Current Residents

Zoe Becker, MD
Hometown: Maplewood, NJ
Undergraduate: Haverford College – East Asian Studies – BA
Medical School: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons
Languages: Spanish, some Mandarin, very basic Hindi

Zoe was brought up in Maplewood, NJ, in a family and town big on activism and community service. Her personal interest in global work with underserved populations started early, and she undertook her first endeavor living and working abroad in Mexico at the age of 17. Since then, she has worked in several countries in Latin America as well as in China and India, along the way discovering and pursuing family medicine as a way to combine her loves of science, social justice, and learning about various languages and cultures. In medical school, she was part of a primary care track and also served for 4 years as a student clinician and board member at a student-run clinic in Harlem. Much of her past work has focused on sexual and reproductive health, and she continued pursuing this interest at medical school by developing a women’s health program for her student-run clinic. She is very excited to be at Lawrence, where she looks forward to receiving full-spectrum training alongside passionate, community-minded colleagues while providing linguistically- and culturally-appropriate care. Outside of the clinic or hospital, you’ll often find her dancing salsa or bachata, at the gym, spending time with friends and family in the area, or thinking up new nicknames to differentiate herself from the other Zoe.

Lance Braye, MD, MPH
Birthplace: Bronx, NY
Undergraduate:  The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina – Biology – BS
Graduate School: Medical University of South Carolina –  MPH in Health Behavior and Health Promotion
Medical School: Medical University of South Carolina
Languages: Basic Spanish, Basic Haitian Creole

Lance spent four years in the Bronx before growing up in Walterboro, SC. After graduating from Colleton County High School as a saxophone playing defensive end that could sprint 800 meters, he attended The Citadel, where he conducted microbiology research, sang on the gospel choir, and edited creative and academic publications. After meeting the love of his life and graduating with a passion for singing and writing, he attended the Medical University of South Carolina. Although he aspired to become an orthopedic surgeon, Lance became horrified by the complications of chronic diseases that were ubiquitous in his hometown and fascinated with the notion of preventing them. He realized during this time that Family Medicine was the true essence of being a physician, and allowed him to heal not just his patients but also the community while preventing disease.  Attending the Paul Ambrose Scholars Program eventually led to his MPH in Health Behavior and Health Promotion while his interest in social justice was refined by working with local Black Lives Matter groups. Despite never having been to Massachusetts until his interview, Lance chose GLFHC because of its commitment to training outstanding physicians in a challenging environment and empowering the community it calls home. Plus, he really needed to work on his Spanish. Although being a New York Yankees and Carolina Panthers fan around here is challenging, he stays sane by spending time with his wife, Paris, and indulging in sports, video games, music, cooking, and the outdoors.

Kathryn “Katie” De La Rosa, MD
Hometown: Chesapeake, VA
Undergraduate: Dartmouth College
Medical School: University of Michigan Medical School
Languages: conversational Spanish

Katie was born in Virginia to parents in the Navy, so she grew up with a little southern, a little New England, and a little West Coast/best coast influence. She attended Dartmouth College where she majored in Biology and minored in Spanish language and literature. After college, she ventured to the Midwest and spent a year in Chicago working as a first year corps member for City Year Chicago where she spent her days tutoring and mentoring 9^th graders in a local high school. She enjoyed the Midwest so much, she stayed to attend medical school at the University of Michigan. During medical school, Katie was involved in a handful of community outreach programs including a summer track and field program for area youth, a mentorship program for high schoolers interested in STEM careers, a community conference about women’s health topics, and a program that promotes healthy food choices for middle schoolers. She found that family medicine offered the kind of connection to community that she wanted to bring to her practice as a physician. She is so excited to be back in New England for residency, where she can hike a mountain any time she wants. She is especially excited to be here in Lawrence and to get to know the community here. In her free time, Katie enjoys activities of all kinds including running, cycling, hiking, and playing ultimate Frisbee. She also cannot pass up a good cup of coffee or bar of chocolate.

Zoe Gordon, MD, MPH
Hometown: Shaker Heights, Ohio
Undergraduate: Colgate University – Biology – BS
Graduate School: Case Western Reserve University – MPH
Medical School: Rush Medical Center
Languages: Advanced Spanish

Zoe aka “Gordita” grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio and is a passionate Cleveland sports fan – Go Cavs! She attended Colgate University where she studied Biology and Spanish, spending a semester abroad in the Dominican Republic. It was here where Zoe fell in love with the vibrant Dominican culture, community and food! Zoe interned at Boston Health Care for the Homeless and continued working there as an addiction program specialist after graduating college. Working side by side with teams of case managers, nurses, physicians, case managers she discovered the intersection between public health and medicine: primary care. In medical school she was part of a four-year Family Medicine Leadership curriculum, founded a student-based inpatient tobacco cessation counseling program and became a strong advocate for a universal health care system. In her spare time, Zoe enjoys cooking, board games (especially Settlers of Catan!), salsa dancing, playing tennis and petting other peoples’ dogs.

