Current Residents

Camila Chile (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Rockville, MD
Undergraduate: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Language: Spanish

Camila was born and raised in Rockville, MD as the youngest of four children of Peruvian immigrants. She became passionate about biology during high school when she participated in a summer internship at the National Institute of Health. She was selected as a Gates Millennium Scholar in her senior year of high school, a four-year scholarship that allowed her to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As an undergraduate, she split her time between her studies, research on glioblastoma multiforme at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and her role as an Admissions Ambassador in the MIT Admissions Office. It was her experience in the Admission Office that set her on her path of working with and advocating for underserved communities. She saw a career as a doctor would allow her to combine her love of biology and advocacy. She attended Tufts University School of Medicine where she was selected to participate in the Sam W. Ho Health Justice Scholars Program, a four-year curriculum focused on training medical students to act as leaders and provide high-quality care to underserved communities. She also volunteered for Entre Mujeres, a group of Tufts medical students who provided workshops and seminars on health and wellness in Spanish to Latina women in the Dorchester community. She had several experiences in the Lawrence community prior to applying for residency and she was taken by their commitment to producing full-spectrum family physicians focused on social justice and health equity. In her free time, Camila enjoys baking, cooking, watching Marvel movies and soccer with her family. Her favorite condiment is aji rocoto, a traditional Peruvian red pepper paste that has a similar spice level to habaneros.

Kristin Chu (she/her/hers)
Hometown: South Bends, IN
Undergraduate: University of Minnesota
Medical School: University of Minnesota Medical School
Language: Chinese

Kristin was born in South Bend, Indiana to Taiwanese immigrant parents before moving to Woodbury, Minnesota at a young age. Her parents taught her early on about the importance of education, advocacy, and community. Her love of science was nurtured in high school when she became a camp counselor at her local science museum. She attended the University of Minnesota where her love of community and medicine grew with her experiences teaching Sickle Cell awareness in rural India, advocating for women’s health and education in Malawi, and working at a safety net hospital in downtown Minneapolis. These experiences ultimately led her back to the University of Minnesota to attend medical school. Unbeknownst to her at the time the seeds of Family Medicine were planted early on as she helped organize her school’s LGBTQIA+ Symposium on safe and healthy futures for LGBTQIA+ youth, spearhead a Medical Student-Interpreter Workshop for peers, create MN CovidSitters a nonprofit helping to provide frontline workers with childcare during COVID, write a resolution about decreasing barriers to abortion access in Minnesota that was ultimately passed by the Minnesota Medical Association, and advocating for better conditions and health outcomes for justice-involved individuals.

Kristin is ecstatic to continue her training at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and join the ranks of fantastic clinician leaders as she works towards becoming a better ally and advocate for her patients. She was drawn to Lawrence for its broad spectrum training, Spanish curriculum, centering of community, and social justice lens. In her free time, Kristin enjoys spending time with family & friends, cooking & baking, spending time outdoors, exploring local thrift shops, and playing tennis. Her favorite condiment is Ichimi Togarashi (aka Japanese chili pepper) which she puts on everything for that added kick.

Jorge Luis De Avila, MD (he/him/his)
Hometown: Norwalk, CA
Undergrad: University of Southern California – Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies
Med School: The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Languages: Native Spanish

Jorge was raised in Southeast Los Angeles County. Although his parents are immigrants from rural Mexico and came to the United States as factory workers, both his grandfathers migrated between Mexico and the United States as braceros, or day laborers, on the farms of Northern California. Jorge is the first in his family to attend and graduate from college, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies from the University of Southern California. Before medical school, Jorge worked in several community health roles in Oakland, CA, including project coordinator at the Ethnic Health Institute within Samuel Merritt University’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, program manager at the Alameda County Health Coach Program within Highland Hospital’s Emergency Department, and analyst within the Community Benefit Department at Sutter Health East Bay Region. During medical school in Chicago, IL, Jorge served as a peer educator across several courses, including the “Clinical Pathophysiology and Therapeutics” and “Health Equity, Advocacy, and Anti-Racism” courses. He also continued his passion for diversifying the healthcare workforce by serving on the medical school’s admissions committee and help lead the Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program, where high school students explore health careers over six weeks at the medical school campus. He explored academic scholarship to advance health equity through quantitative research on patient cost-related medication nonadherence and qualitative research on best practices in medical school curriculum on health equity. Jorge was drawn to GLFHC to attain full-spectrum family medicine training and explore his interests in chronic pain, addiction medicine, HIV medicine, and health systems leadership at an FQHC. Outside of medicine, Jorge loves going on day trips to explore other New England cities with his partner and spending lots of FaceTime hours with family and friends. His favorite condiment is honey mustard, especially with sweet potato waffle fries!

Sheila Eghbali
Hometown: Boston, MA; Tehran, Iran
Undergraduate: University of California Davis
Medical School: Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
Languages: Native Persian, Fair Spanish, Fair French

Sheila was born in Tehran, Iran and immigrated to the US as a teen. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of California Davis (UCD) in Integrated Human Biology. She studied French while in undergrad, and was actively involved as a volunteer at the UCD Medical Center and completed her EMT training. For two years after undergrad, she taught high school sciences and homeschooled youth with severe or terminal illness while working with the UC San Francisco tissue recovery program. She returned to UCD for her graduate degree in nutritional biology, followed by graduate studies in education/teaching credential. She taught high school sciences for the next 10 years in California and Massachusetts, with a focus on working with youth with a history of trauma. Sheila entered medical school at Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University and was her class recipient of the Primary Care Fellowship. She was actively involved in DEI efforts and established the Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Collective. She has a strong interest in full spectrum family medicine with a special interest in obstetrics and integrative medicine, including nutrition, specifically in immigrant and underserved communities. In her spare time Sheila enjoys traveling, spending time with her husband, her two puppies, and her friends and family, listening to audiobooks, learning languages, edible gardening, and dancing. She strives to eat vegan but sometimes can’t resist dipping potato chips in tart plain yogurt.

Leah Genn (she/her)
Hometown: Sarasota, FL; Maplewood, NJ
Undergraduate: Florida State University
Medical School: Florida State University College of Medicine
Language: French

Leah was born in Maplewood, NJ and grew up in sunny Sarasota, FL. While she is afraid to face New England winters, Leah is excited to experience all four seasons, especially the beautiful Fall colors. Leah was drawn to the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency Program for a multitude of reasons, including the warm and supportive family atmosphere, excellent full-spectrum training at both an FQHC and community hospital, and strong longitudinal Spanish-learning support. She attended Florida State University and completed a Bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology before joining the Peace Corps and serving in Togo, West Africa as a Community Health and Malaria Prevention Volunteer. During her service, she partnered with traditional healers, community health workers, and secondary school students to encourage and support care-seeking and disease prevention behaviors within her village community. Leah is particularly excited to practice and build upon her skills in community partnership at Lawrence. During medical school, she was involved with AMWA and the American Medical Association advocating for reproductive justice and improved access to honest, evidence-based reproductive health resources and services. She looks forward to gaining the procedural and counseling skills necessary during residency to empower her patients to determine if, when, and how they would like to create their families.

