Community Psychiatry Current Residents & Fellows
Naweed Hayat, M.D.
2nd Year Child and Adolescent Community Psychiatry Fellow
Naweed Hayat, M.D. graduated from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where he has worked with migrant communities at the border. He was elected by his peers to serve as Co-Chair for the UTRGV GMEC Resident Leadership Council, and has also contributed to the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity’s efforts to improve structural racism, discrimination, and health disparities. Dr. Hayat’s humanitarian efforts took him to Tajikistan, where he worked with refugees from Afghanistan and designed the "ACTive families" support group for families who had suffered trauma from the war.
James Harrison Collins, M.D.
1st Year Child and Adolescent Community Psychiatry Fellow
Dr. James “Harrison” Collins is an LGBT+ UCSD Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow who obtained a Master’s Degree at University of South Florida prior to serving in a Chief Resident-adjacent role. He is a recipient of the prestigious Gold Humanism Honor Society Award, and has served LGBTQIA+ youth and families, youth advisory boards and free mental health clinics.
Sahana Malik, M.D.
General Psychiatry Program PGY4
Sahana Malik, M.D. is a native of Ohio. She considers San Diego her home however ever since her family moved out here when she started college. She went to the University of Michigan for her undergraduate education, studying Psychology and Political Science. She attended Medical School at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She has done research in rTMS and Mindfulness at Cooper. She also worked as a project coordinator within the neurology department at UCSD doing ALS research prior to medical school. She has a strong interest in advocacy and policy work. She is passionate about traveling the world, dancing, yoga and surfing.
Paige Sutherland, M.D.
Adult Community Psychiatry PGY4
Paige is originally from Big Bear, California and earned a bachelor's degree in Biology from Pepperdine University. She then went on to obtain her medical degree from Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine. Paige enjoys working with charitable organizations and has volunteered with both AmeriCorps and the Oregon Food Bank. Her educational and clinical interest include collaborative care and Tele-Psychiatry. Outside of her studies and volunteerism, Paige enjoys tennis, hiking, cycling, and cooking.
Katherine Kruckenberg, M.D.
General Psychiatry Program PGY4
Katherine Kruckenberg, M.D. graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a native Californian and completed her undergraduate degree at Berkeley, where she majored in Italian Language and Literature. She did research on Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease before medical school and clinical research related to alcohol use disorder and liver disease as part of the Clinical Scientist Training Program at Pitt Med. This resulted in a first author publication about Urinary Autobrewry Syndrome in Annals of Internal Medicine, February of 2020. She spends her free time with her rescue dog "Louie" in Ocean Beach and enjoys both yoga and walking on the Sunset Cliffs in San Diego!
Maggie Changala, M.D.
General Psychiatry Program PGY3
Maggie Changala has lived most of her life in the Bay Area and the Central Coast of California, other than short research stints that took her to New Orleans and Boston. She studied Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley and went to medical school at UC San Francisco. She also completed a general surgery internship at UC San Francisco before changing course and diving into psychiatry. Maggie plans to continue working with Survivors of Torture International to provide medical exams for people seeking asylum in the United States, and hopes to provide trauma care to this population after completing her training. She is very happy to now call San Diego home, and can't wait to spend every spare moment (and probably do most of her studying) at the beach.
Mikaela Miller, M.D.
Adult Community Psychiatry PGY3
Mikaela joins us from the University of Texas Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine (UTHSA) where she obtained both her medical degree and a master's degree in Public Health. She is a born and raised Arizonan who later transplanted to Texas to attend Texas Christian University. Mikaela earned her degree in Biology, minored in Mathematics and Chemistry, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Additionally, she received the "Chancellor's Scholar" Award. While attending UTHSA, Mikaela developed and conducted a reproductive health needs assessment for Burmese and Afghan refugees in South Texas, dedicated over 150 hours volunteering at the student run free clinics, and held several leadership positions such as President of the Wilderness Medicine Group. Her professional interests are in public psychiatry, addiction, public health, and advocacy. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, spinning, reading, and biking with her husband.
Jacqueline Tasarz, M.D.
Adult Community Psychiatry PGY3
Jacqueline grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where she was involved in the Polish-American Community. She graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in Biology and a minor in Public Health. She completed a post-baccalaureate at the University of California, Berkeley while conducting research at the University of California, San Francisco on the subjects of Cardiology and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Afterward Jacqueline obtained her medical degree from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. During medical school she was involved in community collaboration, research, and education regarding human trafficking. Jacqueline is passionate about patient advocacy and community engagement, trauma psychiatry, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She enjoys hiking, longboarding, reading and collecting antique books, being a cat lady, and snowboarding.
Justine Ku, M.D.