Helen Jin, MD, MBA
Hometown: Wichita, KS
Undergraduate: University of Kansas
Medical School/Graduate School: Boston University School of Medicine, MD and MBA
Languages: Basic Spanish, fair Mandarin Chinese

Helen Jin grew up in Wichita, Kansas with Chinese immigrant parents, a younger brother, and dog. She continued to stay in the state flatter than a pancake for undergraduate studies at University of Kansas (at the same time as Cara!), where she studied Biochemistry. During college, she volunteered at a sliding scale clinic where she found medicine as an engaging way to apply science to improve the lives of individuals and communities. As an AmeriCorps volunteer after college, she was drawn to curriculum optimization of her CNA classes for non-native English speakers. In medical school, she saw how similar gaps in healthcare quality create care disparities for underserved communities. To break down these barriers, she started to learn about healthcare quality improvement and applied those concepts to the development and evaluation of hot-spotting programs at FQHCs. To further her education in QI, she pursued an MBA within the dual-degree program at Boston University. She fell in love with the unique culture at GLFHC- how residents, MAs, faculty, nurses, and administration-is deeply focused on providing the best care possible for the Lawrence community with active community outreach and reflective continuous improvement. To relax, she makes pottery and walks her dog. She is also always on the look-out for a good thrift store deal.

Rebecca Joseph, MD, MPH
Hometown: Wellesley, MA
Undergraduate: Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
Medical School /Graduate School: Tufts University School of Medicine – MD/MPH
Languages: English, Spanish

Rebecca grew up in Wellesley, MA. During high school she got involved with Amigos de las Americas, a youth leadership non-profit that works through the Americas. With AMIGOS she had the opportunity to spend time throughout Latin America, which sparked her love for the region and allowed her to explore community development and public health. She attended Bryn Mawr College where she majored in Biology, minored in Spanish, and spent a lot of time playing soccer. After college she returned to Boston to serve as an AmeriCorp member with Community HealthCorps. She spent the year at Brookside Community Health Center in Jamaica Plain, MA working on a variety of community health initiatives with the health center’s largely latino patient population. Her experience in AmeriCorps also introduced her to Family Medicine. She was lucky to attend medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine where she was a member of the dual degree MD/MPH program. While at Tufts, she worked at the student-run free clinic as a Sexual and Women’s Health Counselor and participated in the Tufts Student Service Scholars program for students interested in providing healthcare for underserved populations. She was attracted to the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency because it combines strong, full-spectrum training with a focus on community health and social justice. Outside of medicine, Rebecca enjoys running, rock climbing, and spending time with her husband and their dog, Bodhi.

Alice Kaufman, MD
Birthplace: Medford, MA
Undergraduate:  Smith College, Northampton MA – Anthropology
Medical School:  Tufts University School of Medicine
Languages: good Spanish, basic Italian

Alice is a Massachusetts lifer. Born and raised in the Boston area, she ventured west for college, but then came straight back to Greater Boston. She was raised by two allied health professionals which fueled her interest in health care from a young age. After graduating college she worked at Boston Medical Center in the department of Cancer Care. She worked in clinical research, but also helped out with the cancer survivorship programs, running weekly activities and groups for cancer survivors. Upon entering medical school, Alice joined the Tufts Students Service Scholars; an amazing group that became the friends and mentors that bolstered her along through medical school and inspired her to peruse a career in underserved medicine. During medical school she also developed an interest in research around social determinants of health, particularly food insecurity. She chose to come to Lawrence to continue her focus on underserved care and the strong OB training. In free time she enjoys spending time with her family, folk dance, and folk music.

Cara Smith, MD
Hometown: Topeka, KS
Undergraduate: University of Kansas – Applied Behavioral Science, concentration in Community Health and Development
Medical School: Howard University College of Medicine
Languages: Basic Spanish

Cara is a Jayhawk, born and raised in Kansas. She attended the University of Kansas – with Helen! – and graduated with a degree in Applied Behavioral Science and a concentration in Community Health. She then ventured east to Washington, DC for a term of Mennonite Voluntary Service. For her service, she taught math and computer classes fulltime at Briya Public Charter School, which simultaneously educates two generations of English language learners (parents and their children) from within a comprehensive health and social service organization for immigrants. After witnessing her students’ devotion to their families’ wellbeing, Cara started medical school at Howard, an institution dedicated to the health of its community and reducing disparities for people of color, where she co-directed the student run free clinic, served as President of the Family Medicine Interest Group, and reaffirmed her goal of becoming a community-centered family physician. She chose Lawrence for its unique combination of full-spectrum medical training, participation in an Accountable Care Organization, Spanish education, and commitment to health equity. Within medicine, Cara is interested in women’s health and obstetrics. Outside of medicine, she enjoys audiobooks, exploring the great outdoors, and cheering fanatically for Kansas basketball games.