Leah’s clinical and international experiences highlighted for her the outsized impact healthy and thriving families can have on their community and society. She is thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to partner with her future patients and work together to optimize their health and wellbeing at GLFHC. During her free time, Leah enjoys reading historical fiction novels, playing tennis, watching her Tampa Bay Lightning win Stanley Cups, and calling on her state and federal representatives to support legislation that will lead to a more equitable health care system. Her favorite condiment is honey mustard, full of sweetness and spice!

Ryan Huff, MD (they/she)
Hometown: Singleton, TX
Undergraduate: The University of Texas at Austin – Biology & Psychology
Medical School: Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
Language: Basic Spanish

Ryan grew up in rural East Texas. At the age of sixteen, they moved to a small city outside of Houston to attend an early college entrance program, where their interests shifted from research to medicine after seeing that poor access to healthcare was not restricted to communities geographically isolated from healthcare providers. They finished their college education in Texas, spent their gap year working in fundraising and social media at a safety net clinic, and moved to New York City for medical school. Over the years, they have been involved in various literacy, child development, and mental health advocacy programs, and in medical school they worked extensively with a free clinic offering primary care sexual health services, and gender affirming care to a primarily queer patient population in NYC. In their free time, Ryan likes to write poetry and fiction as well as tend to an indoor garden. Their professional interests vary widely (a reason they chose family medicine!) and include reproductive health, adolescent health, palliative care, and integrative medicine. Their favorite condiment is Cholula hot sauce, especially on popcorn or with Texas queso.

Emily Leboffe, MD (she/her)
Hometown: Hartwick, NY
Undergraduate: Susquehanna University
Graduate: Pennsylvania State University – M.Ed
Medical School: Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
Language: Basic Spanish

Emily grew up in Hartwick, New York with her five younger siblings. She relocated to Pennsylvania to attend a small liberal arts college at Susquehanna University and completed a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. There, she developed an interest in health care and attended a summer study abroad program in Cyprus learning about their health care delivery. She took a year off before medical school and worked as a patient care assistant at Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, NY, and then decided to return to PA to attend Penn State College of Medicine. In her first year, she had the opportunity to travel to Panama to join the Floating Doctors team in delivering rotating continuity clinics at remote islands, only accessible via canoe. During medical school, she developed a passion for medical education and was able to complete her master’s in adult education through Penn State’s dual degree program. She was also part of her medical school’s curriculum committee and students as educators program. Emily is interested in both medical education and how we can better educate patients and communities about their health; during medical school, she helped offer health education sessions at the surrounding local food pantries. She was drawn to GLFHC for its full-spectrum training, medical Spanish curriculum, and emphasis on community centered medicine. Outside of medicine, Emily enjoys spending time with her husband, their dog, and their two cats. You can find her running, hiking, and making fun charcuterie boards. What’s her favorite condiment you ask? Emily would argue that Pesto is not only a sauce, but a very essential condiment!

Yesenia Martino-Cortez, MD
Hometown: Bronx, NY
Undergraduate: State University of New York at Albany
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Languages: Intermediate Spanish

Yesenia was born in Westchester County of New York and raised in the Bronx within a culturally diverse neighborhood. She is a third generation Puerto Rican and grew up speaking “Spanglish” in her household. Her grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and numerous distant relatives still live in Puerto Rico. She attended the State University of New York at Albany where she majored in Chemistry and was engaged in stem cell research with the Rangan Lab. Following undergrad, she took two gap years continuing stem cell research at NYU Langone and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She then attended medical school at Tufts and was actively engaged in both research and community service. She was an active member of Jumbo Chess, a community service afterschool program for local elementary school children that helped teach children how to play chess while providing an opportunity to directly engage with the local Chinatown community neighboring Tufts. She also engaged in the Sharewood Clinic that helped provide free physical exams and acute visits for underserved and uninsured populations in Malden. She discovered her love for Family Medicine while at Tufts and was captivated by full-spectrum health care for populations in need. After graduating from Tufts School of Medicine, Yesenia has joined Greater Lawrence Family Medicine Residency for continuing her medical training! In her free time, she enjoys running, playing chess, indoor rock climbing, mountain biking, and skiing in the winter. Her favorite condiment is ketchup which, to people’s dismay, she will generously use on most food groups.

Brenda Navarro Galindo, MD (she/her)
Hometown: Fontana, CA and Tepatitlan, Mexico
Undergraduate: California State University-San Bernardino
Medical School: Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara Facultad de Medicina Guadalajara
Languages: Native Spanish

Brenda was born in Tepatitlan, Jalisco, MX, but immigrated to the U.S.A at age seven, along with her parents and two siblings. She was raised in Fontana, CA, where she spent all her formative years. She attended California State University- San Bernardino, where she obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology. After college, she worked as a medical scribe both at an ER and a family medicine practice and tutored students from underserved communities through the no child left behind act, before returning to her native state of Jalisco for medical school at Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara. During her time in Guadalajara she participated in several medical brigades through the GUIMEDIC organization in the rural areas of the state. She was also the community coordinator for AMSA, in which she organized and took part in several community service events, such as fundraising for children with cancer, hosting medical education events for the local community and providing basic medical exams in impoverished areas of Guadalajara. After finishing her two basic science years in Guadalajara, she moved to Las Vegas, NV for her clinical clerkships, where she continued to work with underserved communities. She also had the privilege to participate in a medical mission in Marikina, Philippines, where more than 3,000 individuals received free medical, dental and vision treatment. Growing up as an immigrant with very few resources, Brenda has a special connection with underprivileged communities and is committed to work to provide them with better medical and social care. GLFHC is the epitome of full spectrum medicine and that is why Brenda is very excited to join this community and to learn from its lively culture and people. In her spare time, Brenda enjoys spending time with her husband and her two cats (Nala and Lilah), traveling with friends, baking, spending time outdoors, watching movies and eating French fries dipped in some delicious sriracha aioli.

Marissa Paz, MD (she/her)
Hometown: Tucson, AZ
Undergraduate: University of Arizona
Medical School: University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson
Languages: Basic Spanish, Basic A.S.L.

Marissa was born and raised in the desert city of Tucson, Arizona. After multiple encounters with the medical world as a patient, family member and part of a support system she began thinking about going into medicine.  She attended the University of Arizona where she majored in Physiology and Microbiology and minored in Public Health. Marissa had a wide variety of odd jobs she worked during high school and college such as a library assistant, construction worker, event coordinator, Air Force Tricare operations, and house cleaner to name a few. After graduating she continued at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine.

