Chief Residents 2024-2025
Lily Hammack, DO (Co-Chief/Community Medicine Fellow)
Hey y’all! Welcome to the Internal Medicine Residency at Kaiser Santa Clara. I am extremely proud to call myself a Kaiser medicine resident, and I wanted to share a few things that makes our program unique.
Early in medical school I knew I wanted to practice primary care, and the CHOICE primary care and community medicine training tracks that our program offers were a huge draw. In CHOICE, the amount of inpatient training time is shortened to allow for extensive outpatient and continuity clinic experience. Our residents can also have an additional longitudinal primary care experiences through our community medicine clinic partners, which allows both categorical and CHOICE residents to provide primary care to underserved populations and provide care to those who often need it most. Lifestyle medicine is huge at Kaiser, and our residency was the first residency program nafionwide to be accredited by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Lifestyle medicine focuses on the six pillars of a healthy lifestyle (diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, decreasing substance use, and good social connection) to help treat and prevent chronic disease. When most of our population carries at least one chronic disease, lifestyle medicine provides an avenue to educate our patients on the first line treatment for every chronic disease: lifestyle changes. All our residents are given the chance to become board-certitied in lifestyle medicine throughout their residency years.
Finally, one of the most wonderful aspects of our residency program is that we truly feel like a family; I’ve made friends and colleagues here for life, and the camaraderie between ourselves and attendings is warm and welcoming. I’ve loved my experience as a KP Santa Clara resident, and I hope we can show you just how amazing our program and our residents are.
Candice McCaughey, MD (Co-Chief)
The warmest welcome to Kaiser Santa Clara Internal Medicine Residency Program!
As a Bay Area native, I was so excited to return home after spending a few years in Southern California for medical school at UCLA. I am grateful that I have not only been able continue my training here at KPSC, but also the opportunity to help educate, mentor, and advocate for such a wonderful group of residents this year.
Our program offers a wide breadth of opportunities to foster the development of well-rounded clinicians. The generous 2+2 schedule allows for not only a healthy work/life balance, but ample opportunity to develop your clinical interests – our resident elective experiences range from electives in medical journalism to our CVICU with a robust MCS program to community clinics serving vulnerable populations in the San Jose area. While on wards, residents develop strong clinical skills by managing not only “bread and butter” cases, but also rare and complex diagnoses as KPSC is a major referral center for Kaiser Northern California. There are also ample opportunities to teach and learn from medical students from all over the country. Our academic half day allows for protected learning time with our subspecialty attendings, procedure training, and dedicated board review. And I am excited for our growing research program with a dedicated research coordinator, faculty, and unmatched database.
Most importantly, the rigors of residency are much more manageable when you are part of a community of hard working yet fun-loving residents, program directors who genuinely care about the well-being and success of every resident, collegial faculty who foster intellectual curiosity, and robust ancillary staff that allow you to focus on providing the highest levels of patient care. We hope you will join us!
Rachel Rhee, MD (Co-Chief)
Hello and big welcome to our Kaiser family! Growing up in Orange County, I never imagined I would’ve transplanted to Ohio where I spent nearly half my life (14 years) going through middle school to medical school. Now that I’ve moved to the bay area, I’ve fallen back in love with the California sunshine and most of all, people. This residency surrounded me with a community that has allowed me to grow as a well-rounded clinician, educator, and now as an advocate for our current residents and future trainees to come.
Some of the strengths of our program include our unique 2+2 curriculum which balances our inpatient and outpatient rotations resulting in less burnout while still training us as strong clinicians. This allows us to support one another as colleagues, while also giving us opportunities to support and teach students who rotate through our service. Our academic half days reminds us we are continuous learners with resident and aftending-led didactics, interspersed with interactive sessions including jeopardy games, board review, and sims covering POCUS techniques, mock codes, and procedures. Through our community medicine track, I’ve been able to serve at a local free clinic, Roots, and was also the first resident since COVID to go on a global health trip to serve the medically underserved in Cambodia and Mexico. Whatever your passions are, our program can help make it happen!
With the support of hard-working yet life-loving colleagues, the guidance and wisdom shared by our attending physicians and program directors, and support provided by our GME staff, I am grateful for my time at Kaiser. Our culture is one that not only allows residents to be hard working professionals, but also individuals who cultivate fun, intellectual curiosity, and kindness. We hope you will join us!
What our residents are saying…
Stephen Hunter (PGY1)
I had the privilege of rotating at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara before becoming a resident, which allowed me to witness firsthand the excellent support, mentorship, and clinical training offered here. I sought a program that valued resident wellness while maintaining a commitment to academic rigor, and my experience as a sub-intern confirmed that KPSC truly provides the best of both worlds. I was incredibly impressed by the caliber of attendings, who are not only outstanding clinicians but also approachable and always willing to teach or offer guidance. The 2+2 schedule is another strength of KPSC’s residency program and played a significant role in my decision to train here. This schedule offers a balanced mix of inpatient and outpatient experience, enabling me to maintain personal relationships and wellness without sacrificing my clinical training. Finally, KPSC’s location in the sunny San Francisco Bay Area is ideal, as it boasts a diverse patient population and is close to my family. I am thrilled to be part of the KPSC family and look forward to growing with my co-residents in the coming years!