Ryan Walker, MD, MPH
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Undergraduate: University of Miami− Biology, Psychology − BS, BA
Med School/Graduate School: Tufts University School of Medicine –  MD/MPH
Languages: Basic Spanish

Ryan was born and raised in sunny South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) where she lived with her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. She is a first-generation college graduate, and obtained her Bachelors of Science in Biology and Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and has minors in Chemistry, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Public Health from the University of Miami. After graduating college, Ryan elected to do a service year as an AmeriCorps Member with City Year Miami, where she worked with high school students and provided math and reading interventions, whole class support, and tutoring services. Thereafter, she obtained her MD/MPH from Tufts University School of Medicine. While at Tufts, Ryan continued to pursue her interests in service, mentorship, and public health through involvement with Tufts Student Service Scholars (TS3) program and Student National Medical Association (SNMA). Ryan is excited to continue her training at Lawrence, a place that embodies innovation, integration of public health and medicine, and partnership with patients and community.   Ryan has specific interests in women’s health, adolescent health, educational and health disparities, and community medicine.  She is a National Health Service Corps Scholar and Gates Millennium Scholar. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her significant other and family, playing card games, traveling, and trying new foods.

Alaina Aristide
Birthplace: Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts
Undergrad: Wesleyan University
Medical School: Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Languages: English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese

Alaina was born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Throughout high school, she worked as a personal care attendant and it was this work that first piqued her interest in medicine. Alaina completed her undergraduate degree in Spanish Language and Literature at Wesleyan University and attended the Mount Sinai School of Medicine through the Humanities and Medicine Early Acceptance Program. Between college and medical school, Alaina received a Fulbright teaching grant to travel to Argentina, where she assisted in English language classes and worked with nurse midwives. During medical school, Alaina was able to pursue her interests in women’s health, family planning, social justice, anti-racism work, harm reduction and global health, spending a year in Nicaragua researching the chronic kidney disease epidemic known as Mesoamerican Nephropathy. Alaina was drawn to GLFHC for its comprehensive four-year curriculum, full-spectrum training and commitment to the Lawrence community. Outside of medicine, she enjoys playing soccer and attempting to garden.

Corinne Gibbons
Birthplace: Westport, MA
Undergraduate: University of Massachusetts  – Nutrition – BS
Graduate School: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health – MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Medical School: University of Massachusetts Medical School
Languages: Spanish

Corinne hails from Westport, MA, a wicked awesome seaside town that is located, geographically speaking, in the axilla of the state. She attended the University of Massachusetts for college and majored in Nutrition and minored in Spanish. During this time, she developed a passion for preventive medicine and working with vulnerable populations through mentoring in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program and working with homeless women veterans. Corinne then moved an hour east to attend UMass Medical School and quickly fell in love with Worcester’s diverse and vibrant community. While in central MA, Corinne taught health education to homeless teen mothers and volunteered at the Community Harvest Project, a local farm that donates all of its produce to those experiencing hunger. She took a one-year hiatus during medical school to earn an MPH focused on community program planning and evaluation. Corinne is thrilled to continue her medical training at Lawrence FMR, a place where language, culture, community and medicine are well aligned. Outside of medicine, Corinne loves enjoying the New England seasons (through running, skiing, boating and fishing), spending time with her husband and dog, planting/gardening and reading.

Miguel Joaquin
Birthplace: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Undergrad: Michigan State University – Biomedical Laboratory Science – BA
Medical School: Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Languages: Spanish

Miguel was born in Santo Domingo and immigrated to the United States with his mother, father, and older brother at the tender age of 4 years. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from Michigan State University (GO GREEN!) with a degree in Biomedical Laboratory Science. He continued as a Spartan at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine where he was thrilled to be a part of the college’s commitment to serving vulnerable populations and their emphasis on primary care. He served as president of the Student National Medical Association where becoming a clinically excellent and culturally competent and caring physician was a point of emphasis. Miguel has always had a passion for serving the underserved, especially in urban communities. During his time as President of SNMA he developed the educational curriculum for an established Reach Out to Youth (ROTY) program where children ages 6-12 from low income schools around Grand Rapids spent the day at his medical school being exposed to science and medicine. Miguel also led and participated in international medical trips to Peru and Nicaragua during his time in medical school. This encouraged his interest in global health and the importance of continuing health initiatives that are sustainable and locally driven. He is thrilled to be training at Greater Lawrence Family Medicine Residency and considers it his dream program. Their commitment to serving the community and caring for the underserved, along with providing full-spectrum training, will be an invaluable asset for his future patients. Miguel’s number one passion is dancing and breaking it down on the dance floor. He has a special affinity for salsa, merengue, and bachata.