Marissa had always had a passion for advocacy and working with people who have disabilities, especially with Latino and Native American people because of her own and her families’ experiences. She worked in advocacy within her medical school to increase physician comfortability and understanding of various physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities and working with the Special Olympics. She helped to foster better relationships with the Native community within Arizona, spent a lot of her clinical time working in rural Native communities and was an AHEC scholar. Marissa also helped create a group which works regularly with a local homeless shelter where she volunteered and created medical lessons driven by the women within the shelter. Marissa is excited to be coming to Lawrence due to their strong connection with the community, language, culture, and values helping to create true community physicians.

Marissa has never experienced a real winter with snow but is excited to be trying it out for the first time. In her free time, she can be found with her husband, Brad, reading fantasy or science fiction, camping, dancing, and crocheting. Marissa will be striving to find where she can find the peppers for her salsa which she firmly believes can be put on nearly anything and can be eaten with a spoon.

Amanda Snow, MD (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Southington, CT
Undergraduate: College of the Holy Cross
Medical School: Boston University School of Medicine
Languages: Intermediate Spanish

Amanda grew up in her father’s childhood home in Connecticut’s “Apple Valley.” She attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where she studied biology, neuroscience, and philosophy. There, she was exposed to the Jesuit ideals of social justice and care for the whole person. On yearly trips to Corquín de Copán, Honduras, she worked at a clinic where she learned Spanish and became aware of the need for accessible primary care. Throughout college, Amanda also worked as a CNA in a nursing home for people with Alzheimer’s while discerning a possible health care career. After graduating, she moved to Scranton, PA for a year for a year of postgraduate service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. There, Amanda worked at an interdisciplinary Community Health Department of United Neighborhood Centers, where she learned about the social determinants of health and connected low-income individuals and families to healthcare through insurance assistance, care coordination, and vaccination campaigns. Before medical school, she returned to Massachusetts, moving to Haverhill, to a community called L’Arche, where she lived and worked with adults with disabilities to provide direct support while developing mutually supportive relationships. At Boston University School of Medicine, she was a leader in the BU Advocacy Training Program and developed interests in single-payer health care, addiction medicine, and trauma-informed care. Amanda was drawn to LFMR for countless reasons, including its foundation in the Lawrence community and Spanish language curriculum—in addition to everything her peers have stated above! She is excited to continue learning how to integrate social determinants of health equity with the practice of medicine to deliver great health care. Outside of medicine, Amanda loves spending time in the White Mountains of NH with her partner Leon, hanging out with her new nephew, collecting records, experimenting with baking (currently loving hot honey on sourdough pizza!), and exploring craft coffee.

Bronwyn Wada-Gill, MD (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Lincoln, MA; Lexington, MA; Worcester, MA
Undergraduate: Boston University
Medical School: University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
Languages: Basic Spanish, Conversational Japanese

Bronwyn was born and raised in Massachusetts as part of an ever-expanding multi-cultural family.  She initially started her career with the intent to become a professional ballet dancer. She adored her time training with the Boston Ballet for 15 years and continues to support the arts with all her might.  Bronwyn attended Boston University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a major in Behavioral Health Sciences and an interest in HIV/AIDS and sustainable models of health care. After graduating she explored clinical research at Dana Farber Cancer Institute for two years, where she truly decided she would become a doctor. At the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine, she dedicated her time to learning about urban and rural population health care needs. Travels to Alaska helped her recognize the lack of education and partnerships between her medical school institution and the local indigenous nations in MA. She is particularly proud of assisting relationship building between the Nipmuc nation and Hassanamisco band, on whose land the medical school and primary hospital stands.

She is delighted to have been welcomed into the Lawrence community and can’t wait to learn more about the culture and history of Lawrence, to try out delightful bakeries and restaurants, and to meet other dog parents in the neighborhood. Her lifetime goals include creating a community flower garden and food orchard, learning at least five languages fluently, and trying as many worldly delicacies as possible. In her free time, Bronwyn continues to enjoy dancing, crafting, and spending time with her wonderful family and friends. Bronwyn’s all-time favorite condiment is called “ponzu”, a delicious and refreshing citrusy flavored soy sauce that she finds goes absolutely with Everything! Deliciosa!  おいしい (Oishī)!

Romina Almada Gossweiler (she/hers)
Hometown: Fort Myers, Fl
Undergrad: New York University
Medical School: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Languages: Spanish

Romina was born in Asuncion, Paraguay and is half Paraguayan/half Uruguayan. After moving to the US at the age of nine, Romina grew up primarily in Florida but has lived in many states prior to Massachusetts. She studied neuroscience in New York City and physiology in Chicago before moving to New Hampshire for medical school. 

She has always been very interested in behavior and working with immigrant populations. Her interest in medicine stems from her mom, who trained as a pediatrician and cared deeply about social medicine. While at NYU, Romina interned at the Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. There, she worked on adapting a meaning-centered psychotherapy program for Spanish-speaking patients with terminal cancer. Romina loved this research as it incorporated many of her interests – mental health disparities, immigrant communities, and language. 

During medical school, Romina continued to pursue her interests as an Urban Health Scholar and taught the Medical Spanish elective for two years.

For fun, Romina likes to binge watch TV shows. She also enjoys listening to a wide variety of podcasts ranging from the Curbsiders to Crime Junkie. As a developing New Englander, she enjoys when winter becomes spring and birds begin to chirp again.

Lawrence is a very special place in terms of its rich immigrant history and critical role in the U.S. labor movement. Romina feels very lucky to be able to train as a physician in this city.

Christian Castilla, MD (he/him/his)
Hometown: Coconut Creek, FL
Undergraduate: Florida Atlantic University
Medical School: San Juan Bautista School of Medicine
Languages: Spanish

Christian was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the United States at the age of seven. He was raised in South Florida where he spent the majority of his life. He finally left Florida when he moved to Puerto Rico for medical school. He is the first person in his family to attend college and medical school in the United States. Throughout college and medical school, Christian devoted his time to giving back to the community that raised him. He has been involved in multiple volunteer opportunities including a mission trip during medical school to provide clinical aid in underserved areas in Guatemala. His interest in family medicine began when he witnessed the shortage of providers in his home country and his hometown. This gave him the drive to treat the underserved population in the future and serve the Spanish-speaking population.

Christian was drawn to Greater Lawrence Family Medicine because of their exemplary curriculum and their goal for serving the underserved Spanish-speaking population. He was also interested in their broad spectrum of family medicine emphasis. Moreover, the supporting staff and residents are what was appealing to him and he feels fortunate to be in such a welcoming environment. Christian spends his free time playing soccer and pickleball. He is looking forward to the four seasons of New England as well as the countless hiking opportunities and skiing for the first time. His favorite bird is the humming bird because of their ambition and perseverance.