Paul Tran, MD (PGY2)
As a Bay Area native, being a resident at KPSC has been an enriching, meaningful experience to return to my roots and serve a community which helped to raise me. I work alongside my fellow supportive residents who take care of each other through boba runs in tough times and taco parties in good times. The faculty here genuinely love teaching even when things get busy. Questions are always encouraged and attendings will roufinely offer opportunities for learning practical clinical skills.
It’s easy to feel involved, whether through participating through one of our many committees or working with faculty in preparing for conferences. As an aspiring primary care physician, I was also drawn to KPSC’s CHOICE program. We have opportunities to home in on specific areas of outpatient medicine we want to apply ourselves to, as well as collaborate with other residents to create projects that ultimately will benefit our local community. It has been a joy to spend so much time with the people of this program, and I know that going forward, we will continue to inspire each other to be more kind, compassionate physicians, and community members.
Vanya Jain, MD (PGY3)
As a resident here at Kaiser, I am lucky to have gotten more than just a perfunctory education as an Internal Medicine physician. I chose this program for the CHOICE track, through which I have gotten the support of amazing mentors in primary care and the ability to explore further avenues of personal interests such as medical journalism and Lifestyle Medicine. With my leadership’s explicit encouragement and endorsement, I was able to do a rotation with ABC News in New York City where I was reporting on cutting-edge research in medicine and helping vet front-page news. I have also had access to Lifestyle Medicine conferences, Culinary Medicine seminars, and South Asian cardiovascular health research. I have learned not only how to be a good doctor, but how to be a good teacher, writer, and leader.
The emphasis on resident wellness and the community of residents I have found at KPSC has been an unparalleled support system for me, parficularly as someone who moved across the country to be here. I hope to carry the knowledge and growth I have experienced here with me into my future career.
Class of 2027
Andria Albert, MD
University of Arizona COM Tucson
Kiana Banafhsay, MD
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Kiersten Chong, MD
University of Hawaii John A Burns SOM
Kiersten Chong, MD
University of Hawaii John A Burns SOM
Shaune Hall, MD
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Shaune Hall, MD
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Stephen Hunter, MD
University of California Riverside SOM
Stephen Hunter, MD
University of California Riverside SOM
Bryan Kim, MD
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Bryan Kim, MD
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Kiran Magee, MD
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson SOM
Kiran Magee, MD
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson SOM
Orr Meltzer, MD
Loyola University Chicago Stritch SOM
Orr Meltzer, MD
Loyola University Chicago Stritch SOM
Metta Nguyen, MD
Saint Louis University SOM
Metta Nguyen, MD
Saint Louis University SOM
Janteshpreet Sandhu, MD
University of California, Irvine SOM
Janet Song, MD
Northwestern University The Feinberg SOM
Janet Song, MD
Northwestern University The Feinberg SOM
Kaitlyn Stanley, DO
Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Kaitlyn Stanley, DO
Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Hanh Tranton, MD
California University of Science and Medicine SOM
Hanh Tranton, MD
California University of Science and Medicine SOM
Indu Vanteru, MD
University of Washington SOM
Indu Vanteru, MD
University of Washington SOM
Jeff Win, MD
Wayne State University SOM
Grant Yun, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Grant Yun, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Prelim Class
Aheli Chattopadhyay, MD
University of California San Francisco School of Medicine
Aheli Chattopadhyay, MD
University of California San Francisco School of Medicine
Saloni Peshkar-Kulkarni, MD
University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
Saloni Peshkar-Kulkarni, MD
University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
Lauren Ton, MD
University of California San Francisco School of Medicine
Lauren Ton, MD
University of California San Francisco School of Medicine
Sonia Wang, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Sonia Wang, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Class of 2026
Karen Bathan, MD
Loma Linda University SOM
Shanyi Sandy Feng, DO
Western University of Health Sciences
Shreyas Kudrimoti, MD
USF Health Morsani COM
Lu Li, MD
Boston University SOM
Somiya Maheshwari, MD
University of California Riverside SOM
Arnav Modi, MD
California University of Science and Medicine
Samhita Palakodeti, MD
University of California San Diego SOM
Tejal Pandharpukar, MD
Oregon Health & Science University
Dina Saba, MD
University of California Riverside SOM
Madeleine Scott, MD, PhD
Stanford University SOM
Gurkaran Singh, MD
University of Arizona COM Tucson
Samuel Swei, MD
Mayo Clinic Alix SOM Florida
Jose-Marc Techner, MD, PhD
Northwestern University Feinberg SOM
Prakash Thomas, MD
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Paul Tran, MD
Tufts University SOM
Janine Yang, MD
Drexel University SOM
Class of 2025
Arun Dang, DO
Western University of Health Sciences
Apoorva Dharmadhikari, MD
Western Michigan University
Kimberly Edelsberg, DO
Touro University College
Jesus Edquilang, MD
Albert Einstein COM
Tatiana Getman, DO
Western University of Health Sciences
Natasha Haris, MD
Western Michigan University
Tina Huang, MD
University of California, Irvine
Vanya Jain, MD
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Alexander Loh, MD
University of California San Diego
Vinayaka Malakkla, MD
California Northstate University
Malavika Mehta, MD
The University of Chicago Pritzker SOM
Jonah Muniz, MD
University of California, Davis
Jack Stover, MD
Western Michigan University
William Qin, DO
Touro University College
Samira Samant, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Meng “Maxine” Tong
Albert Einstein COM
Kevin Yee, MD
California Northstate University