Denise Lobo
Hometown: Niskayuna, NY
Undergrad: SUNY Binghamton
Medical School: University of Florida College of Medicine
Languages: Intermediate Spanish

After spending her childhood in cold upstate New York, Denise escaped to Florida for four years, but realized she had left her heart in the northeast and is so excited to be back! Originally from Pakistan, trips back to her birth-country exposed her to the disparities in the world and inspired her to pursue a career working with underserved populations. During college she had the opportunity to study abroad in Madagascar where she fell in love with the country and its beautiful people. While conducting a study on childhood malnutrition there, she discovered her calling was medicine. During medical school, Denise has continued her pursuit of global medicine, including leading a medical brigade in Ecuador and participating in brigades in Guatemala and Haiti. Through these experiences Denise realized her passion for serving immigrant populations and desire to become proficient in Spanish. Finding her values greatly aligned with the mission at Greater Lawrence, she knew this residency program was the right one for her. Outside of the hospital Denise enjoys planning her next trip, struggling up mountains, naptime, nomming on pizza, and dabbling in the arts.

Patrick O’Neil
Birthplace: Malden, MA
Undergrad: College of the Holy Cross – Biology – BA
Medical School: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Languages: Basic Spanish

Pat was born in Malden, MA and grew up in nearby Haverhill, MA (hi Mom & Dad!) and attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence. His interest in medicine was initially sparked while in high school by the television show House, although he often left that tidbit of information out during his medical school and residency interviews. He ventured to the heart of Massachusetts – Worcester – to obtain his undergraduate degree in Biology at the College of the Holy Cross. While at Holy Cross, he was immersed in the Jesuit values of service and compassion while playing a little Ultimate Frisbee on the side. He was inspired by his coursework and fellow idealistic classmates to do a year of postgraduate service, and moved to Baltimore in September 2013 to live and work in West Baltimore with the organization Bon Secours Volunteer Ministry. He served as a Patient Liaison in the Emergency Department at Bon Secours Hospital in West Baltimore, where he practiced the ministry of presence with his patients and lived in an intentional community with four other individuals. He remained at Bon Secours Hospital for an additional year as a community health worker, a role which provided him with the opportunity to venture out into the community and see firsthand the structural violence his patients were dealing with in their everyday lives. These two opportunities at Bon Secours Hospital provided a foundation in community medicine that he continues to be heavily influenced by to this day. This concept of community medicine is what Pat appreciates most about GLFHC. He then attended medical school at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Pat is thrilled to be back in MA with his wife, Sydney, a California native (TBD on whether she will survive MA winters), and their shepherd mix, Alice. He loves running, Boston sports teams, Spike Ball, Wiffle Ball, a good nonfiction book, and burritos.

Patrick Salemme
Hometown:  Jamestown, NY
Undergrad:  University of Notre Dame
Medical School:  Jacobs School of Medicine at the University of Buffalo
Languages: Spanish

Patrick was born in Jamestown, NY (home of the National Comedy Center) where he was raised by a loving family who taught him the importance of caring for others.  He attended the University of Notre Dame where he studied Anthropology and spent time in both Mexico and Peru learning about their culture and healthcare systems, which fostered his interest to go into medicine.  After college, he spent a year working for Partners in Health in Mexico, helping to establish and support clinics in rural Chiapas.  Once he returned to the US, he started medical school at the Jacobs School of Medicine at the University at Buffalo.  During his time there, he helped to manage the student run free medical clinic, led a brigade to Honduras, helped instruct underclassmen in clinical skills, ran a Ragnar Relay, and ate an embarrassing amount of the Original Chicken Wings.  During his free time, he can be found running, drinking a few pots of coffee, cuddling with his cat, traveling the world, frequenting McDonald’s where he worked for four years, and making long drives to visit friends and family.  He is beyond ecstatic to begin working at GLFHC because of its strong spirit of social justice, commitment to the community, and the ability to pursue individual interests within the field, such as HIV medicine.

Katy Sausen, MD
Hometown: Allentown, PA
Undergraduate: University of Notre Dame – Biochemistry – BS
Medical School: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Languages: Spanish

Katy grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and went to Notre Dame for college, where she majored in biochemistry and minored in Latin American Studies. While she did not love Notre Dame winters, she did love being surrounded by students passionate about the intersection of faith and social justice, and even came to love watching football (or, at least, socializing during football games). During her junior year, she studied abroad in Puebla, Mexico, where she ate a lot of pan dulce and panqueques con leche condensada. The following summer, she worked at a justice-oriented church in Camden, NJ, where she learned about the power of community engagement and grassroots organizing to transform a city. Upon graduation, Katy went straight to medical school at Vanderbilt, where was an active volunteer at their student-run free clinic, worked as a student hotspotter to support socially complex patients, and advocated for primary and underserved care through Vanderbilt’s FMIG and Social Mission Committee. Katy is thrilled to be joining GLFHC for residency, which she believes merges unparalleled clinical training opportunities with innovative community engagement to transform the health of the community. In her free time, Katy enjoys spending time with her husband (Chris), any form of outdoor recreation (hiking, camping, backpacking, rock climbing), running for long periods of time, and eating dessert. She is hoping to improve her skiing while in New England so that she doesn’t spend the majority of her time sitting in the snow after falling yet again.