Adult Community Psychiatry PGY2
Justine Ku, M.D. graduated from the UC Riverside School of Medicine. She attended UCLA for her undergraduate education, graduating Summa Cum Laude in Biology with a minor in Global Health. While in medical school, she pursued a designated emphasis in Medical and Health Humanities and is a Gold Humanism recipient. She is passionate about voluntarism and teaching and has served on the National APAMSA Board, as a caseworker for the Mobile Clinic Project at UCLA, as Outreach Director at the San Bernardino Free Clinic, and in various teaching positions at UC Riverside School of Medicine. Justine enjoys cardio kickboxing, watching sunsets, eating, and going to Disneyland in her free time.
Jacklyn Vargas, M.D.
Adult Community Psychiatry PGY2
Jacklyn Vargas, M.D. is a local native to Southern California and San Diego County. She attended UC San Diego for undergraduate education where she earned her degree in Psychology and discovered her passion for mental health. After completing her undergraduate education, she began work as an ABA therapist for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and provided therapy for children, adolescents, and families in medically underserved regions of San Diego County. She then attended medical school as part of the inaugural class at California University of Science and Medicine in San Bernardino, California, where she received scholarship recognition for her commitment to community outreach and patient advocacy. Throughout medical school, she demonstrated this commitment to her community’s health through volunteerism, providing career mentorship to local underserved youth, teaching medical Spanish to her peers, and serving as co-founder and vice president of the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) at her medical school. Her career interests include Child/Adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy, teaching, community outreach, and addressing disparities in access to mental health care. Her hobbies include dance fitness classes (Zumba), spending time exploring outdoors, cat napping with her fluffy Persian cat, and drinking boba.
Natalie Constantine, M.D., MPH
Adult Community Psychiatry PGY1
Natalie Constantine joins us from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine where she obtained her M.D. and M.P.H. Before that she received her B.S. in Psychobiology at the University of California-Los Angeles. Natalie has a passion for global and community health and has spent much time in Central America and the Caribbean serving marginalized populations alongside community health workers. She continued to advocate for immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers through her leadership at the Human Rights Clinic of Miami, the Guatemalan-Maya Center, various global health organizations, and free health fairs throughout Miami. Natalie is thrilled to return to California to join the Community Psychiatry Track at UCSD to continue advocating for patients and address the mental health needs of underserved communities and the public sector. She is particularly interested in child and adolescent psychiatry, post-migration mental health, and trauma. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities and sports, camping trips, and being out on the water.
Matthew Abrams, M.D.
Adult Community Psychiatry PGY1
Matt Abrams was born and raised in San Diego, and he is excited to return home. He attended Harvard University for college where he studied Psychology, Global Health Policy, and Spanish. Matt then moved to Madrid for 3 years to pursue a Fulbright Fellowship, teaching in an underserved high school and conducting clinical psychology research. At the University of Central Florida (UCF) College of Medicine, Matt volunteered extensively at the student-run clinic for immigrant farm workers and directed UCF’s Peer Support Program. Matt is an AAAP’s REACH scholar, a program committed to promoting harm reduction and reducing addiction disparities, and recently he was inducted into the Gold Humanism and AOA Honors Societies. He has published multiple articles related to peer support, resilience among Latinx immigrants, burnout, addiction psychiatry, and LGBTQ+ health equity. As a UCSD Community Track resident, he looks forward to pursuing his passions for advocacy, social justice, wellness promotion, and speaking Spanish while providing trauma-informed care to San Diego’s unsheltered, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ communities. Outside of medicine, Matt loves to travel, go to the beach, run, hike, care for his house plants, and strength train in the gym.
Kristin Creel, M.D.
Family Medicine / Psychiatry Resident PGY4
Kristin Creel, M.D. graduated from Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. Prior to medical school, she completed her undergraduate degree from University of Dayton were she majored in Psychology and was Pre-Med. While attending Wright State University Kristin volunteered with a Community Overdose Action Team in addition to starting a podcast. Her hobbies include playing indoor and intramural soccer, exercising, cooking and baking, camping, kayaking, hiking, and fishing.
Nicholas Kos, M.D.
Family Medicine / Psychiatry Resident PGY3
Nicholas Kos comes to us from the University of Illinois-Chicago where he received recognition for his service work through the organization, Chicago Street Medicine, working with unsheltered patients. He is originally from Anaheim, California and graduated from UC Berkeley undergrad with degrees in Integrative Biology and Spanish. During medical school, he has worked with several free clinics to promote healthcare for the underserved, uninsured and disenfranchised. He is an avid runner and loves live music, cooking, hiking, yoga, and playing with his puppy, Kiyah Mae.
Thanos Rossopoulos, M.D.
Family Medicine / Psychiatry Resident PGY3
Thanos Rossopoulos is from UT Southwestern medical school in Dallas, Texas where he was a Schweitzer fellow and developed community health programs in smoking cessation and patient navigation for individuals experiencing homelessness. He has taken a non-traditional path to medicine. After studying mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, he lived abroad as a field engineer in India on oil rigs and then relocated to Houston to design drilling equipment. He left this career to pursue medicine because of a strong desire to serve others after volunteering with Houston's homeless population. He loves playing music and listening to R&B, volunteering in the community, watching the Lakers, playing sports such as basketball and surfing, and spending time outdoors.