Andrés Cuartas-Olarte, MD (he/him/his)
Hometown: The Colony, TX
Undergrad: St. Edward’s University
Med School: The University of Texas Medical Branch John Sealy School of Medicine
Languages: Native Spanish

Andrés was born in North Bergen, NJ and raised in The Colony, TX (a small suburb of north Dallas). Both of his parents are immigrants from Colombia and came to the United States in search of a brighter future, where he and his older brother were born. Andrés is the first in his family to attend and graduate from college, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. Before medical school, Andrés worked as a full-time volunteer at a community hospital in Richmond, VA before returning to Texas a year later to attend medical school in Galveston, TX. During medical school, Andrés helped co-found the First in the Family student organization on campus aimed to support first generation students through the journey of higher education, student-faculty mentoring, and advocacy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He also continued his passion for soccer and community building by regularly coordinating pick-up games and organizing teams in local leagues. Andrés was drawn to GLFHC to attain full-spectrum family medicine training and explore his interests in community medicine, sports medicine, and integrative medicine at an FQHC. Outside of medicine, Andrés loves going on outdoor walks to listen to the symphony of chirping birds, playing team sports (especially fútbol), and trying out new hobbies. His favorite condiment is barbeque sauce, hands down! His favorite bird is the golden-cheeked warbler (the only bird endemic to Texas, yeehaw!).

Catherine Henckel, MD (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Sussex, NJ
Undergrad: Boston College – Biochemistry BS
Medical School: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark NJ
Languages: Advanced Italian, Intermediate Spanish

Cat grew up in Sussex, tucked away in the rural northwest corner of New Jersey among the trees, small farms, and rolling hills. She attended Boston College for her undergraduate education, where the major themes in her life included studying for her science classes, having a blast in classes for her Italian minor, spending quality time with microbes in the Momeni Lab, and having some of the best and most bizarre experiences of her life playing trombone in the marching band. Cat’s passion for medicine began when volunteering at a free clinic back home in New Jersey during academic breaks in college. Cat and her family were also uninsured at this time, which made this experience particularly formative for her. Seeing and living disparities in healthcare access mobilized her passion for ameliorating disparities of all types, both in her professional life and personal life. This experience also planted the seed that comprehensive, accessible primary care, particularly in underserved communities, can make a huge impact. After undergrad, Cat worked in hospice research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she studied the perspectives that patients and their bereaved caregivers have about hospice services. This experience was the beginning of Cat’s continued interest in the art of communication with patients on topics which are profound, challenging, or stigmatized.

At Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ, she dedicated her efforts to learning from and serving the Newark community. She was a director for free clinics that traveled to local homeless shelters, organized and taught prenatal education classes, worked with hospital chaplaincy to support actively dying patients, and received a Pozen Grant to begin her Spanish learning journey to connect with more patients in the community. She was also heavily involved in two scholarship programs, one that supported humanism in medicine (Humanism Fellow) and another for students interested in practicing primary care in underserved communities (Removing Barriers to Success Scholar). Cat is particularly proud of her work in medical education, surveying the preclinical curriculum for instances of racial bias, acting as a teaching assistant, and enacting improvements on her school’s Health Equity & Social Justice curriculum.

Cat can’t wait to practice Family Medicine to see the breadth of human experience and be at the interface of medicine and the community. She’s thrilled that Lawrence welcomed her, and she can’t wait for the robust experiences in Spanish, community medicine, addiction medicine, gender affirming care, HIV care, reproductive health, procedural training — the list could go on forever! Outside of medicine, Cat enjoys reading, crocheting, spending time with friends and family, and generally being outdoors — running, hiking, taking walks, and birding. Some of her favorite birds include hooded mergansers, tufted titmice, cedar waxwings, and belted kingfishers. She’s looking forward to finding the best birding spots in Massachusetts!

Michael Ierardi, DO (he/him/his)
Hometown: Dunstable, MA
Undergrad:  University of Massachusetts Lowell – Biology, BS
Medical School:  Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Mike grew up forty minutes west of Lawrence in a town called Dunstable Massachusetts.  His parents taught him the importance of being a well-rounded individual, playing multiple sports and musical instruments while still focusing on his academics.  He stayed close to home and commuted to the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, allowing him to help his family take care of two grandparents who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  This was certainly not a typical undergraduate experience, but he credits this time as a major determining factor that led him to be passionate about medicine and learning how to compassionately take care of others.  Also during his time at Umass Lowell, Mike worked as a personal care attendant for a high school aged student who has cerebral palsy and he still values his time and friendship to this day.  After obtaining his Bachelor of Science in Biology, Mike left the nest and attended Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Clearwater, Florida.  It was during his third and fourth-year rotations in medical school that he learned that Family Medicine was his true passion.  He has an affinity for building strong relationships with his patients and has a love for medicine that leaves him always eager to learn more.

Mike is proud to have been welcomed into the Lawrence community and to be back home in Massachusetts.  Growing up not too far from Lawrence helps Mike understand some of the challenges the area faces, and he is passionate about the community that Lawrence is continuing to build.  As a man of many hobbies, he is excited to be able to spend more time hiking and rock climbing in the white mountains, with his favorite hike being the Franconia Ridge Loop. His favorite type of bird is the duck because of its ability to take on adversity with grace.  As they swim, they appear calm on the surface, but they are always kicking like crazy underwater.  Additionally, Mike enjoys playing guitar, hockey, baseball, volleyball, and reading about space travel, specifically the Apollo missions.

Yulianna Jiménez, MD (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Hattiesburg, MS
Undergraduate: The University of Alabama at Birmingham – Biomedical Engineering
Medical School: The University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine
Language: Intermediate Spanish

Yulianna was born and raised in Hattiesburg, MS as the youngest of five children in a Puerto Rican household. She attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she studied biomedical engineering and was a flutist in the concert and marching bands. She was exposed to healthcare disparities when volunteering with A Promise to Help, a mobile healthcare unit that traveled to rural areas in Alabama. She also volunteered with Equal Access Birmingham, a free healthcare clinic in the city for the uninsured and underinsured run by medical students, at clinic days, mental health clinics, and outreach health fairs. These experiences laid the foundation for her interest in medicine and primary care. During medical school, she realized family medicine was the best path for her when she asked her friends if there was a magical specialty that would allow her to combine her interests in obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, dermatology, psychiatry, global health, procedures, and advocacy. Yulianna was thrilled when one friend informed her that this magical specialty existed in family medicine! Recognizing the lack of training and representation of diverse skin types in medicine, she assisted in a research project that photographed and made a digital catalog of different dermatologic conditions across all skin types. She also served as an Admission Host and Diversity Ambassador, helping recruit more brilliant and diverse minds to medicine. In her last year of medical school, Yulianna participated in her first medical mission trip to Mexico, which solidified her interest in global health. When researching family medicine programs, Yulianna found LFMR and fell in love with the full scope of training, strong mission, focus on underserved populations, and Spanish training. She did a sub-internship during her 4^th year of medical school and loved the supportive environment from residents and faculty and the patient population. She is so excited and grateful to be here for training. In her free time, Yulianna loves singing karaoke, playing the flute, building Legos, going to amusement parks, hiking (although she is terrified of ticks), photographing fungi, and cheering on the Celtics. She also enjoys being home with her cats Luna and Otto. She loves video games and has gotten her co-residents addicted to Duck Game.

