Class of 2022
Molly Easterlin, MD, MS
Hometown: Pasadena, CA
Undergraduate: Cornell University
Medical School: UCSD
Residency: UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital
Hobbies: sports, hiking, going to the farmer’s market, spending time with family and friends, playing with my dog
Why LAC+USC: Great clinical training, located in the great city of Los Angeles, with exposure to different types of NICUs, and wonderful co-fellows and faculty
Jobs after Fellowship: CHLA
Fun Fact: I climbed the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States during my first year of fellowship
Bryan Furr, DO
Hometown: Castle Rock, CO
Undergraduate: University of Colorado
Medical School: Rock Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Residency: University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Hobbies: Anything outdoors and sporty - football, snowboarding, attempting to surf, wakeboarding, every beach sport ever
Why LAC+USC: Loved the national standing and reputation of the program, the vast amount of career options I would have following graduation, a larger fellowship program than most, and the opportunity to work with the myth and legend that is Dr. Ram
Jobs after Fellowship: Private practice in Texas
Fun Fact: In making fun of Jess for the fun fact she chose, I learned that pandas can ingest tens of kilograms of Bamboo a day!
Kameelah Gateau, MD
Hometown: Murrieta, CA
Undergraduate: UC Irvine
Medical School: UC San Diego
Residency: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Hobbies: Creative writing, being outside, listening to my favorite podcasts
Why LAC+USC: Unique opportunity to train at the top institutions in the field with the top neonatologist in the field while having exposure to all level NICU’s and practice settings
Job after Fellowship: CHLA
Fun Fact: I have accidentally and inadvertently moonlit as a fashion model since high school
Jessica Keel, MD
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Undergraduate: University of Pennsylvania
Medical School: East Tennessee State University
Residency: Children’s National Medical Center
Hobbies: Eating and sleeping—essential activities of life :)
Why LAC+USC: For its breadth of clinical experience, strong educational curriculum, and supportive peers and mentors
Job after Fellowship: Kaiser Panorama City
Fun Fact: Hmm… bell peppers always start out green then change color as they mature!
Golenaz Kohbodi, MD
Hometown: I’m from Tehran, Iran where I grew up.
Undergraduate: UCLA Cybernetics
Medical School: St. George’s University
Residency: NYU Winthrop Hospital
Hobbies: Swimming, Traveling, Eating ice-cream
Why LAC+USC: The team here functions like a family, Lots of bread and butter NICU cases to learn from and come out feeling like a competent NICU attending, Amazing teachers, Lots of code OBs, complicated deliveries, and underrepresented mothers and babies who need our help, Love ECMO and all the surgical cases and complex cases at CHLA, True hands on functional Echo program pretty unique to our program
Jobs after Fellowship: Hemodynamics fellowship at CHOC and now Loma Linda University Attending
Fun Fact: I did a year of surgery before switching to peds! I was always goingn to be a pediatrics doctor, now instead of cutting more I think more ;)
Avani Vachhani, MD
Hometown: Rancho Mirage, CA
Undergraduate: UCLA (Go Bruins!)
Medical School: Jefferson Medical College
Residency: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Hobbies: I love baking! Cookies, brownies, cakes, you name it! I’ve also recently gotten into making my own ice cream. My favorite flavor I’ve made so far is coffee with dark chocolate chunks and fresh strawberry. I also love traveling (was actually supposed to go to Croatia before COVID ruined all of our plans). My favorite places so far have been Thailand and New Zealand.
Why LAC+USC: I felt the 3 NICUs we rotate at gave a good balance of acuity and experience. CHLA was my home for residency so I knew I wanted to learn from the higher acuity babies. LAC+USC and Good Sam provide a great delivery experience and the bred/butter NICU we need to learn as clinicians.
Job after Fellowship: CHOC
Fun Fact: I went white water rafting in class 5 rapids in the Shotover River in New Zealand and fell out in the midst of the rapids. It felt very scary at the time because all I could see was white water around me. The guides were wearing GoPros and got the whole thing on video!