Meet Our Physicians
Faculty members at Northridge Hospital work as a team to ensure that residents receive the educational experiences necessary in preparing them for their futures. In addition to the faculty listed here, residents are mentored by an exceptional team of specialists who volunteer their time in the hospital and in their offices.
Pamela M. Davis, M.D., FAAFP, Program Director(Alumni)
Dr. Davis joined the Family Medicine Residency Program in 1982 following her graduation from UCLA School of Medicine. She was awarded the Outstanding Resident Award upon graduation from residency and continued her dedication to medical education as faculty and through her work with visiting medical students. She worked as faculty, and associate director, before taking on the role of Program Director in 2001. She was twice awarded the Outstanding Teaching Award by the residents.
Dr. Davis serves as a consultant to the Medical Board of California. Dr. Davis held leadership roles in the CAFP Resident and UCLA Medical Student Committees. She has a firm commitment to the underserved patients of the community. She sees her patients in the Family Practice Center alongside the residents. Dr. Davis’s husband, Dr. Carl Jonokuchi, is also a graduate of our program and has a private practice in Newbury Park. They have two sons, Jeffrey and Daniel.
Email: pamela.davis@chw.edu
Mark Amico, MD, MPH, FACP, Associate Program Director
Dr. Amico has been the Associate Director for the Residency program since 2001 and the medical director for the Residency’s inpatient Family Medicine service since 1991. After graduating from Georgetown University Medical School, he completed the Internal Medicine Residency at Cedars-Sinai. Following a year as chief medical resident, Dr. Amico entered a fellowship in Health Services research and earned a Master's in Public Health at Rand/UCLA. His research interests are in access to medical care and resident physician involvement in the provision of medical care. He has been honored with Excellence in Teaching awards by the residents three separate years.
Besides actively teaching residents and medical students inpatient care, Dr. Amico cares for his outpatients with the residents in the family medicine center. He often precepts medical students in the Family Medicine Center. He is active on many Northridge Hospital medical staff committees, previously serving as Chief of the Department of Medicine. His whole family enjoys playing tennis together and he is always trying to improve his golf game.
Email:
mark.amico@chw.edu
Joni Zapata, M.D., Assistant Program Director
Originally from the Midwest, Dr. Zapata trained at the University of Iowa. She has practiced in several different types of private practice models and coordinates the annual senior practice management workshop series every fall. Prior to becoming the assistant residency director at Northridge in 2001, she taught in a family medicine residency program in the Chicago area for ten years.
She loves teaching and practicing maternal-child health and office procedures. She spends every available leisure moment exploring the great outdoors, both in the nearby southern sierras and in other corners of the world.
Email: joni.zapata@chw.edu
Kathy Cairo, M.D. (Alumni)
Dr. Cairo graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in French and was a technical writer for several years before going to medical school at UCLA. She completed her residency at Northridge Family Medicine Residency then joined us as a member of our faculty. Dr. Cairo’s interests include geriatrics and community outreach. She does nursing home visits, home visits, and deliveries with the residents. She helps coordinate the Community Medicine rotation which includes Geriatrics.
She enjoys traveling and making Halloween costumes for her nephews and nieces.
Email:
kathy.cairo@chw.edu
Catherine Cho, M.D.
Dr. Cho is a board-certified pediatrician and serves as the Pediatric Coordinator for the residency program. She completed her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley, then attended medical school on the east coast at New York Medical College where she received a combined degree of MD, MPH.
She was happy to come back to California for her residency program at USC and work with the underserved population of Los Angeles County.
Email: catherine.cho@chw.edu
Joel Crohn, Ph.D.
Dr. Crohn coordinates our behavioral curriculum. He is the author of two books on cross-cultural and religious issues in marriage. His early experiences as an inner city school teacher and community organizer have informed his involvement in helping develop our new community medicine rotation. His primary focus in the residency is teaching and consulting with our residents on issues of motivational interviewing, diagnosing psychiatric disorders, patient compliance and effective health education.
He also works with residents to assist them in developing research and quality improvement projects and also supervises our postdoctoral psychology fellow who treats our clinic patients. When he’s not at Northridge, he enjoys hiking, travel, and spending time with friends and family. He met his wife in 1980 when she was a 2nd year medical student at UCSF, so he has a long personal as well as professional history of practicing his communication and conflict resolution skills with physicians.
Email: joel.crohn@chw.edu
Michael Damavandi, D.O.
Dr. Damavandi completed his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at UC-Irvine. After working in the Engineering field for a few years, he decided to change his career and go into medicine. He graduated from Midwestern University, Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He is board certified by American Board of Internal Medicine. Since residency he decided to stay in Southern California and continue as a hospitalist. He joined Northridge Family Medicine Residency in 2009 where he enjoys working with our resident doctors in the inpatient setting. When he is not in the hospital working he enjoys martial arts.
Email:
michael.damavandi@chw.edu
Luis Esparza, M.D.
(Alumni)
Dr. Esparza is a recent faculty member and former chief resident of Northridge Family Medicine. As part of our Inpatient Medicine team he enjoys teaching and working with residents. He obtained his medical degree from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, and attended New York Medical College’s Fifth Pathway program.
