Kaweah Health graduates 42 resident physicians in seventh commencement ceremony

Kaweah Health graduates 42 resident physicians in seventh commencement ceremony

40 percent of the teaching hospital’s graduates have stayed in Central Valley to practice

VISALIA – There are more doctors in the Central Valley thanks to Kaweah Health’s residency programs, which graduated 42 resident physicians in six specialties on Tuesday, June 14, as part of its seventh annual commencement ceremony in Visalia. Since its inception, Kaweah Health has graduated 148 resident physicians, 40 percent of which have remained in the Central Valley to practice medicine.

“We are very excited to celebrate all of our graduates. They’ve all worked so hard and we’re very proud of them,” said Dr. Lori Winston, Kaweah Health’s Chief Medical Education Officer. “We also have a lot to celebrate considering the fact that we have been successful in recruiting and retaining our own resident physician and keeping many of the graduates we make in our local area. That’s really what graduate medical education is all about.”

Gary Herbst, Kaweah Health’s Chief Executive Officer, said he is honored and privileged that these residents chose Kaweah Health as the place where they wanted to do their formal training. “We are truly grateful for the impact they have had on us,” he said.

Among those graduated and staying in our community to serve is Dr. Daniela Rangel Orozco, a Family Medicine resident from Lindsay and Dr. Rachna Kumar, a Psychiatry Resident. Both Dr. Rangel and Dr. Kumar first joined Kaweah Health as medical students.

Also, during the ceremony, Dr. Daniela Rangel Orozco was presented with the “Frank and Teresa Kleist Award,” which is given to a graduating resident physician who best exemplifies humanitarian compassion in the care of patients. The award was donated by a local book club honoring Dr. Frank Kleist, a retired member of Kaweah Health’s Medical Staff and Faculty Emeritus of Kaweah Health’s Psychiatry Residency Program.

Throughout their training, residents have taken care of community members throughout the hospital and at various participating sites. The family medicine residents additionally care for patients at the Kaweah Health Family Medicine Center, 202 W. Willow Ave. (fifth floor) and psychiatry residents care for patients at Kaweah Health’s Mental Health Hospital.

Kaweah Health’s Graduate Medical Education Program began in 2013, and now offers residency programs in emergency medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, surgery, anesthesiology, and transitional year. The first class of physicians graduated in June 2016.

In coming weeks, Kaweah Health’s six programs will support the training of 130 total resident physicians for the upcoming academic year, among them the next class of 48 resident physicians as they begin their two-week orientation.

Graduates this week:

Anesthesiology

Marc Bozych, D.O.

Tiffany Chamberlain, D.O.

Jenny Man-Yuen Kan, M.D.

Kelsey Kukuruza, D.O.

Family Medicine

Michelle Blain, D.O.

Twanda Charumuka, M.D.

Stephanie Yan Lee, M.D.

Daniela Rangel Orozco, M.D.

Antonieta Rueda, M.D.

Chang Sung Shin, D.O.

Lily Varner, M.D.

Psychiatry

Rachna Kumar, M.D.

Gerardo Perez, D.O.

Arul Sangani, M.D.

Surgery

Kevin Brent Cowan, M.D.

Barre Guillen, M.D.

Sandra Tomlinson-Hansen, M.D.

Emergency Medicine

Lauren Bacon, M.D.

Jeffrey Castrillon, D.O.

Eric Donn, D.O.

Puneet Gill, D.O.

Alfredo Guerrero, D.O.

Hady Khalifa, M.D.

Daniel Khushigian, D.O.

Andre Lee, M.D.

Benfie Liu, D.O.

Michael Niechayev, M.D.

Clayton Starnes, D.O.

Diana Trumble, M.D.

Joseph Vega, D.O.

Transitional Year

Ryan Bennion, D.O.

Tyler Dalton, M.D.

Vineeth Gangaram, M.D.

Harmandeep Grewal, D.O.

Madeeha Khan, D.O.

Abhinav Komandur, M.D.

Kevin Kwan, M.D.

Kevin Nasre, D.O.

Navjot Singh, M.D.

Anup Sonti, M.D.

Jason Wei, M.D.

Andrew Yu, M.D.

Kaweah Health is a publicly-owned community healthcare organization that provides comprehensive health services to the greater Visalia region and Tulare County. With over 5,100 employees and nearly 700 dedicated medical professionals, Kaweah Health is committed to meeting the community’s health needs through state-of-the-art medicine, high-quality preventive services and specialized health centers and clinics. For more information, visit www.kaweahhealth.org #