Teaching Philosophy & Expert Faculty

Our Philosopy of Teaching 

The development of our new curriculum will be guided by our philosophy of teaching. These principles were developed in collaboration with faculty, staff & students.

• DGSOM reflects UCLA “True Bruin” values and embodies the Cultural North Star.
• DGSOM cultivates a spirit of inquiry and encourages critical thinking.
• DGSOM promotes excellence over competence in learning.
• DGSOM fosters meaningful partnership and engagement between teacher and learner.

DGSOM embraces pedagogy that empowers the learner and fosters active learning.

Our Teaching Faculty 

Base Camp Course Director: Natasha Wheaton, M.D

Scientific Foundations of Medicine Course Director: Esteban Dell’Angelica, Ph.D.

Scientific Foundations of Medicine Leadership Team: Elena Stark M.D., Ph.D., James Bisley, Ph.D, William ‘Bill’ Melega, Ph.D., Tara Vijayan, M.D., Jason Napolitano, M.D.

Early Authentic Clinical Experience Director: Adriana Izquierdo, M.D.

Foundations of Practice Course Directors: Art Gomez & Peter Quiros

Intersession Course Director: Antonio Pessegueiro, M.D.

Educators for Excellence (Foundations of Practice): Alan Chiem, Amanda Kosack, Amir Rouhani, Antonio Pessegueiro, Arthur Cho, Arthur Gomez, Bahareh Gordon, Brandon Ito, Faysal Saab, Formosa Chen, Henry Kirolos, Jaime Jordan, James H. Lee, Jason S. Lee, Jodi Friedman, Kathryn Melamed, Manuel Celedon, Michael Ayoub, Monica Sifuentes, Natasha Wheaton, Oladunni Adeyiga, Peter Quiros, Pamela Tsing, Rachel Brook, Sarah Gustafson, Satya Patel, Sherwin Hsu, Tahlia Spector, Tina Nguyen, Tyler Larsen.Learn more about Educators for Excellence

Core Educators (Scientific Foundations of Medicine): Ari Weinreb, Carla Janzen, Chi Pham, Christopher Cooper, Gary Schiller, Holly Middlekauff, Jane Weinreb, Kirsten Tillisch, Lauren Nathan, Misty Richards, Quynh Pham.

Theme Chairs:

Structural Racism & Health Equity Theme Chair: Lindsay Wells, M.D. & Shamsher Samra M.D., MPhil

Medical Ethics Theme Chair: Ashley Feinsinger, Ph.D.

Medical Humanities Theme Chair: Whitney Arnold, Ph.D.

DGSOM will post updates to teaching faculty as they are finalized.