Brian Leima, MD
Hometown: Pelham, NH
Undergrad: Oregon State University
Medical School: University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix

Brian Leima was born at Lowell General Hospital and raised in Pelham, New Hampshire. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Oregon State University and his medical degree from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix. Prior to his medical career, Brian served eight years in the United States Marine Corps, working with 1^st Marine Division, the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group, and the Georgia Deployment Program, in global locations including Helmand Province, Afghanistan; Stuttgart, Germany; and Tbilisi, Georgia. During this time, Brian’s experience working at the Combat Support Hospital Camp Dwyer, in addition to witnessing the birth of his son, inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Following his military service, he worked at Medtronic Diabetes Research & Development as a Project Manager. When not practicing medicine, Brian can be found surfing, hunting, and biking around Lawrence in all sorts of weather. He is a father of three and makes excellent pancakes. He feels privileged to be serving the people of the Merrimack Valley.

Margaret Nakayama, DO (she/her)
Hometown: Memphis, TN
Undergrad: University of Memphis— B.S. in Chemistry
Medical School: Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine
Languages: Minimal Spanish

Margaret was born into a high control church community in Anaheim, CA. At age 6, her family moved to Memphis, TN to help propagate this church model. She was lucky to attend excellent public schools including the University of Memphis and was able to leave the church. During her study “abroad” experience she became involved in the local farming movement in Western Massachusetts and fell in love with small scale food production. Between and during the four farming seasons following undergrad she worked in a farm-to-fork restaurant, a pediatric clinic, a construction materials lab, and an ENT clinic. She was introduced to a sobriety community in Memphis and a queer/social justice community in Western Mass. Because of these experiences and her love for outpatient clinics, she was compelled to pursue a career in medicine and moved to Chicago for medical school. 

During medical school, she helped to launch the diversity and equity committee at CCOM specifically focusing on admissions changes and facilitating small group discussions in the lecture series “Facing Racism in Healthcare.” She actively tutored physiology and clinical reasoning for first and second year medical students.  

Her homing instinct has returned her to Massachusetts for residency! She is feeling very lucky to be in a program where she is supported to learn about health systems, learn Spanish, and focus on caring for a community. She hopes to perfect her sparrow calls and to spot some kestrels over the next four years.

Meghan Olsen MD, MPH (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Ipswich, MA
Undergraduate: Tufts University
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Language: Learning Spanish and Swedish

Meghan was born in Boston and raised in a nearby small town of Ipswich, Massachusetts. For her entire adult life, she worked part time at the local coffee shop as a barista, getting to know virtually the entire community and becoming a beloved coworker. Throughout her many years of education, she came back to pick up shifts and stay in touch with her hometown. Her graduation from medical school was bittersweet, with the joy of seeing her success and the sadness that Ipswich would no longer see as much of her.

Meghan went to Tufts University where she double majored in biology and community health as an undergrad and earned an MS in biomedical sciences. After graduation she worked as a medical scribe for a primary care and infectious disease practice in Peabody, MA. She discovered her passion for primary care and loved working with a team that was connected to the community. She decided to officially purse medicine and became a quadruple Jumbo by enrolling in the dual degree MD/MPH program at Tufts University School of Medicine. During her rotations in medical school she was introduced to full spectrum family medicine and hasn’t looked back! Meghan is particularly interested in maternal and child health and health care systems. She was drawn to GLFHC for the community values, Spanish program, and unparalleled training opportunities.

Outside of medicine Meghan loves combining getting outside with traveling. She has yet to fulfil her dream of seeing a puffin in the wild (she came close in both Iceland and Alaska) but hopes to soon! When at home, you can find her spending quality time with her loved ones, tending to her ever growing plant collection, listening to audiobooks, and cuddling up with her inquisitive cat Haggis.

Kevin Reiners (he/him/his)
Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Undergraduate: Tulane University
Medical School: LSU Health Sciences Center School of Medicine – New Orleans

Kevin was born in New Orleans and was raised in South Louisiana, where his Cajun family imparted in him a strong sense of culture and community, mostly through food. After graduating from Tulane University (Roll Wave!) with a degree in Neuroscience and History, he worked as a clinical research assistant, helping physicians in multiple medical specialties to care for their patients. Excited by the variety that the field of medicine had to offer and inspired by the many doctors he worked with, he began medical school at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Acutely aware of the many unique challenges his community faced, Kevin was excited to work as a volunteer with the Student-Run Community Clinic, where he provided testing and counselling for HIV and hepatitis C in addition to health care and other vital resources for unhoused people. He also worked to address the systemic causes of his community’s health problems, partnering with the Tulane University Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic to advocate for reducing pollution and educate his neighbors on the health risks of pollution and how to get involved in reducing it. While sad to finally be flying away from his nest in New Orleans, he is overjoyed to be entering the vibrant community in Lawrence and working to its betterment while training at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center. He relishes this opportunity to learn Spanish and at the same time grow into a doctor capable of providing all of his patients with the full scope of services that a family medicine physician can offer. In his free time, Kevin loves cooking (especially grilling), spending time with his cat, Frankie, as well as exploring his new environs in Massachusetts via hiking, bicycling, and –naturally– eating and drinking.

Tong Yan, MD, MPH, MS (he/him/él)
Hometown: Fountain Valley, CA
Undergraduate: University of California, Berkeley – Anthropology
Graduate: Columbia University – MS Narrative Medicine, The George Washington University Milken School of Public Health – MPH
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Born and raised in sunny southern California, Tong attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with a degree in anthropology. He earned his master’s degree at Columbia University in Narrative Medicine.

Tong spent many summers growing up attending international mission trips in remote communities of Bolivia and Mexico which sparked a desire to address the global health disparities he saw. However, through volunteering as a caseworker at a free clinic in college and work as an EMT and medical assistant in both affluent and underserved communities, Tong saw how problems of poverty and lack of access to care was not limited to the international context but also was prevalent in the United States. Experiences like this fostered within him an interest in the social determinants of health, particularly in food security, nutrition, and housing and led him to pursue an MD/MPH at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. During medical school, Tong helped spearhead the Family Lifestyle Program, an initiative in partnership with the Children’s National Hospital to connect families with community resources related to food access, nutrition education, and physical activity to support them in their efforts to address obesity. As the president of the Family Medicine Interest Group, he was committed to advocating for and promoting family medicine at GW, one of the few US medical schools without a FM department.

Tong is thrilled to train at GLFHC because of the program’s commitment to the community it serves and dedication to forming strong clinician leaders with full-spectrum training. In his spare time, Tong can be found cooking and hosting dinners as an excuse to experiment with elaborate recipes, going hard at karaoke, doodling on the piano, being a plant dad, and binge-watching reality television. When birds were not drones, Tong’s favorite avian friend was the barn owl. However, now their night surveillance capabilities are rather terrifying to him. #birdsarentreal

Alex Zapata, MD (he/him/his)
Hometown: Plano, TX
Undergrad: University of North Texas, BA in Psychology
Medical School: Texas Tech University Health Sciences School of Medicine
Languages: English, Spanish

Alex was born and raised in Plano, TX by parents who taught him the value of hard work, tenacity, and taking care of others. Love of family and community fostered as a child grew through working in family businesses, educational pursuits, and spirited volunteerism both locally and abroad. Working in health information management exposed him to healthcare and helped his mission of becoming a physician take flight. His second career teaching biomedical sciences to high school seniors served to further develop his passion for community engagement and all aspects of education. Medical school was an especially treasured time as he engaged as leader of multiple service and school organizations including the Genders & Sexualities Alliance, an addiction care & education organization, and the community’s Free Clinic. He was honored as his campus’ Outstanding Student in Family Medicine for joining medicine with humanitarianism, and brings this perspective into every patient visit. It is a dream come true for Alex to be part of the GLFHC team and to learn family medicine from this exemplar system in Lawrence. Outside healthcare he can be found exploring parks, making music, attending concerts, ducking into various types of games, and spending time with his wife and pets.

Louise Amat, MD (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Potomac, MD
Undergraduate: University of Michigan – B.S. in Biomolecular Science and Spanish
Medical School: Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
Languages: Spanish, Native French

Louise was born near Lyon, France and raised in the DC area. She is the youngest of four children in a Francophone household, and takes pride in having taught her parents many of the American colloquialisms. She attended the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) where she had the opportunity to become a Spanish medical interpreter for the Student Run Free Clinic. In this role, she was exposed to healthcare disparities and developed a curiosity for language and cultural barriers to care. She also participated in global health work in rural Honduras, which sparked her interest in addressing health disparities back home. She went on to serve as an AmeriCorps member at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and spent a year working as a women’s health care coordinator. This experience was highly impactful and solidified her commitment to serve unhoused and underserved communities in her career. She returned to the Midwest to attend Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, where she enjoyed summers on the lake before hibernating in the hospital for the long winters. She sought out experiences to learn more about health disparities and became involved with Chicago Street Medicine, where she piloted outreach projects to help the unhoused obtain shelter and primary care services. Right before graduation, she had the opportunity to pursue a global health rotation in Bolivia, which furthered her Spanish language skills and understanding of rural medicine in resource-limited environments abroad. She looks forward to continuing her pursuit of global health work in residency and beyond. Louise is elated to be joining the GLFHC family. She spent a month rotating at Lawrence as a medical student and immediately felt at home with the program’s welcoming community and fierce commitment to health equity. She is looking forward to practicing full spectrum family medicine at an FQHC and is particularly excited to deliver babies and learn addiction medicine! Outside of medicine, she can be found exploring the running trails in the Boston area and escaping to the beach with her lovely co-interns. Although she is not as well versed in TV series’ as the rest of her class, her favorite fictional doctor would have to be McDreamy (obviously).

Mikayla Ambarian, MD
Hometown: Wyomissing, PA
Undergraduate: University of Pittsburgh
Medical School: Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Languages: Fair Spanish

Mikayla grew up in Wyomissing, PA, a town about an hour away from Philadelphia, and loved listening to Taylor Swift (another Wyomissing native) with her three younger brothers. She moved across the state to Pittsburgh for college, where she majored in Chemistry with a minor in Spanish. Mikayla returned to eastern PA to attend medical school at Temple University, where she was exposed to how systemic inequality can affect the health of a community. From her involvement with the Thrive student-run clinic and service learning program, Mikayla developed an interest in harm reduction and caring for patients with substance use disorders. She was drawn to family medicine because of the opportunity to combine this interest with her other varied clinical interests, including hospital medicine, nutrition, group visits, POCUS, and reproductive health, while taking a holistic approach to health and wellbeing. As a scholar in the AAFP Foundation’s Emerging Leader Institute, Mikayla was able to explore the consequences of weight stigma in healthcare and developed a workshop to introduce weight inclusive care and anti-fat bias to medical students. Mikayla is excited to be a part of the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency and to work alongside and learn from others who are passionate about full-spectrum family medicine and advocating for the community. When she’s not in the hospital, Mikayla enjoys playing field hockey, cheering on Pitt and Philly sports teams, running with her partner Nick, listening to Noah Kahan, and reading thrillers and romance novels. Because sitcoms are the best category of TV show, Dr. Sheldon Cooper is her favorite fictional doctor.  

Edward Bickham, MD (He/Him/His)
Hometown:  Los Angeles, CA
Undergraduate: University of California Santa Barbara
Medical School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Languages: Spanish – Advanced 

Eddie is originally from Los Angeles. As the second of five brothers, he spent childhood summers on the family dairy farm in northern Mexico and many days afterschool hanging out at skate parks and PC bangs (internet cafes) in southern California. His favorite sports are basketball, soccer, and judo. He slightly prefers dogs to cats. Eddie studied Biochemistry at University of California Santa Barbara, during which he was exposed to a career in medicine through a biomedical summer research project at Yale. After university, he spent several years as an EMT in Riverside, California where he found it especially rewarding to help people navigate our healthcare system while carefully avoiding bringing financial problems to people. Eddie received lots of support and love from his various biological and step-grandparents and so is very interested in the care of older adults. He attended Tufts University School of Medicine and grew to appreciate the different seasons available on the east coast. He plans to relearn how to snowboard if and when there is time off. His favorite doctor is Dr. Doof from “Phineas and Ferb” as he believes in second chances. Eddie excited to join the fantastic team at Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and Lawrence General Hospital working to help people be as healthy as they can.

