people. I had so much fun with the residents. I felt immediately supported by the faculty, and knew that their interests covered the full span of what family medicine has to offer and felt like I would have the resources to explore all of my interests. I also love the commitment to underserved populations and diversity of training sites. I love reading, cooking, and hiking and can’t wait to see all that San Diego has to offer!

Eric Yuan, MD 

Hi! My name is Eric Yuan and I grew up in Clearwater Florida with two amazing parents and a younger brother. I grew up loving science and math, mostly because I felt that I could always learn something new on my own every day. For many years, my life goal was to be an engineer and to a greater extent, an inventor. This pathway took me to Duke University where I did my undergraduate education as a biomedical engineer. Even until my junior year i thought that my career path would be in the field of computer programming and medical instrumentation design. Despite my enjoyment of these fields, I had always felt that something was missing from my life when imagining myself in these professions - the ability to personally interact with others and directly provide them with help, empowering them with knowledge, and lending them emotional feedback. By my junior year at Duke I knew that my true career aspiration would be to be a physician.

I chose UCSD because of the opportunity to work with underserved populations at strong academic institution. The day of my interview at UCSD I could feel the presence of a true “family” atmosphere between the residents, directors, coordinators and everyone else involved with UCSD Medicine. I am excited to be able to contribute to this incredible environment while developing my skills and knowledge as a physician while pursuing my interests in Sports Medicine.

Outside of medicine I am a sports fanatic! I grew up playing basketball and football and love watching all sports at the college and professional level. I also love music of all kinds and attending live concerts. I am so excited to be living in San Diego for the next three years, exploring the city, the beautiful beaches, and making new relationships!