Angela Sterling, MD
Hometown: Kissimmee, FL
Undergraduate: University of South Florida- Biomedical Sciences (B.S.)
Medical School: University of Central Florida College of Medicine
Languages: Spanish

Angela grew up in Kissimmee, FL 15 minutes from the “Happiest Place on Earth”. As a daughter of Dominican Immigrants and the youngest of 5 she was fortunate enough to grow up in a predominately Hispanic community where she learned early the intricacies of being multicultural.  When she was 12 her family started a Christian international non-for profit organization which sparked in her a deep love for service. This passion for serving others and global citizenship continued throughout her undergraduate studies where she spent most of her days volunteering, conducting water quality research, and planning mission trips to remote areas in Latin America. In Medical School Angela was afforded the opportunity to direct and organize a global health conference, help found a free clinic for migrant farmworkers, and travel to Panama, Peru, and the Dominican Republic for medical mission work. She was attracted to Greater Lawrence because of the vibrant community it serves, the culture of advocacy, and the ability to train in full-spectrum Family Medicine. She hopes to one day be the kind of doctor who can provide full-scope quality medicine regardless of where she is in the world.  In her spare time, Angela enjoys travelling and experiencing new cultures, reading, spending time with her loved ones, salsa dancing, and playing tag with her dog Atlas.

Thu “Tina” Tran, MD
Hometown: North Richland Hills, TX
Undergraduate: Stanford University – Human Biology – BA
Medical School: University of Texas Southwestern
Languages: Vietnamese, Basic Spanish

Tina was born in Vietnam and immigrated over to the US with her family when she was three but considers herself a Texan at heart. She traveled west to California for college where she helped start a student-run women’s homeless shelter, worked as a Vietnamese interpreter in a free clinic, and dabbled in audio editing with the Stanford Storytelling Project. After undergraduate, Tina was fortunate enough to participate in the Emerson National Hunger Fellowship, a social justice program focused on domestic anti-hunger, anti-poverty initiatives through an anti-racism lens. Through the program, she spent six months in Pittsburgh working as a community organizer with FQHCs on food insecurity screenings and six months as a child nutrition policy analyst in Washington DC. She continued to nurture these passions in medical school as a student manager at a free clinic, Albert Schweitzer Fellow with a women and children’s shelter in Dallas, and a researcher on foster/kinship caregiver burden and trauma-informed care. Tina is ecstatic to be joining the Lawrence family, a program that is committed to excellence in family medicine and intentional community engagement. She is also looking forward to improving her Spanish! In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her fiancé, family and friends, exploring the New England trails and beaches, attempting to cook her mom’s Vietnamese dishes, being involved in a local church, scouring the area for the best boba shops, and finding ways to survive the New England winters.

Rebecca Weiner
Birthplace: West Orange, NJ
Undergrad: Rutgers University – Political Science – BA
Medical School: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Language: Spanish – un poquito

Rebecca Weiner was born and raised in New Jersey where she studied Political Science at Rutgers University.  After graduating she studied culinary arts and worked in NYC as a pastry cook.  Many adventures and a career change later, she wound up in Florida working as a veterinary technician.  While being surrounded by dogs and cats was a dream, the veterinary field inspired her love for medicine in general.  After completing premedical studies at Columbia University and 2 AmeriCorps terms of service, she came back home to Rutgers to study medicine in Newark, NJ.  Her journey inspired a love for population health, working with high emergency department utilizers, and family medicine above all else.  She was most drawn to Lawrence for its passion for serving the diverse needs of the local community.  Outside of work, she loves to read, cook, cycle, facetime with family across the country and dreams of learning to become a better sailor and skydiver.

Beverly Williams, MD
Hometown: Abiquiu, New Mexico
Undergraduate: University of New Mexico: Biology
Medical School: University of New Mexico
Languages: English, Spanish

Beverly was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico and grew up in a small village in northern New Mexico called Abiquiu (also the home of the famous artist Georgia O’Keeffe). She attended the University of New Mexico where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology. She then ventured on to medical school at the University of New Mexico and became involved in a Rural, Urban and Underserved program that allowed her to rotate through various communities throughout the state and see, firsthand, what rural and underserved medicine truly looks like. This inspired her to get involved with other underserved populations, where she found her niche volunteering at a local non-profit organization called Street Safe. This non-profit helps women on the street that are victims of sex trafficking or experiencing homelessness. Volunteering at this organization sparked a passion for women’s health, where Beverly ultimately advocated for a reformed History and Physical that is inclusive of this population and ensures they receive the medical care that they deserve. This curriculum was accepted to be presented nationally and internationally, including at the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. The strong emphasis of culture, language, and diversity is what drew her to Greater Lawrence to be her home away from home.