Abigail Boeck, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Portage, WI
Undergraduate: Concordia University in Austin, Texas
Medical School: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Languages: Portuguese, Learning Spanish

Abi was raised in a big extended family in rural Wisconsin, which wove the value of relationship and mutual care into the fabric of her being. She attended a small university in Austin, Texas, where she studied biology with a focus in ecology. During her time in Austin, she got her first glimpses into medicine through work in mobile health units, primary care clinics, and in-home care. After college, she worked for the US Peace Corps in Mozambique for a few years, where she collaborated with Community Health Workers and clinicians at a clinic and in health promotion in an elementary school. From there, she went back to Wisconsin for medical school, where she completed a dual degree program in medicine and public health. This allowed her time and framework to assess health in a more holistic way, in a way that centers the experience of individuals in unique situations and environments with unique goals for their health and wellbeing. Her research focus was the health implications of carceral systems, and this continues to be a focus area for her. When she found the breadth of practice and depth of relationship in Family Medicine, she knew she was home. Her approach to care centers autonomy, kindness, and mutual accountability in patient relationships, while insisting on improving the structures we all live in that impact health. Abi loves being outdoors when it’s not toooo cold. She enjoys hiking in the woods and gardening in community gardens. She also loves reading poetry and essays. Always a Robin Williams fan, her favorite fictional doctor is Dr. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting. Her happiest moments are spending slow days with family, friends, and great food.  

Daniela Castelblanco, MD (she/her/ella)
Hometown: Bogotá, Colombia
Undergraduate: University of Central Florida
Medical School: Ponce Health Sciences University
Languages: Native Spanish

Daniela was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and moved to Florida at the age of 6. At a young age, she witnessed situations where loved ones did not seek medical attention due to a lack of resources and language barriers. These experiences led her to strive towards addressing health disparities. While in university, she volunteered at a free community clinic that served an uninsured and underserved population, which fueled her passion to study medicine and provide care to Spanish-speaking patients in their preferred language. She is the first in her family to become a physician, thanks to the support of her parents and learning from their exemplary work ethic. Her passion for family medicine deepened throughout her medical education. She enjoyed each of her clinical rotations and the opportunity to engage with diverse patient populations. It was during her family medicine rotation that everything harmoniously coalesced. The complexity of care and the breadth of medical knowledge required in this field seamlessly align with her yearning to be a lifelong learner. Family medicine also grants her the privilege to perform procedures such as c-sections, colposcopies, skin biopsies, and more. She was drawn to the Greater Lawrence Family Medicine Residency because of its robust full-spectrum curriculum. She is grateful to be training at a residency that will prepare her to provide the best possible care to every patient, including learning surgical obstetrics and caring for critically ill hospitalized patients. Outside of work, Daniela enjoys weightlifting, hiking, and swimming. She also enjoys watching TV shows, and her favorite fictional doctor is House.

Courtney Cloud, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Olathe, KS
Undergraduate: University of Kansas
Graduate: University of Kansas SOM, MPH
Medical School: University of Kansas SOM
Languages: Beginner Spanish

Courtney grew up in Olathe, KS and attended the University of Kansas where she majored in Behavioral Neuroscience. She was always interested in becoming a doctor, but after witnessing compassionate health care by physicians in both personal and professional settings, her love for medicine was cemented. After college she worked as an AmeriCorps member at her local health department. There she saw patients face numerous barriers to care and developed a passion for public health. In medical school her love for public health continued and she returned to the health department during the pandemic to help with contact tracing. Throughout her rotations, she continued to see patients experience barriers to care that resulted in preventable conditions spiraling out of control. She decided to pursue an MPH to become more equipped to contribute to systemic change beyond the individual health level and learn how to better advocate for her patients. During this time, she had the opportunity to engage in different forms of equity work and helped form a health equity team with community members and organization leaders. She is so thankful to be part of a program that shares her same passion and values, and intentionally prioritizes advocacy, and community engagement. She is particularly excited to learn Spanish so she is able to provide better care to patients in her community. In her spare time, she enjoys playing sand volleyball, karaoke whenever she can convince friends, chilling with her dog, and spending time with friends and family. She was going to say her favorite fictional doctor was Dr. Phil, but apparently he really does have a doctorate, so her second favorite is Dr. Turk from “Scrubs.”

Savannah Creel, DO (she/her/hers)
Hometown: New Orleans, LA
Undergraduate: The University of Tennessee – BS in Microbiology
Medical School: William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Languages: Basic Spanish

Savannah was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the eldest daughter of a large Cajun family. Her community imparted a strong work ethic and dedication to service that she witnessed firsthand during Hurricane Katrina. Savannah left home for college in the mountains of Tennessee where she received a Bachelor’s of Science in Microbiology and developed her passion for public health as a Peer Health Educator, working with undergraduate students on access to contraceptive care, sexual health education and interpersonal violence prevention. She also learned to drive in the snow. Savannah then went to southern California for her Master in Biotechnology where she was able to further her understanding of healthcare systems as a whole.  She completed research that connected the more esoteric aspects of biotechnology to primary care when she completed a thesis on access to cardiovascular rehabilitation resources to patients in the San Joaquin Valley of California.  Her passion for Family Medicine began before medical school, witnessing the deep need for primary care across the deep south, and the increasing specialization of medicine that often perpetuates barriers to care in healthcare systems. It was during her third and fourth-year rotations in medical school that she found the full spectrum training that Family Medicine offers, which was the perfect combination of her true passions for primary care, advocacy, and building strong relationships with her patients. Savannah is elated for the opportunity to train at GLFHC and to learn Family Medicine from clinical leaders in a program dedicated to full-spectrum training and community medicine. In her spare time, Savannah can be found exploring rail trails with her husband, toddler and golden retriever. She also enjoys cooking, true crime podcasts and long phone calls with her mom. Her favorite fictional doctor is easily Dr. Harley Quinn (although Savannah is not that bold with her clinic attire).

Xian Mao, MD, MPH (they/them/theirs/ello/elle)
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Undergraduate: Yale University
Medical School: Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Languages: Mandarin (Expert), French (Beginner), Spanish (Beginner)

Born on a cold Chicago winter and raised in the mountains of Utah, Xian had spent the past 10 years on the East Coast, first in New Haven at Yale University, then two years working in Bethesda, and finally five years of medical school (plus a MPH) in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins. They are a proud first-generation Chinese American, with two generations of doctors before them. Student activism during their undergraduate years gave them a broad perspective on the intersections of health and social justice; the works of Loretta Ross and Mia Mingus have strongly influenced their thinking on the importance of racial equity, reproductive justice, and disability rights within medicine. They also volunteered with AIDS Project New Haven, developing communication skills and a phone voice that caused their landlord to hang up on them. During medical school they were introduced to harm, and that has been their guiding philosophy ever since. During their medical school they were involved in projects focused on substance use and housing instability. Xian is excited to be a part of the Greater Lawrence Health Center family and to explore the frontiers of family medicine, including substance use treatment and gender affirming care. They are excited to be surrounded by New England’s greenery once again, and identifying the local birds of the Merrimack Valley. In their rare spare time they enjoy reading and writing (primarily science fiction and fantasy), knitting, playing video games and Magic the Gathering. Their favorite fictional doctor is Dr. Jekyll (Mr. Hyde does not hold a medical degree).