He received his BS in Kinesiology from California State University of Northridge and is interested in Sports Medicine. He enjoys spending time with family and sports like soccer, golf and tennis.
Email: luis.esparza@chw.edu
Samuel Feizi, M.D
Dr. Feizi joined Family Medicine Residency Program in 2009. He graduated from Emory University Medical School, and then completed his residency in Internal Medicine and his fellowship in Nephrology at UCLA / West LA VA Medical Center. He is currently a hospitalist attending in our program.
Email: saeed.feizi003@chw.edu
Mandeep Ghuman, M.D.
Dr. Ghuman is the faculty coordinator for Sports Medicine. He’s a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed his residency training at Tacoma Family Medicine in Washington. Following residency, he pursued a fellowship in Primary Care Sports Medicine at the combined UC Davis/UC Berkeley program.
Dr. Ghuman is an active member of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and currently serves as Team Physician for James Monroe High School and Cleveland High School along with being a volunteer physician at Cal State University Northridge.
Email: mandeep.ghuman@chw.edu
Christopher Kuhlman, M.D.
Dr. Chris Kuhlman’s first exposure to the Northridge Family Medicine Residency occurred during his UCLA medical school days when he participated in a summer research fellowship here at Northridge. After a four year hiatus in Illinois, during which he attended residency at the Hinsdale FP Residency and later became a member of its faculty, he returned to California and in 2001 joined the faculty here at Northridge.
In addition to his regular faculty duties, Dr. Kuhlman helps to manage the EMR system for our Family Practice Center’s clinic. Outside of medicine, he enjoys hiking, gardening, playing basketball, reading about history and hanging out with his wife, Paula, and their 2 growing boys.
Email: christopher.kuhlman@chw.edu
Lucy Whang Lee, M.D.
(Alumni)
Dr. Lee graduated magna cum laude in Biology from Harvard University and received her medical degree at John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii in her home state. She then moved to Los Angeles and did her training here at Northridge Family Medicine Residency. She returned as faculty after a fellowship in Community Medicine at the Glendale Adventist Medical Center in Glendale, California.
She has a strong commitment to caring for the under-served and has helped shape and coordinate our community medicine rotation. She does not surf but does love the beach. She also enjoys reading, eating out, and spending time with family and friends.
Email: lucy.lee@chw.edu
Diana Lev, M.D.
Dr. Diana Lev is fellowship trained in Maternity Care from the California Hospital /USC program. She passionately oversees Maternity care for family medicine residents at our program. Dr. Lev did her residency in Family Medicine at Eastern Maine Medical Center, a rural residency with an emphasis in Indian Healthcare. She returned back home to L.A .and has been a teacher of family medicine both at California Hospital and here at Northridge.
She has a strong commitment to maternity and newborn care, including teaching obstetrical ultrasound to residents, and loves calls in the middle of the night. Dr. Lev balances her life with painting and has a preference for oils; she has showings in the LA area when not running after her 3 boys.
Email: diana.lev@chw.edu
Amber Misseijer, D.O.
(Alumni)
Dr. Misseijer joined the inpatient faculty following her residency at Northridge Family Medicine Residency Program, where she served as chief resident. She earned her osteopathic medical degree at Western University of Health Sciences.
Prior to medical school, Dr. Misseijer earned her B.S. at UCLA, and she taught high school biology at a low-income school. Dr. Misseijer is also interested in international mission work and has participated in a mission to the Philippines. She continues to stay involved in the community through her church, and she enjoys singing and spending time with family and friends in her spare time.
Email: amber.misseijer@chw.edu
Sheryl Rosenberg Thouin, MPH, RD, CDE
Sheryl Rosenberg Thouin has been teaching nutrition assessment and medical nutrition therapy skills to our residents and visiting medical students since she joined the faculty of Northridge Family Practice several years ago. She has served as nutrition consultant and lecturer for leading universities, corporations and organizations including the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, PriMedia Workplace Learning, and the American Diabetes Association.
After finishing her undergraduate degree at the School of Public Health, UCLA and clinical dietetics internship at UCLA Medical Center, she completed graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley where she earned her MPH. As a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, Sheryl has appeared on both radio and television, discussing a range of clinical nutrition and public health issues. She is the founder and creator of Medi-Diets™, a web-based nutrition education resource company. Sheryl resides with her family in Woodland Hills.
Cindy Yang, MD
(Alumni)
Dr. Yang is the faculty coordinator for the Surgery and Medical Student rotations, as her areas of special interest are outpatient surgical procedures and mentoring students & residents. Originally from Hawaii, she finished undergraduate studies in Biology & Chemistry at Duke University and then returned home for medical school at the University of Hawaii School of Medicine. After experiencing some symptoms of island fever, she was excited to move to Southern California for residency training. She completed the Northridge Family Medicine Residency in 2009, during which she served as Chief Resident and received the Outstanding Graduate Resident award.
She enjoyed working here so much that after graduation she decided to join the UCLA faculty for the opportunity to remain actively involved in teaching – initially as a Hospitalist attending for the Inpatient Medicine team and later transitioning to the outpatient setting. During her spare time, she enjoys living in the big city where there are endless options for dining (she’s a foodie!), entertainment, shopping, hanging out with friends & family, taking road trips and finding new adventures!
Email: cindy.yang003@chw.edu
