Matriculating Class of 2022

​Nicole (Nikki) Kalani Apana

Nikki grew up in Concord, California and graduated from Stanford with a degree in Human Biology and a concentration in Race, Ethnicity, Social Class and Public Health. At Stanford, she conducted research on implicit bias in patient care and volunteered in the free clinics connecting under-resourced communities to healthcare and social services. She also shared her Native Hawaiian culture on campus by organizing the annual Polynesian Cultural Festival. After graduating, Nikki joined AmeriCorps and served as a Hepatitis C Coordinator at Girard Medical Center in Philadelphia. After AmeriCorps, she became a Social Determinants of Health Patient Navigator with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Nikki also serves on the board of the nonprofit Indigenous Peoples’ Day Philly through which she engages in community organizing and activism efforts surrounding Indigenous issues. In her free time, she enjoys dancing hula, trying new foods, and spending time with friends and family.

Jennifer Aranda

 Jennifer was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her undergraduate background includes being a first-generation college student, and a community college transfer student. In 2021, she graduated summa cum laude with a major in Psychobiology from UCLA. During her time as a student, she gained extensive experience working in underserved medical settings in East Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA. Working with these communities further developed her passion in advocating for patients adversely affected by the social determinants of health and experiencing health inequity. She also focused her time to mentoring and advising pre-medical and STEM students from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially those from California community colleges. Throughout her schooling, she continued her interest in scientific discovery as an undergraduate student researcher in two neuroscience labs. Her hobbies include hiking, reading, going to the beach, watching horror and true crime, and trying new foods.

Lia Bizuneh

Lia was born and raised in San Jose, California and graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Public Health.  As a first generation Ethiopian-American, she was well aware of the barriers to healthcare access for immigrants, as well as the intersection of socioeconomic status and health for communities of color. During her time at Berkeley she was President of the Black Students in Health Association, and she provided patients with basic needs resources as a Health Leads Advocate. In 2021, Lia completed the UCSF Post-Baccalaureate Program and worked as a Get Well Navigator as well as a research associate in the SWIFT study at Kaiser involving gestational diabetes. Lia is passionate about mentorship, immigrant/refugee health, reproductive health, and uplifting marginalized communities, which she hopes to do with her PRIME-US cohort! In her free time she enjoys spending time with loved ones or reading a good book in the sun.

Stephanie Castellon

Stephanie belongs to a family of Nicaraguan immigrants in East Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Psychobiology as a Regents’ Scholar. Stephanie cultivated her passion for mentorship and community building through her service as Co-Executive Director of Latinas Guiding Latinas, a mentorship organization at UCLA aimed to empower Latine students from East and South Los Angeles to pursue higher education. After graduating, she served as a Quality Health Navigator for the Quality and Performance Improvement Department at AltaMed, a network of FQHCs in Southern California. In this position, Stephanie outreached to patients to book preventative health screenings. After witnessing how healthcare disparities impact her family and community, Stephanie aims to deliver effective care by creating a safe space for patients to express their concerns. Stephanie enjoys yoga, meditation, spending quality time with her loved ones, and trying new breakfast restaurants.

Bansri Doshi

Hello! My name is Bansri, and I come from a Gujarati Indian-American background. My older sister and I were born in Summit, New Jersey, but were raised in Phoenix, Arizona. I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2016 for my undergraduate education at the University of Tulsa (TU), and completed my bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Spanish. While studying, I taught English as a Second Language at Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma and started my job as a bilingual education assistant. During the pandemic, my role shifted more towards transitioning the program to a hybrid (virtual/in-person) learning format. I was especially focused on our Spanish GED and computer classes to improve educational outcomes and technological literacy amongst our students. I am thrilled to be a member of the PRIME-US program and excited to meet the many people who are dedicated to learning about and supporting healthcare access in our local community!

Vincent Cabrera Grospe

Vincent grew up in Los Angeles where his loved ones’ experiences inspired him to serve under-resourced populations from a young age. Discovering the intersection between health and education, he collaborated with classmates to co-found mentorship organizations dedicated to advising underserved students and schools since 2016. Universities and medical schools accepted the programs’ mentees with strong financial aid packages. Vincent majored in Human Biology & Society at UCLA. This allowed him to build connections with diverse patient populations from community clinics to academic medical centers. Recognizing the power of prevention, he also hopes to improve outcomes for vulnerable patients through research. He worked on a mixed-method study that evaluated the effects of Virtual Reality intervention for stress reduction among cardiology patients and assisted in a qualitative study that analyzed Filipinx-Americans’ attitudes regarding stroke care. Recreationally, he enjoys analyzing films and searching for the perfect pizza place with family and friends.

Monica Stella Gutierrez

Monica is a first generation Mexican American and was raised in Santa Monica, California. She became the first in her family to graduate college with a degree in Psychobiology and a minor in Global Health from UCLA. During her studies she completed an internship in Oaxaca, Mexico, where visited local community health centers and further explored the topic of migrant health. Back in Los Angeles, she has been continuously involved in clinical and administrative roles with several federally qualified health centers where she had the opportunity to learn about and engage in community-based health care. During her gap years she also worked as a medical scribe for a pain management and addiction medicine specialist and completed a post baccalaureate program through UCSF. Her desire to become a physician advocate inspires her to join the PRIME-US community. Her interests outside of medicine include travel, reading, and spending time outdoors hiking or at the beach!

Kai Huang

Kai grew up in San Jose, California and graduated from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) with a BS in Psychobiology. At UCLA, Kai immersed themself in LGBTQ community and advocacy, working at the LGBTQ Campus Resource Center as a founding Outreach Intern and a co-founder of the LGBTQ Student Advocacy Committee. Ze also served as Director of Transgender UCLA Pride (TransUP), Undergraduate Student Representative for the Trans Wellness Team, and continues to proudly serve as a Community Advisory Board Member for the UCLA Gender Health Program Research Collaborative. In his gap year, he worked at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in the Center for Trans Youth Health and Development as a Health Education Associate. After graduating from PRIME-US, Kai hopes to serve trans communities as an openly queer, trans, and nonbinary Chinese American physician. In their free time, Kai enjoys cooking, spending time with friends, swimming, hiking, and photography.

Esther Melton

Esther grew up in San Jose, California and attended Stanford University (‘17), double majoring in Human Biology and African & African American Studies. At Stanford, Esther was a member of the Women’s Rugby Team, a patient advocate for a local free clinic, and an intern with a reentry and advocacy organization for justice-involved people. Esther completed a post-bacc at Mills College, where she co-founded a student organization that engaged future physicians in conversations on health inequities faced by Black and Indigenous people. During this time, she also interned at Highland Hospital, where she supported efforts to improve patient retention during the COVID-19 pandemic. After obtaining her post-bacc certificate, Esther worked at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital as a Clinical Research Coordinator. If she’s not exploring the beautiful Bay Area outdoors, Esther can be found experimenting in the kitchen, doing yoga, or cuddling up next to the closest pet she can find!

Diego Martinez Mori

Diego grew up in Fremont, California but was born, and lived, in Peru until he was six years old. Growing up undocumented, Diego witnessed first-hand the fear and distrust his family and community had towards our healthcare system. The lack of diversity in medicine was glaringly obvious, but it was something he never questioned, or thought he could. At UC Santa Cruz, he found his passion for mentorship through his work with the Academic Excellence program. He mentored underrepresented students in STEM, often first-generation like himself, and helped them navigate the complicated world of academia. In 2020, Diego continued on to Stanford joining the Jagannathan Lab, working on COVID-19 and malaria immunology research projects, as a laboratory technician. Diego is incredibly excited to be staying home for medical school and working with the underserved communities he grew up with. He is specifically interested in immigrant health, dismantling systemic racism, and advocacy/representation. Outside of medicine, he enjoys film photography, writing, collecting records/shoes, plants, and spending time with his loved ones.

Marc Anthony Pastor

Marc Anthony, a first-generation Salvadoran/Spanish college graduate, grew up in the SF Bay Area where he and his family faced many common struggles experienced by Hispanic immigrant families. Graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Biochemistry-Molecular Biology, he discovered a passion for houseless advocacy and closing the gap of underrepresentation in healthcare through his involvement with Street Health Outreach and Los Curanderos. Following graduation, he was motivated to return home and worked as a medical scribe at the LifeLong Family Medicine Residency Program FQHC in Richmond, CA. Engaging in community building and education efforts through pregnancy and parenting centering groups showed him how important it is for physicians to understand the communities they serve. Marc Anthony is excited to be a part of the PRIME-US family and learn the skills necessary to serve the vulnerable populations that have so often been neglected. Marc Anthony loves to read fiction, ride motorcycles, and explore the outdoors in his free time.