Outside of medicine, Beverly enjoys her love for candling—using her creativity to hand craft candles of various sizes, shapes, colors, and scents. She also enjoys being outside in nature and can be found either hiking, camping, or kayaking. Although she will miss the red and green chile of NM, she is excited to try fresh seafood and other cultural pearls in the community!

Alejandra “Ale” Vélez Alicea
Hometown: San Juan, PR
Undergrad: Boston University – Human Physiology, BS
Med School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Languages: Spanish, Basic Portuguese, Basic French

Ale was born and raised in San Juan, PR, where most of her family still lives today. She is immensely proud of her three siblings, who are scattered in different places, and misses them every day. Ale moved to Boston for college after graduating high school in PR. She started working as a Spanish medical interpreter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as her work-study job during college. Through her work as an interpreter, Ale became passionate about cultural humility in medicine, as well as the importance of effective communication, trauma-informed care, and mutual respect in all medical encounters. Ale also became interested in better serving vulnerable groups in medicine, with particular interest in serving immigrant and Latinx communities. As a medical student at Tufts, Ale was part of the Sam W. Ho Health Justice Scholars Program (HJSP), where she received mentorship from clinicians dedicated to uplifting their communities, furthering social justice in medicine and addressing health disparities. Along with two fellow HJSP scholars, Ale started a social support and health education group for Latinx and immigrant women called “Entre Mujeres,” in partnership with community-based non-profit organization La Alianza Hispana in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, MA. Ale remains very interested in the role of groups in helping to empower communities and promote health among its members. Ale is also interested in learning to practice full-spectrum family medicine, including women’s health, reproductive health, transgender patient care, substance use disorder treatment, and other areas. Outside of work, Ale likes to spend time with her husband Diego, and their two rescue dogs, Lula and Mabí. Ale also enjoys collecting houseplants, reading, and catching up with her family in her spare time.

Lauren Barr
Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
Undergrad: Auburn University – Biomedical Sciences, BS; Spanish, BA
Medical School: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Languages: Spanish

Lauren grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. She attended Auburn University, where she ran track and cross country while studying Spanish and biomedical sciences. After graduation, she moved to Chicago for a year of service through the program Amate House. There, she lived in intentional community with eight other volunteers, worked with Spanish-speaking senior citizens through the nonprofit Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly, and participated in Amate’s social justice education curriculum. These experiences motivated her to pursue a career centered on providing primary care and partnering with communities to address health inequities. Lauren then moved to Nashville for medical school at Vanderbilt. At the student-run free clinic, through various roles including patient health educator and executive co-director, she discovered her love of continuity with patients, motivational interviewing, and chronic disease management. Her path to family medicine was rounded out by experiences directing the student hotspotting program, serving on the board of the TNAFP, and researching community-based interventions to prevent child obesity in low-income families. Lauren chose Lawrence for countless reasons (and despite her fear of winter!), but particularly for the commitment to the community, the innovative four-year curriculum, and the passion of the residents. She is thrilled to be here and to learn from her new community.

Alicia Fraser
Hometown: Rowley, MA
Undergrad: Salem State University
Medical School: University of Massachusetts Medical School
Languages: Basic French, Basic Spanish

Alicia spent most of her life on the North Shore of Massachusetts, growing up in Rowley, MA and attending college at Salem State University.  She is not someone who knew she wanted to be a doctor as a child, but realized during her first semester as a biology major that human physiology and pathophysiology made her excited to get up and go to class.  She left college with the intent of becoming a clinical geneticist but spent the next several years working various jobs in substance abuse, sleep and circadian rhythm research, and dermatology, and finding herself unexpectedly interested in everything (a true FM doc in the making).  During her working years she followed a lifelong passion for public health and completed an MPH from the University of New England.  She married her college sweetheart and had a super cool kid named Cooper.  When she finally started medical school at UMass she no longer knew what she wanted to do, but was certain she would NOT want to pursue OB/GYN, GI, or anything primary care.  Living in Worcester, she quickly fell in love and discovered a passion for community work serving on the executive board for the Worcester Free Clinic Coalition, and teaching parenting and life skills with local shelters for at-risk young mothers.  Within weeks of starting medical school she found her true calling was maternal and child health, and spent the majority of the next 3 years thinking she would become an OB/GYN. She’s not sure when the lightbulb moment happened, but she one day realized that she was destined for primary care and had always been meant to find family medicine (even GI has grown on her).  Once she started researching programs, she discovered that the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency was everything she didn’t even know she needed, and was ecstatic to find a program that would allow her to receive excellent training in every area of her interest.  She is so excited to begin this journey with a fantastic class of like-minded individuals, and can’t wait to see what the next four years have in store.

