Meet the DFCM’s seven newest faculty and staff physicians
Over the course of the July 2022-June 2023 academic year, we welcomed seven stellar new physicians to our Department, expanding the breadth and reach of our care and our expertise and impact in research, scholarship, and advocacy.
These newest members of our physician community, in order of joining us, are:
- Scott Korotkin, MD – Associate Physician
- Cyril Torado, MD – Associate Physician
- Monika Alem, MD – Associate Physician
- Adeola Oni-Orisan, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor
- Sheila Attaie, DO – Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor
- Connie Leeper, MD – Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor
- Melanie Wathugala, MD – Associate Physician
Dr. Scott Korotkin joined us in July 2022. He earned his medical degree at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, and then completed his residency training at UC Davis. He also holds an MS in Bioethics from Columbia University, and during his residency he completed Boston University’s Chief Resident Immersion Training in Addiction Medicine. His key interests and expertise are in bioethics, shared decision making, and addiction medicine. Dr. Korotkin sees patients and precepts residents and medical students at the Family Medicine Clinic on the UCD Health campus in Sacramento.
Dr. Cyril Torado joined us in September 2022. He earned his MD degree at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center in the Philippines, then completed his residency at the Altru Family Medicine Residency program in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He worked as a staff physician at Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento before joining UC Davis. He enjoys providing full scope family medicine and is also enthusiastic about teaching residents and medical students. Dr. Torado sees patients and precepts residents and medical students at the Family Medicine Clinic on the UCD Health campus. He also serves as attending for our inpatient service at UC Davis Hospital several weeks a year.
Dr. Monika Alem also joined us in September 2022. Dr. Alem earned her MD degree at the Keck School of Medicine (USC), then completed her residency at UC Davis in 2022. She provides full scope family medicine and precepts our residents at the One Community Health federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Midtown Sacramento, a partner organization in our clinical care and training. She also does some clinic and precepting at the Family Medicine Clinic on the UCD Health campus, and serves as Medical Director for our Gender Affirming Care clinic. Dr. Alem also provides attending coverag several weeks a year for our inpatient service at UCD Hospital.
Dr. Adeola Oni-Orisan joined our faculty in October 2022. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Yale, her MD degree at Harvard, her PhD in Medical Anthropology at UC San Francisco/UC Berkeley, and then completed her Family Medicine residency training at UCSF. Jointly trained as a family physician and a medical anthropologist, her research seeks to expand scientific knowledge that improves care in the clinic, but also understands how this is dependent on the larger world around it. The theoretical and methodological foundations of her work are the result of her graduate training and research experience in both global and domestic settings. She employs tools from critical race theory, Black feminist studies, and science and technology studies in combination with ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative analysis to illuminate disparities in reproductive health. She was recently one of only five scholars UC Davis-wide to be selected for the eighth cohort of the UC Davis Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS) Faculty Scholars program. She is also our Global Health Lead and will be spending two months in Nigeria this summer doing fieldwork for a book she is completing stemming from her dissertation thesis, examining complex decision-making among reproductive Nigerian women, focusing on the case of deliveries in religious mission homes as opposed to hospitals. Dr. Oni-Orisan sees patients and precepts our residents at the One Community Health federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Midtown Sacramento, a partner organization in our clinical care and training, and also provides labor and delivery attending coverage at UC Davis Hospital.
Dr. Sheila Attaie also joined our faculty in October 2022. She earned her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA and competed her residence at UC Davis. Subsequently she completed a Reproductive Health and Advocacy Fellowship at the University of Washington. She has expertise in and is passionate about advancing refugee and immigrant health, mental health, and reproductive health and justice and serves as our Department Advocacy Lead. Clinically, Dr. Attaie sees patients and precepts primarily at the Sacramento County Health Center FQHC, a clinical and training partner of the Department, and does additional outpatient work at our Family Medicine Clinic on campus, including reproductive and sexual health care and procedures.
Dr. Connie Leeper joined our faculty in February 2023. She earned her medical degree at the University of Alabama School of Medicine, then completed her residency at the Ventura County Medical Center program, and subsequently completed an advanced obstetrics fellowship at Natividad Hospital in Salinas. She was then on the faculty in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa for just over five years, where she became an Assistant Residency Program Director in 2018 and then was an Associate Program Director from 2019 until moving to UC Davis. Dr. Leeper enjoys providing full scope family medicine, including inpatient medical and obstetrical care at UC Davis Hospital, the latter including C-sections. She is our Department Inpatient Care Lead, providing oversight of the clinical care and curriculum and educational experience on our Family Medicine Ward service. Dr. Leeper also provides outpatient care and precepts residents at the Sacramento County Health Center.
Dr. Melanie Wathugala will join us in July 2023. She earned her medical degree at the Keck School of Medicine (USC) and completed residency at Tufts in Boston in June 2022. She then worked as a Staff Physician with Cambridge Health Alliance in Malden, MA. She practices broad-scope outpatient family medicine including minor procedures, with particularly strong interest in care of urban underserved patients, and a content focus on prenatal care, sexual and reproductive health, and gender affirming care. She will be seeing patients and precepting residents and students at both the Family Medicine Clinic on the UCD Health campus and at One Community Health in Midtown Sacramento.
We are so happy to welcome Scott, Cyril, Monika, Adeola, Sheila, Connie, and Melanie to our DFCM family. It is an honor and a privilege to work with, learn from, and grow with all of you!