Kenya Lyons, MD -
Stanford University
Hi, I'm Kenya! Though I was born in the beautiful state of California, I don't consider myself to be a "native."
When I was young, my family left Northern California for Long Island, New York, where we settled for a few years before moving to southeastern Virginia. I spent most of my childhood in Yorktown, VA, close to Busch Gardens, the College of William & Mary, the Norfolk shipyards, and Virginia Beach.
After high school, I left the Mid-Atlantic region to attend Yale University, where I majored in Psychology with an emphasis on Behavioral Neuroscience. During my junior year, I took a Reproductive Biology course to fulfill the natural sciences requirements of my major. The class ended up being one of my favorite courses of college and led me to volunteer at Planned Parenthood. Based on these experiences, I decided to complete my premedical requirements through Goucher Colleges' Postbaccalaureate Program. Before starting medical school, I worked as research assistant; initially, in a developmental biology laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, and then at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health on the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) Study.
I attended medical school at Stanford University, where I held leadership positions in the local chapter of Medical Students for Choice and the OBGYN Student Interest Group. After medical school, I spent a year at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, undergoing training in Obstetrics & Gynecology. However, I realized that despite my passion for Women's Health, my heart was not in gynecologic surgery. While applying to residency in Family Medicine, I was fortunate to meet Dr. Rebecca Rosen and some of her colleagues at the AAFP Annual Conference. On Match Day, I was thrilled to discover that I would be spending the next three years with UCSD Family Medicine!!!
Some of the things that I enjoy most about being a UCSD Family Medicine resident are: 1. the amazingly supportive, open residents and faculty; 2. having the flexibility to make what I want of my training (I'm hoping to pursue both the Procedure and Women's Health Tracks, in addition to gaining some exposure in Integrative Medicine & OMT - if time permits!); 3. being able to apply past experiences to my current training (it's fun being able to draw on some of my past training in OBGYN for gyn and prenatal visits); and 4. living in the amazing city/beach town that is San Diego (you really can't beat the constant sunshine and it's SO much cheaper than both Palo Alto and LA).