Jack Gordon
Hometown: Long Beach, CA
Undergrad: University of California at Berkeley
Medical School: University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
Languages: Spanish, Basic French

Jack grew up in Long Beach, California, where he spent time at the beach as often as possible. He went to college at UC Berkeley, and attended medical school at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. In between college and medical school Jack bounced around working as a teacher, working construction, playing music in a band, and working in farmer’s markets. He is happy to be continuing his journey here in the lively city of Lawrence, close to the Atlantic coast beaches. Jack looks forward to serving Lawrence as a physician and community member. Hechose a career in primary care because he believes it is the best way for him to use his scientific education to join the struggle against societal injustice, racism, wealth disparities, and the degradation of the environment. Physicians have a unique opportunity to work directly with people affected by these issues, and to amplify their voices when advocating for change. Within medicine, he has researched better ways to deliver medical interventions to the homeless population in Rochester, NY as well as the history of mental health care in the United States. Jack is also interested in clinical research in environmental medicine. Outside of medicine he enjoys playing music, hiking, biking, baking bread, growing plants in the garden, and long walks on the beach (of course).

Rayyan Kamal
Hometown: Lawrence, KS
Undergrad: University of Kansas – Mathematics
Medical School: University of Kansas School of Medicine
Languages: English, Basic Bangla, Intermediate Spanish

With roots cultivated in Lawrence, Kansas, Rayyan hadn’t initially sought to become a doctor. He found the most joy in simply communing with others. In Kansas, Rayyan supported local projects aimed at food security and social justice through living in intentional and cooperative housing. There, he discovered that to be truly in a community, he needed to be with those who are the most marginalized. Communing with others means to take on their struggles not from a place of charity, but horizontally, using privilege to take on the systemic oppressions and inequalities they experience, as family. This intention inspired the idea of pursuing medicine as a vocation. During his time at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, he put his heart into providing medical care to the homeless, communing with folks through Catholic Workers, leading a women’s free clinic for obstetric care, and developing projects aimed toward combating implicit bias and systemic racism. Upon arriving in Lawrence, Massachusetts, he is excited about the culture of radical justice, kindness, and community present among the faculty, residents, and patients. He and his partner, who is studying to be an emergency medicine doctor, dream of creating a free clinic/community center like the Catholic Worker model with extensive resources for medical care. Outside of medicine, Rayyan loves sharing his passions for improvised music, mainly piano and saxophone, bicycling, mathematics, and cooking with others. If you can’t find him, he is probably cooking food with other pursuers of justice or outside playing some Mardi Gras music with folks in the neighborhood. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Taylor Lautzenhiser
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
Undergrad: Indiana University – Biotechnology
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Languages: English, Basic Spanish

Taylor grew up in Indianapolis, IN where her initial interest in the world of medicine was sparked by reading memoirs of people facing medical challenges. She was drawn in by the patient’s stories, their resilience, and the opportunity that physicians have to provide compassion and care during the ups and downs of a person’s life. Taylor attended Indiana University where she studied Biotechnology. Following her undergraduate studies, she moved to Chicago, IL, working as a research assistant at Northwestern University’s Comprehensive Transplant Center, and then obtaining a MA in Medical Sciences from Loyola University Chicago. Taylor then left the Midwest for the East Coast to attend medical school at Tufts University School of Medicine. During her time at Tufts, she developed her interests in mentoring, medical education, and women’s health. She taught as a summer instructor for a Tufts program designed to introduce high school students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds to the healthcare field, co-led a mindfulness and peer support group for first-year medical students, participated in advocacy events with MSFC, and served on the TUSM curriculum committee. Through clinical experiences with underserved populations and volunteering at the student-run free clinic, Taylor saw the powerful impact that physicians can have when they work with the community they serve. Taylor was drawn to GLFHC because of the full spectrum training, the opportunity to learn Spanish, and the commitment to meeting the needs of their community through compassionate and innovative care. In her free time, Taylor enjoys dancing, hiking, cooking and crochet.

TlalliAztlan (Tlalli) Moya-Smith
Hometown: Oakland, CA
Undergrad: Yale University — Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology, BS
Medical School: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Languages: Spanish, learning French

Tlalli was raised on the “best coast” in Oakland, California, and tends toward the stereotype of a crunchy-granola Northern Californian who loves avocados. Growing up in an Indigenous-Mexican-American family, Tlalli developed a deep appreciation for multiculturalism. With familial roots in the farm workers’ movement and exposure to the injustice of socioeconomic inequality at a young age, her passion for fighting for the rights of marginalized communities blossomed. Tlalli transitioned to the east coast when she attended Yale University, where she engaged with her community through free clinics and homeless shelter outreach and was exposed to global health disparities in rural Argentina and Peru. At Dartmouth Medical School, Tlalli led Project Salud, a student-run organization providing healthcare to farmworkers, and helped promote Latinx health as the president of Dartmouth’s Latino Medical Student Association. In solidarity with Native communities across the globe, she planned Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrations at her medical school and led a trip to the White Earth Reservation, and has had the privilege of learning from Indigenous communities in the US, Australia, Greenland, and Bolivia. For her dedication to leadership and serving communities, Tlalli was awarded the Dartmouth Diversity Visionary Award and the Radebaugh Community Service Award. Drawn to Lawrence’s commitment to becoming a part of and taking care of its beautiful community, Tlalli is excited to learn the type of full-spectrum family medicine that will enable her to fit the needs of her community. In her free time, Tlalli can be found traipsing through the wilderness, nerding out about, well, nerdy things, trying to bake something with leftovers in her fridge, exploring new cities, and dancing.

