New Resident Orientation

Dr. Danny Sam completed his undergraduate medical education at Howard University SOM and residency at LAC-USC Medical Center. He is an internal medicine physician who joined The Permanente Medical Group in 1989 at Kaiser Santa Clara, CA. He has devoted his career to the health and well-being of his patients as well as to 30+ years in  medical education, having instructed at Stanford University, UC Davis School of Medicine, the Kaiser Permanente-Boston University School of Medicine Silicon Valley Branch Campus and Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. Early in his career, Dr. Sam had leadership roles including clinic module leader and diabetes champion. He was the internal medicine program director at Kaiser Santa Clara for 17+ years and currently the Director of Medical Education. As program director, he has trained and graduated over 350 outstanding residents during his tenure. In addition, he has been involved in the development of the internal medicine residency program for Kaiser Permanente at the Mid-Atlantic States. Also, he is the Assistant Dean of the Kaiser Permanente-Boston University SOM Silicon Valley Branch Campus that trains BUSM students in their 3^rd year core rotations. Dr. Sam has presented faculty development courses at various regional and national conferences. He is a member of the Association of Program Directors of Internal Medicine (APDIM) and an active member of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the winner of numerous teaching awards, including the ACP Distinguished Teacher Award, Santa Clara County Medical Association, Outstanding Contribution to Medical Education, and the prestigious ACP Laureate Award for Northern California. He is a member of the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in the department of clinical sciences teaching and developing curriculum for the doctoring course and co-director of the residency immersive course. Finally, Dr. Sam is the Governor-elect of the NCAL Chapter of the ACP. In 2025, he will assume the role of Governor of the Chapter where he will continue his passion in medical education in a national scale.

Dr. Christy King is an attending foot and ankle surgeon at Kaiser Permanente East Bay. Dr. King attended Boston University on a D1 scholarship to play softball and earned her undergraduate degree before coming west for her podiatric medical and surgical education at the California School of Podiatric Medicine at Samuel Merritt University. She was lucky enough to be selected as a resident with the Kaiser SF Bay Area Foot and Ankle Residency Program and has been with Kaiser Permanente for 15 years. Celebrating her 10th year as residency director of the same program she graduated from, she was recently awarded the TPMG award for excellence in UME/GME medical education this past year. She has a heavy sports medicine and trauma practice, and she takes great pride in guiding the next generation of podiatry residents and students and enjoys advancing the progression with surgical skills research.

AJ is a new faculty member at Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano Family Medicine Residency Program from Fairfield, CA. After graduating undergraduate studies at UC Merced, she pursued a career in education as a high school science teacher in Sacramento, CA and later in Chicago, IL. Dr. Whitaker received her medical degree from UC Davis School of Medicine in the Accelerated Competency-based Education in Primary Care (ACE-PC) program. AJ completed her family medicine residency training at Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano where she served as chief resident in her last year. Dr. Whitaker is passionate about primary care, sexual/reproductive health and justice, DEIA, and teaching. She enjoys traveling, spending time with family and friends, and cultivating new hobbies such as crocheting, baking, and candle making.

Tracy Lieu, MD, MPH, is Director of the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California. She leads a department of 67 faculty-level research scientists and more than 600 staff whose mission is to transform health through research on the causes of health and disease, and the best ways to deliver care for Kaiser Permanente members and for society.

Nationally and internationally, Dr. Lieu is a senior editor for JAMA.  She served on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and has chaired committees for the National Institutes of Health and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Lieu’s career includes roles at the University of California, San Francisco, Penn, and Harvard, where she was the founding director of the center that is now the Division of Child Health Research and Policy. She is a professor in the Bernard J. Tyson Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine and an affiliate professor in the UCSF School of Medicine. Dr. Lieu is a practicing pediatrician who has led seminal studies in vaccine safety and policy, decision sciences, and population health. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Juleon Rabbani is the Director of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) Biostatistical Consulting Unit (BSCU). The BSCU, based in our Division of Research (DOR), supports research and quality improvement projects sponsored by KPNC Graduate Medical Education (GME), The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and our Community Health (CH) Research Grant Program associated with our regional Central Research Committee (CRC). His team of scientific, programming and operational staff contributes to 400+ impactful projects and 100+ peer-reviewed papers and presentations a year. This work supports Kaiser Permanente’s non-profit status and GME program accreditation, while also strategically contributing to TPMG’s and KPNC’s work as a learning health system. Prior to his time at DOR, he directed the research of our Napa-Solano family medicine, podiatric surgery and community medicine training programs. He earned his DrPH at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD and his MPH at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA.