Faculty & Staff

Dr. Thomas serves as core faculty and program director for the Family Medicine Residency Program after joining in October 2020.

Raised in San Diego, he completed his bachelor’s degree in human biology at UC San Diego in 2009 and earned his medical degree from AUC School of Medicine in 2013 with distinction in the Alpha Omega Phi Honor and Service Society. He completed training in London, England as well as in rural and urban inner-city hospitals throughout the U.S. He returned home to complete his residency in family medicine at the Riverside University Health System / UCR program in Moreno Valley, CA caring for the underserved populations of the Inland Empire. He served as chief resident his third year of residency and was awarded the STFM Resident Teacher Award in 2017.

He joined FHCSD in September 2017 and served as the lead physician for our City Heights and Ibarra clinics from March 2018 to October 2020 working to improve clinical processes, patient care metric outcomes, clinic productivity and serve as a liaison for providers at the site and organization level.

Dr. Thomas is board-certified in family medicine with memberships in the STFM, American Academy of Family Physicians and California Academy of Family Physicians. He speaks medical Spanish. His interests in medicine include health care policy, underserved medicine, preventative medicine, ambulatory family practice, medical education, sports medicine and wilderness medicine. His interests outside of medicine include snowboarding, surfing, swimming, backpacking, music, travel and spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Stephanie Constantino is an associate program director and an alumnus of the Family Medicine Residency Program. She earned her bachelor’s degree in neurobiology at the University of Washington where she was awarded the ASUW Student Body Activities Award for her work in health equity. She joined Teach for America Bay Area in 2007 and spent three years as a high school chemistry teacher where she developed a passion for working with teens and pipeline work.

In 2015, she graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine where she served as co-director for the Alliance for Equal Representation in Medicine. She matched into the second graduating class of FHCSD’s residency program where she served as a chief resident, completed the HIV specialty track, the addiction medicine elective and started a partnership with Crawford High School FACES pipeline program.

Dr. Constantino is board-certified in family medicine and addiction medicine and is a certified HIV specialist. She oversees the residency program’s didactics and specialty clinics for HIV, HCV and MAT, and supervises the addiction medicine track and electives. Additionally, she splits her time between her continuity clinic, located at Grossmont Spring Valley Family Health Center, and the mobile unit.

Her medical interests include HIV, hepatitis C, addiction medicine, LGBTQ+ health, street medicine, prenatal care and reproductive health. She is passionate about increasing diversity in the health care workforce, health equity and trauma-informed care. She also enjoys spending time with her family and friends, being outdoors, book club, gardening and crafting.

Dr. Shiraki serves as associate program director and residency clinic director for the Family Medicine Residency Program. Originally from Kauai, Dr. Shiraki earned her bachelor’s degree in health and humanity with a minor in East languages and cultures from the University of Southern California. She completed her medical degree at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York, where she served as the chair to the medical student section of the Medical Society of the State of New York. Dr. Shiraki completed her residency at the National Family Medicine Program at the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education in Washington, DC and served as chief resident during her final year. She joined Family Health Centers of San Diego in October 2019.

She currently has an osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) clinic within the residency clinic and is one of the proceduralists. Dr. Shiraki is board-certified in family medicine with memberships in the STFM, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the California Academy of Family Physicians. She is proficient in Spanish and Japanese and has medical interests in reproductive health/family planning, social justice, advocacy and preventive health. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and San Diego outings with her family including the zoo, Balboa park and beach time.

Dr. Kristin Brownell received her medical degree and master’s degree in public health from the University of California, San Diego/San Diego State University Joint Program in 2001. She completed her family practice residency at Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa in 2004, where she served as chief resident in 2003. Dr. Brownell also completed a fellowship in underserved medicine from the department of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego in 2005.

Dr. Brownell runs the community medicine rotation. Her special interests include women’s, refugee and international health. She serves as a principal investigator for the Dunya Women’s Health Collaborative, a project which focuses on issues of refugee women’s health collaborating with five community organizations. She is passionate about social determinants of health and food insecurity. Additionally, she served as a volunteer Peace Corps member in Paraguay from 1994 to 1996.

Dr. Brownell is board-certified in family medicine. She is also a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, California Academy of Family Physicians, Society of Teachers in Family Medicine and California Medical Association. Since 2004, Dr. Brownell has been teaching medical students for the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project. She co-leads the San Diego region of the CAFP California Residency Network.

Dr. Brownell is fluent in Spanish and has been part of Family Health Centers of San Diego since 2007.

Dr. Laura Coulson joined the core faculty in 2016. She received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco in 2000, which also included a one year junior pathology fellowship. She completed her family medicine residency at Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa in 2003, during which time she also attained a goal started in medical school of receiving her first-degree black belt at the UCSF Tae Kwon Do program.

Dr. Coulson’s interests include women’s health, breastfeeding support, outpatient clinic procedures including colposcopy training and preventive care. She is thrilled to be able to fulfill her passion for teaching and mentoring residents not only in the day-to-day acts of clinical medicine, but also in the nuances of practicing the art of medicine.

She is board-certified in family medicine and speaks proficient Spanish. She is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and Society of Teachers in Family Medicine.

Dr. Cynthia Jauregui is the director of behavioral health for the Family Medicine Residency Program. She received her doctorate in psychology in 2012 and her license in marriage and family in 2008. Dr. Jauregui recently completed the STFM Behavioral Science Family Systems Educator Fellowship and runs the Wellness Program and Behavioral Health Clinic for the residency program. Dr. Jauregui has been with Family Health Centers of San Diego since 2004.

She has received specialized training in trauma-informed care with a special interest in how trauma manifests physically. Her internships focused on serving both survivors and perpetrators of various types of trauma. Dr. Jauregui’s previous research explored the correlation between trauma history chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. She is fluent in Spanish, and has a passion for mindfulness and wellness.

A native San Diegan, Dr. Linh Nguyen earned a bachelor’s degree in human biology at the University of California, San Diego. She received her medical degree at UC Irvine, where she also completed her residency in family medicine. She joined Family Health Centers of San Diego in 2018 and has been part of the core faculty since August 2021. As a faculty member, she precepts in the residency clinic and inpatient rotation, assists with didactic lecturing and coordination, and oversees resident scholarly activities. Fellowship trained in integrative medicine, Dr. Nguyen helps manage the integrative medicine track and teaches in the residency’s integrative medicine clinic.

Her medical interests include underserved medicine, women’s health, procedures, LGBTQ health and physician wellness. She is board-certified in family medicine and speaks medical Spanish. In her spare time, she enjoys jogging, hiking, spending time with her family, playing the violin and singing karaoke.

Raised in a multi-generational household in Tijuana, Mexico, Dr. Aisha Van Pratt Levin attended Rutgers University where she completed her undergraduate studies in cultural anthropology. After graduation, she joined AmeriCorps to address the public health needs of underserved communities in Philadelphia.

While obtaining her medical degree at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, she represented the school as a global health scholar and served as the community outreach co-chair for the student-run Free Clinic. These opportunities furthered her passion for global health, primary care, community medicine, social justice and health care advocacy.

Drawn back to her roots, she completed her residency training at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista, California. She served as chief resident in her final year and worked with a team of co-residents to create educational materials on care and advocacy for obstetric patients under border patrol/ICE custody. Following her residency, she completed a fellowship in high-risk and surgical OB at the Swedish Family Medicine in Seattle, Washington.

As an anthropologist at heart, she enjoys the beauty of caring for individuals in all stages of their lives, with a particular love for obstetric care, reproductive justice, health equity advocacy and increasing access to quality care for immigrant families.

Dr. Van Pratt Levin is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the California Academy of Family Physicians and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. She is board-certified in family medicine and is a native Spanish speaker.

Dr. Van Pratt Levin is grateful to be part of the FHCSD family and the opportunity to care for the border communities that inspired her pursuit of a career in medicine in the first place. In her free time, she loves traveling, exploring new places, crafting and embarking on new adventures (on both sides of the border) with her husband and their cats, Luna and Lobo.

Originally from southeast Michigan, Dr. Abdallah earned his bachelor’s degree from Alfred University in upstate New York. He completed his medical degree at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City where he held leadership positions, including student government president. Dr. Abdallah completed his residency at the National Family Medicine Program at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education in Washington, D.C. and served as chief resident. During his residency, he received the Practice Improvement Award and served as a delegate to the American Academy of Family Physicians Resident Congress.

Dr. Abdallah has been part of Family Health Centers of San Diego since July of 2017 and, in 2018, he received the Provider of Compassion Award. His professional interests include community medicine, working with underserved populations and osteopathic manipulative medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and Osteopathic Cranial Academy. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family, hiking/spending time in nature, and discovering new music and art.

Dr. Suriti Kundu received her medical degree from the University of California, Davis in 1993. After an internship at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in San Diego, she completed her residency in family medicine at UCSD in 1997. Over the years, Dr. Kundu has published several medical reviews and book chapters.

She loves to read, teach and has been a volunteer assistant clinical professor at UCSD since 2006. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Suraj, and three sons.

She has been a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Medicine since 1997. Dr. Kundu speaks Spanish and has been part of Family Health Centers of San Diego since 2012.

Dr. Wendy Pavlovich is the director of pediatric outpatient training at Family Health Center San Diego. She received her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and her master’s in health sciences from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, completing her training at the Boston Children’s Hospital/Boston Medical Center combined pediatric residency program. Since 2016, she has served as the pediatric outpatient training director, providing pediatric clinical education to FHCSD, Scripps and UCSD residents, as well as medical students. She currently chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics, California Chapter 3 Committee on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and Trauma-Informed Care.

Dr. Christian Ramirez Haro is an adjunct faculty member in geriatrics, where he provides compassionate, patient-centered care to older adults through FHCSD’s PACE program. His approach is rooted in dignity and a deep respect for each individual’s goals and values.

Originally from Mexico, Dr. Ramirez Haro earned his medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in 2017. He completed an integrated fellowship in geriatric and palliative medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and is board-certified in both specialties. Prior to joining FHCSD in 2024, he served on the faculty of the UCLA Geriatric Medicine Fellowship.

Committed to advancing health equity, Dr. Ramirez Haro’s medical interests include serious-illness communication, dementia care and complex-symptom management.

Outside of medicine, he enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors, reading non-fiction and being with his wife and their dogs. He is fluent in Spanish.

Dr. Charles Smoot is the chief of clinical informatics at Family Health Centers of San Diego. He is responsible for directing the organization toward improving quality metrics across a wide variety of national standards using interdisciplinary methods. He works closely with the medical providers and the IT department to help develop a robust e-decision tool, as well as improve our proprietary electronic health records system.

Dr. Smoot received his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego in 2005 and completed his family medicine residency at UCSD in 2008. He is a recipient of the UCSD Outstanding Contributions to Medical School Community Award, the Roderick K. Calverley Humanitarian Service Award and was a member of the Gold Humanitarian National Medical Honor Society.

He has traveled to both Haiti and the Honduras to provide medical care to patients, is board-certified in family medicine and speaks proficient Spanish. He has been part of FHCSD since 2008.

Dr. Anthony James Trinidad is a Southern California native from Riverside County. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree from Keck Graduate Institute and a medical degree from California Northstate University.

He completed his residency in family medicine at Riverside University Health System, serving as chief resident in his final year. Dr. Trinidad moved to San Diego and joined Family Health Centers of San Diego in 2023.

His professional interests include preventive medicine, global medicine, addiction medicine and ultrasound. Outside of work, he enjoys playing volleyball and walking with his wife and dog.

Originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Dr. Lisa Weaver earned her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and music in Indiana. She attended medical school at the University of Iowa and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Utah.

Dr. Weaver joined Family Health Centers of San Diego in 2022 and began precepting residents in May 2025. Her professional interests include women’s health, preventive medicine, teaching and addiction medicine. Outside of work, she enjoys running, hiking, reading, salsa dancing and spending time with family and friends.

Originally from Austin, Texas, Dr. Ayal Shavit earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He attended medical school at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, Texas, and completed the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Scripps Clinic and Scripps Green Hospital before joining Scripps Health Inpatient Providers Medical Group as a hospitalist at Scripps Mercy San Diego.

Dr. Shavit’s professional interests include inpatient medicine and medical education. He has been involved in teaching since his undergraduate studies, where he served as a lead teaching assistant for general chemistry courses and assisted with curriculum development. During that time, he also completed additional training in education leadership through the Peer Leader Academy at UT Austin. He enjoys teaching medical students and residents on the inpatient service and was recognized with Family Health Centers of San Diego’s 2025 External Faculty of the Year Award for his exceptional commitment to teaching. He currently serves as the inpatient medicine rotation supervisor.

Outside of medicine, Dr. Shavit enjoys running, playing pickleball and following meteorology. He lives in San Diego with his wife and daughter.

fmresidency@fhcsd.org

Valentina McNeal joined FHCSD in 2023 as the family medicine residency program manager. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she earned her B.A. in sociology and criminology. Valentina enjoys making global connections.

fmresidency@fhcsd.org

Kayla Rizqi originally joined FHCSD in 2023 as an administrative assistant II in the medical staff office. She was introduced to the residency program the following year and now serves as the program coordinator.

She attended UCSD where she earned her B.S. in global health with a minor in business. She also worked as a student health advocate for UCSD’s Office of Health and Well-Being.

Kayla spent her childhood in Japan and is fluent in Japanese and Indonesian. In her free time, she enjoys attending concerts (K-Pop anyone?), adventuring outdoors and steaming bowls of ramen.