Brian Nickley, MD (he/him/his)
Hometown: Abington, MA
Undergraduate: Georgetown University – B.S. Human Science
Graduate School: Tufts University School of Medicine – M.S. Biomedical Science
Medical School: University of Massachusetts Medical School – M.D. (Global Health Track)
Languages: Intermediate Spanish

Brian Nickley grew up on the South Shore of Massachusetts in a small town called Abington. Being actively involved in his community has always been one of the most important things to him since childhood and is a through line in the story which ultimately brought him to Family Medicine in Lawrence. He found his true passion for serving others and his community in more meaningful ways during high school and college, especially while working as a lifeguard and eventual BLS/CPR/AED instructor. In this role he coordinated with the local Police/Fire/EMS to plan simulations and trainings to reinforce safety and emergency preparedness for staff of the town pool/camp. He then brought this passion for service to Washington DC during undergrad where he was active in numerous clubs and organizations focused on community engagement and health promotion. During the first two years of medical school, Brian spent much of his free time working on public health outreach initiatives, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was a Primary Clinic Coordinator for a free medical clinic in Worcester which ran weekly. In addition, he worked with numerous local and state agencies to conduct COVID-19 vaccination outreach. Traveling across the Commonwealth from Springfield to Chelsea and everywhere in between, he found renewed meaning in his medical calling when working with groups that minimized barriers to access to the vaccine; participating in walking street clinics for unhoused individuals, door-to-door knocking for those with mobility or transportation barriers, clinics at local churches and barbershops, and many more pop-up vaccination efforts reinforced his desire to promote comprehensive, holistic healthcare to those most in need. He is incredibly excited to train at GLFHC because of their commitment to upholding and acting on these same ideals as a Community Health Center. His Family Medicine interests include comprehensive integrated care across inpatient/outpatient settings, sports medicine, and obstetrics/reproductive justice. He is an avid baker, loves exploring new places (as of writing is at 302 of 351 Massachusetts cities and towns visited), and prefers to spend as much time as possible outdoors, even in the dead of winter. His favorite fictional doctor is Dr. Tobias Funke from “Arrested Development.”

Cassandra Nytes, MD, MPH (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Monona, WI
Undergraduate: University of Wisconsin – Madison
Medical School: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Languages: Spanish, conversational Finnish

Cassie calls home a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin, though she spent a lot of time while growing up in Helsinki, Finland, visiting her mother’s family. There, she grew to have an appreciation of universal healthcare and adequate social supports, and got more curious about cultures and languages around the world. She attended University of Wisconsin-Madison for her undergraduate studies in Biology and Spanish. After graduating, she served for a year in AmeriCorps at a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center (FQHC) in Aurora, Colorado and then spent three years as a community resources specialist at an FQHC in Madison, WI. Seeing the challenges her patients faced due to systemic injustice, she developed a passion for social justice, health equity, advocacy, and providing care to the underserved. At these clinics, she also saw the power of the long-standing relationships family medicine physicians had with their patients and how they had a holistic understanding of their patients. Returning to school, she attended University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health where she completed a dual MD-MPH. Throughout her medical training, she participated in the Training in Urban Medicine and Public Health (TRIUMPH) program where she worked with a community-based syringe services program in Milwaukee, developing a hepatitis C testing initiative with referral to treatment. Her studies at UW taught her the importance of community and public health measures to the health of a population. With her experiences and passions, she felt that family medicine was a perfect fit for her! She is excited to be joining Lawrence Family Medicine Residency as the program’s values align with her own passions and she is excited to become a full-spectrum family physician. When she’s not at work, you can find Cassie spending time with loved ones, reading a book, watching her favorite period drama, trying new restaurants and breweries, exploring the outdoors, or traveling. If she could run around on adventures with any fictional doctor, she’d choose Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes (especially if it’s the BBC version) – what could be cooler than solving mysteries and being a physician.

Sienna Schaeffer, MD
Hometown: Grimes, IA
Undergraduate: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Medical School: University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Languages: Basic Spanish

Sienna was born and raised outside of Des Moines, Iowa. She attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities for her undergraduate education, where she studied cell biology and Spanish. At UMN, her time outside of class was spent in a science communication club, at trivia nights, and eating ice cream. Her favorite class was a service-learning Spanish course at Centro Tyrone Guzman in Minneapolis, where she developed a deep appreciation for community-based health programs. She attended medical school at the University of Iowa. Her interest in community health and health equity led her to pursue an MPH and volunteer at the Iowa City Free Medical Clinic during her time there. While at UI, her passion for science communication and community medicine developed into an interest in evidence-based clinical practice, and particularly the intersection of evidence-based care, health equity, and medical education. Sienna was drawn to family medicine because of the broad scope of care, the longitudinal relationships, and the significance of primary care in community and population health. She is excited to come to Lawrence for the full-spectrum training; the opportunity to learn Spanish (for real this time); and the emphasis on innovation and community-based care. Outside of medicine, she enjoys making all types of food, but especially sweet treats and ice cream; running; hiking; and reading (especially sci fi and fantasy). Her favorite fictional doctor is Dr. Frederick Frankenstein; she likes to watch “Young Frankenstein” every Halloween.  

Sabine Shaughnessy, MD (she/her/hers)
Hometown: Brookline, MA
Undergraduate: Barnard College of Columbia University
Medical School: University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
Languages: Intermediate Spanish

Sabine was born in Boston and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts (just a T stop away from Fenway Park!). She attended Barnard College, where she majored in anthropology and completed her thesis on reproductive health policies and practices in Cuba. Outside of the classroom, she connected Harlem Hospital patients with public benefits and community resources as a volunteer with Health Leads. Through these experiences Sabine began to recognize how societal injustice can manifest in the human body, and that her interest in medicine intersects at this critical juncture. After college, Sabine worked as a perinatal care coordinator at a federally qualified health center in the Bronx. In this role, she was trained as a Centering Pregnancy facilitator, lactation counselor, and doula. It was here that Sabine discovered the beauty of family medicine. As a medical student at the University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine, her commitment to the specialty deepened, so did her understanding of how ill-equipped the healthcare system is to address the underlying problems affecting patients’ lives. This realization led her to help create a workshop-based, advocacy skill-building elective for herself and her peers, which has since been incorporated into UMass’ curriculum. Sabine is thrilled to join the GLFHC team and to continue sharpening her clinical skills and civic voice to better care for and partner with her patients to create change. Outside of medicine, Sabine enjoys testing out new recipes on friends and family, spending time in green spaces, and hunting for her next great thrift find. Her favorite doc is none other than Dr. Seuss!