A Community-Based Medical School for the 21st Century
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On Saturday, October 4, the UCR School of Medicine held its 2025 Celebration of Medical Education Gala. The annual event, which was attended by 352 people, raised nearly $193,000 for the school’s Mission Award Scholarship to support medical students who commit to practicing in the underserved local region. See a...
A community open house at the new School-Linked Trauma-Informed Program (STAR Program) in Riverside celebrated the grand opening of a new community hub for child and adolescent behavioral health sciences. The STAR Program will provide trauma-informed, school-linked therapy for children, youth, and families, while also housing a program that is...
A UCR School of Medicine delegation traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Rally for Medical Research on September 18, 2025. The UCR delegation was part of more than 400 researchers and experts who visited congressional offices to advocate for sustained investment in medical research. The UCR SOM delegation...
Congressman Raul Ruiz, MD, MPH, MPP (Calif.-25), a founding faculty member of the UCR School of Medicine who created the Future Physician Leaders Pathway Program, has been named one of five recipients of the 2025 AAMC ACE Award for Advocacy, Collaboration, and Education. The award recognizes individuals who partner with...
The UC Riverside School of Medicine welcomed 91 medical students and five biomedical sciences students at the annual White Coat Ceremony at the Student Recreation Center on Friday, August 8, 2025. This was the 13th White Coat Ceremony in the school's history and the culmination of five days of orientation...
The University of California, Riverside School of Medicine celebrated the graduation of 74 students in the class of 2025 at its annual Commencement and Hippocratic Oath Ceremony on Friday, June 6, 2025 at the UCR Student Recreation Center. See a photo gallery of the event Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences...
Isaac Owusu-Frimpong, financial administrative officer in the Division of Biomedical Sciences, was named the recipient of the UCR School of Medicine Values in Action Award (VIAA) at the quarterly Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Owusu-Frimpong was honored for his "unwavering commitment to the SOM values," and for...
The UC Riverside School of Medicine presented its annual Faculty, Staff, and Student Awards at a dinner on Thursday, March 24, 2025 at the UCR Alumni and Visitors Center. Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education Pablo Joo, MD, was the host of the event. Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and...
Adam Kukic and Jovanna Hernandez have been named recipients of the UC Riverside School of Medicine’s Values in Action Awards (VIAA) for the first and second quarters of 2024-25. The awards were presented at the SOM Dean’s Town Hall on February 11, 2025. The VIAA recognizes faculty, staff, or students...
Robert M. Rodriguez, MD, has been named associate dean for clinical research at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine (UCR SOM). He will begin his appointment on April 16, 2025. The associate dean for clinical research provides leadership in clinical research at the UCR SOM and UCR Health...
UCR School of Medicine has announced the recipients of the 2025 Dean's Collaborative Seed Grants. The grant provides funds up to $25,000 in seed grant funding for collaborative interdisciplinary research projects between faculty in the Division of Biomedical Sciences and UCR as a whole, aimed at developing proposals and preliminary...
Katherine Emmett Browder has been named the new chief of staff and assistant dean for Strategic Initiatives at the UC Riverside School of Medicine. Her appointment begins on January 2, 2025. Browder comes to UC Riverside from UC San Diego, where since 2021 she has served as the assistant dean...
The UCR School of Medicine presented the 2024 UCR SOM Faculty Achievement Awards during its quarterly Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, December 3. The awards covered categories including teacher of the year, mentor of the year, research achievements, clinical faculty awards, and more. “I’d like to take the opportunity to...
The UC Riverside School of Medicine's new Family Medicine Residency Program is accepting applications for the first class of eight residents, which will begin July 1, 2025. "Our program offers a comprehensive and diverse training experience across multiple clinical sites," said Program Director Ken Ballou, MD. "Our residents will gain...
UCR Health has named Herodia Allen as its new chief operating officer (COO), effective October 14, 2024. She brings a wealth of experience in population health and health system operations, having most recently served as COO for the Woodland Hills and West Ventura service area at Kaiser Permanente since December...
The UC Riverside School of Medicine has named Michelle Anne Bholat, MD, MPH as the new chair of the Department of Family Medicine. She will begin the position on November 15, 2024. Bholat comes to the UCR SOM from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, where she has had...
Moazzum Bajwa, MD, MPH, an associate clinical professor in family medicine for the UC Riverside School of Medicine, has been named the California Academy of Family Physicians 2024 Family Physician of the Year. Bajwa is the director of the school's Longitudinal Ambulatory Care Experience (LACE) and sees patients at the...
UCR School of Medicine alumnus Kishan Patel, MD will join the cast of the 47th season of Survivor. The season will premiere on September 18 on CBS with streaming on Paramount. Patel, who graduated from the SOM in 2022, is currently an emergency medicine resident at UC San Francisco. The...
Hanh Nguyen, MD, has been appointed as the associate dean for career advising at the UC Riverside School of Medicine, beginning Oct. 1, 2024. His position also includes a faculty appointment as clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine. Nguyen is the associate chief medical officer at UCR Student...
UC Riverside School of Medicine Professor of Biomedical Sciences Scott Pegan, PhD, has been named associate dean for preclerkship medical education beginning Sept. 2, 2024 In his new role, Pegan will work closely with Sherif Hassan, MD, the executive associate dean for pre-clerkship medical education to enhance the pre-clerkship medical...