Lydia Rex
Hometowns: Houston, TX and Manchester, England, UK
Undergrad: Wesleyan University – Italian and Biology, BA
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Languages: Conversational Italian, Basic Spanish, Basic French

Lydia spent the first 10 years of her life in Houston, Texas where she developed a love of Tex-Mex food, humidity, and SPF 100. She and her family then uprooted to Manchester, England for eight years where she and her sister were the only Americans in their traditional British school (their accents got really strange during that time). Living in England allowed for extensive travel and she developed a love for learning about all the incredible and diverse cultures of the world. She then moved back to the U.S. to attend Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT where she majored in Italian Studies and Biology and did a semester abroad in Bologna, Italy. After graduation, she moved to Boston to work as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (where she met her partner, Chris!). She also spent her time volunteering as an abortion doula for the Boston Doula Project. Attending Tufts University School of Medicine was the culmination of a life-long dream to become a physician; at Tufts, she led meditations as part of the Mindfulness Group, as well as volunteering as a Sexual and Reproductive Health Counselor at The Sharewood Project. Throughout medical school, she continued to develop a passion for women’s health, reproductive justice, transgender medicine, behavioral health, and caring for underserved communities. She feels extremely lucky to be in Lawrence and looks forward to receiving full-spectrum training while learning Spanish and providing culturally-appropriate care. In her spare time she loves baking various delicious desserts, reading, practicing yoga, and staying in touch with her friends who live across the world.

Claire Trachtman
Hometowns: Valparaiso, IN and Chicago, IL
Undergrad: Hamilton College
Medical School: Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
Languages: French, Basic Spanish

Claire grew up exploring Chicago with her dad and the neighboring Indiana farmland with her mom and older brothers (perhaps explaining her earliest interest in medicine, wanting to be a “horse doctor,” when she was three). She ventured east to attend Hamilton College in upstate New York where she fostered her love of science through the study of biology and her interests in language and culture in her French minor. She furthered her scientific – and cultural – training after college, spending two years doing basic research in immunology and reproduction at Massachusetts General Hospital in a lab with members from over a dozen countries. Claire pursued her medical education at Quinnipiac University, where her inclination toward primary care blossomed into a passion for the variety of work and deep physician-patient relationships in family medicine. She realized the reward in caring for marginalized populations when providing foot care for people experiencing homelessness during her first year, leading her to found an interest group providing foot care and social work street outreach for homeless people in Rhode Island. Claire has been dreaming of combining all of her interests – and learning Spanish! – at GLFHC since the early days of medical school. Outside of medicine, Claire loves baking and running (partially so she can eat more of her baked treats), as well as birding in the wilderness of New England. She and her husband Ben also enjoy watching Eagles football games with a homebrew in hand and their cat Humboldt snuggled between them. 

Gabby Velásquez
Hometown: Essex Junction, VT
Undergrad: Boston University
Grad: Boston University (MS, MPH)
Medical School: New York Medical College
Languages: Spanish, Conversational French

Growing up in Vermont, a child of Ecuadorian immigrants and whose relatives mostly settled in the Bronx, Gabby had a very dichotomous upbringing and early on made the realization that where you lived and what you looked like influenced your life trajectory more than it should.  This lived experience and observation of the stark disparities and injustices many communities faced—especially communities of color, informed her experiences during and after college. This included being a medical Spanish interpreter during college, and then working full-time as a program coordinator for a healthcare pipeline program for Boston youth based out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, after college. It was through that first job out of college that she learned more about community health and realized that these observations she had made growing up could be NAMED and that they were very much rooted in public health. After working with that pipeline program for 4 years, Gabby decided that she wanted to become a physician and that her career would land in the intersection between public health and medicine (hello, Family Medicine!). She went on to obtain her MS/MPH in 2016 before matriculating into medical school. Gabby fell in love with GLFHC early on in her medical school career because it combined all of her interests: a commitment to social justice, a diverse and Spanish-speaking patient population and innovative and excellent training based out of a FQHC (a setting Gabby has always known she wants to practice in). She did a sub-I there during her 4th year of medical school and was impressed by how supportive the learning environment was and how remarkable and dedicated the faculty and residents were. Gabby cannot wait learn alongside passionate and social justice-oriented individuals and become the family physician and community advocate she’s always wanted to be. In her free time Gabby enjoys being outdoors (it’s the Vermonter in her): hiking and swimming in the summer/fall and skiing in the winter, doing yoga, watching TV with her forever fiancé, Matt (here’s hoping they can “someday” have their dream wedding), and most importantly, eating good food and drinking good craft beer.