Kameswari Potharaju

Kamu grew up in Fremont, CA, and attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree in public health, with a minor in Global Poverty & Practice. In college, she was involved in the Bay Area community in numerous capacities, including leading an undergraduate public health mentorship program at Berkeley, volunteering as a scribe in the Tenderloin neighborhood, and conducting pediatric oncology research at the Children’s Hospital Oakland. During her time at Berkeley, Kamu developed a deep interest in addressing health disparities through interdisciplinary collaboration and working with communities to create meaningful change. After graduation, she moved cross-country to Washington, D.C.,to pursue a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in a community-engaged cardiovascular health disparities lab. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, exploring the local culinary and cultural scenes, and taking leisurely neighborhood walks. She is thrilled to be joining the PRIME-US community as a JMP student!

Anthony Diep Rosas

Anthony roots from the working-class Compton-Willowbrook in South Los Angeles, California. Growing up, Anthony saw how his loved ones had difficulties managing their health due to structural inequities in his hometown. This solidified his purpose in medicine, and sparked his lifelong pursuit to re-imagine American medicine, both in values and structurally, to ensure communities like his hometown can attain wellness. In this pursuit, Anthony has led community-based participatory research in the US and abroad, where he helped advance policies for health equity. Additionally, he has studied healthcare systems around the world, particularly in Thailand, Japan, and Costa Rica, where he was inspired by each country’s emphasis on preventative health. Thus, Anthony believes that transformative healthcare reform must be centered on creating a strong community-led healthcare system focused on preventative care. For Anthony, an equitable healthcare system is one that promotes wellness for all — especially communities that are marginalized in society.

Sabrina Sedano

Sabrina Sedano is a first-generation Mexican-American who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. At a young age, she witnessed disparities in health and education that members of her community endured. Sabrina chose to pursue a career in medicine to explore the biological and social roots of health inequities among those most marginalized. She became the first in her family to graduate college. At the University of California, Riverside, she studied Chemistry and was heavily involved in mentorship and research. While at UCR, Sabrina was the director of SISTERS, an outreach program focused on engaging low-income, minority middle school girls in STEM. After graduating, Sabrina became an AmeriCorps member for City Year Los Angeles where she served as a tutor, mentor, and role-model to underserved youth in the South LA area as a means to improve graduation rates. She then transitioned to becoming a clinical research coordinator at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where she contributed to translational science aimed at optimizing prevention and treatment of cerebrospinal shunt revision and infection in children with hydrocephalus. Sabrina is excited to continue serving marginalized communities to dismantle social determinants of health and achieve social justice with her PRIME-US family!

Jayne Skinner

Jayne was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Music and theater have always been an important part of her life, and she was lucky to explore both her creative and medical interests in college, where she graduated with a B.S. in Psychobiology and a Minor in Theater from UCLA. After graduating, Jayne worked as a medical assistant at a pediatric practice in Berkeley, where she was motivated by her practice’s ability to meet the varied needs of their patients. Jayne gained deeper insight into complex socioeconomic access through her Master’s program at Brown. She explored COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Rhode Island’s Latinx population. Jayne is thrilled to be pursuing her medical education in an environment that prioritizes health equity and social justice in medicine while also having the opportunity to continue serving the community she loves. In her free time, Jayne loves baking, enjoying music and food with friends and family, and playing with her pets.

Manami Díaz Tsuzuki

Manami is a first-generation Japanese-Colombian immigrant. Growing up in a low-income immigrant family and experiencing family separation profoundly impacted her understanding of health disparities and developed her sense of mission to care for underserved communities as a physician. While at Williams College, she cared for individuals without insurance at the San Francisco Free Clinic (SFFC), served as an outreach and linkage coordinator at the East Bay AIDS Center, and was a visiting scholar at Ward 86, the safety net HIV clinic for UCSF and SF General. After graduating with a degree in chemistry, she served as the diabetes clinic coordinator at SFFC and conducted mixed methods research in implementation science at Ward 86. She is excited to join the PRIME-US family because she is committed to improving health equity. She practices Nichiren Buddhism, and in her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, rock climbing, cycling, writing poetry and prose, and crocheting.