Intern Class

Torey Averick

Michael Bassett

Rachel Corren

Rachel Corren is so excited to join the UCSD Psychiatry Residency Program. She grew up in Los Angeles and attended UC Berkeley, where she earned an undergraduate degree in Public Health. After college, she returned to Los Angeles as an AmeriCorps FoodCorps service member, working in a Title I elementary school as a garden and nutrition educator. She then completed her medical education at UC San Francisco, where she served as a coordinator for the student-run free clinic Clínica Martín Baró and worked closely with the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health, studying mind-body therapies and integrative approaches to complex medical and psychiatric illnesses. Rachel’s professional interests include integrative psychiatry, women’s mental health, psychotherapy, student mental health, and addiction. Outside of medicine, Rachel loves spending time outdoors, gardening, cooking, baking, and searching for the perfect cappuccino. 

Maria Faidas

Maria Faidas comes to us from eastern North Carolina, where she was raised in a Greek family. She earned her degree in Human Biology at the University of Virginia, and her interest in global health was sparked during a study abroad in South Africa. After living in New Zealand, Maria attended medical school at the University of North Carolina where she developed a love for Psychiatry. She utilized her training in yoga to promote medical student wellness by leading meditation courses. As a Fogarty Global Health Fellow in Malawi, she researched the impact of stigma on adolescents living with HIV. Maria is passionate about Global and Refugee Mental Health, Perinatal Psychiatry, Integrative Psychiatry, and Palliative Care. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, music, traveling and hiking. She is excited for her next adventure in San Diego! 

Kevin Kahru

Prianka Kumar

Prianka Kumar joins us from the George Washington University School of Medicine and is thrilled to return to San Diego for training. She grew up all over the country but has called Southern California home for the past 10 years since completing her undergraduate education at UCSD! During medical school, she earned a Master’s in Public Health and worked with local government and harm reduction organizations to support people with substance use disorders in DC. She also conducted independent research on adolescent opioid use disorder treatment and cannabis use. She is particularly interested in population health and plans to pursue training in child and adolescent psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. Outside of medicine, she enjoys painting, baking, creative writing, spending time outdoors, and listening to electronic music. 

Marcus Paoletti

Marcus Paoletti is thrilled to join the UC San Diego Psychiatry Residency Program, where he looks forward to training with exceptional mentors and living in beautiful San Diego. A California native, Marcus earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in Molecular & Cellular Biology with an emphasis in Genetics and Genomics. He then earned his MD at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. During medical school, Marcus conducted research on heart rate variability (HRV) and its relationship to chronic stress and presented his work at multiple national conferences. He also served as the California State Representative for The National Psychiatric Student Interest Group, PsychSIGN, and led mindfulness meditation workshops at LA General Hospital’s Wellness Center. These experiences have shaped his interests in psychiatry including neuromodulation, consultation-liaison psychiatry, and psychotherapy. Outside of medicine, Marcus enjoys surfing, scuba diving, hiking, getting lost in books, and spending quality time with friends and family.

David Perekopskiy

David Perekopskiy was born and raised in Sacramento, California. After earning a degree in Biochemistry from CSU Sacramento, he spent two years at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, researching the effects of illicit drugs on the brain. It was during this time that he developed a passion for helping those struggling with addiction. He then attended UC Davis School of Medicine, where he also served as co-director of Nadezhda Clinic, a free, student-run clinic that serves the Russian and Ukrainian-speaking populations of Sacramento. David's professional interests include addiction, neuromodulation, and psychotherapy. In his free time, he enjoys playing pickleball, hiking, cycling, board games, and spending quality time with his family.

Meredith Xepoleas

Meredith Xepoleas is a California native and graduate of the University of Southern California, where she studied History and Archaeology. Before medical school, she completed a two-year research fellowship with Operation Smile and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles focusing on global healthcare access and gender equity. She went on to attend the Keck School of Medicine of USC, where she discovered her passion for psychiatry and researched factors influencing medical students’ mental health. During medical school, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Her interests in psychiatry include child and adolescent psychiatry, student mental health, and women’s mental health. Outside of medicine, Meredith enjoys pickleball, hiking, literary fiction, and creative writing. She is excited to join the UCSD Psychiatry program!

Christian Zapp

Christian grew up in Southern California and attended Emory University in Atlanta, GA, where he studied Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology alongside Theater. After graduating, he spent three years at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD, characterizing the clinical and neural correlates of severe irritability in youth and investigating novel non-pharmacological treatments. He then attended the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, CA, where he studied how second opinions influence medication adjustments for children who are prescribed antipsychotics. A dedicated mental health advocate, he has volunteered for several crisis call and text lines since high school. His professional interests include psychotherapy and child and adolescent psychiatry. Outside of medicine, he enjoys spending time with his partner and two cats, hiking, creating and listening to music, and playing every racket sport under the sun – especially tennis, table tennis, and pickleball.

Rianna Chu

Rianna was born in San Diego and grew up in Los Angeles. She majored in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior at UC Davis where she volunteered at a student-run clinic in Sacramento and grew passionate about advancing health equity. She also discovered a love for teaching and became an 8th grade special education teacher in Hawaii for three years through Teach For America. She received her MD from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine where she advocated for improved care for disabled patients, mentored in STEM pipeline programs, and taught dance and mental wellness to underserved youth through the Community and Global Health Honors program. She is interested in child adolescent psychiatry, psychotherapy, addiction, and community health. In her free time, Rianna enjoys crafting cafe beverages, dancing, collecting fountain pens, reading, and spending time with her dog and partner.

Laura "Lo" Grogan

Lo Grogan (she/her) grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and studied Public Health and Spanish at Beloit College, spending a year in Quito, Ecuador. After five years in medical software project management, she pursued medicine at Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), graduating with honors in research for her work on improving management of obstetric hypertensive emergencies. Lo facilitated discussions on women's mental health bills by sharing clinical stories with Wisconsin Senate and House Representatives in their offices in Washington D.C. Motivated by her experience caring for gender-diverse patients at Milwaukee’s gender-affirming clinics, she reviewed and updated Wisconsin’s statewide perinatal psychiatry provider toolkit to promote equity focused and LGBTQIA+ inclusive language. In recognition of her work, she received the T. Michael Bolger Standing Ovation Award for outstanding contributions to the MCW community. She is passionate about community and C/L psychiatry, with specific interest in LGBTQIA+, HIV, reproductive and perinatal psychiatry. Lo is excited to join UCSD Psychiatry and looks forward to birding and beach reads with her dog, Bran!

Victoria Lee

Victoria is a Southern California native and graduate of UCSF School of Medicine. She is passionate about health systems improvement and community psychiatry and has interests in integrative medicine, geriatrics, and psychotherapy. Her research focuses on how Adverse Childhood Experiences are associated with poorer health outcomes across the lifespan. In her free time, Victoria enjoys fishing, playing music, and exploring new restaurants.

Anuska Martinez Arguedas

Anuska Martinez Arguedas is a psychiatry resident in the UCSD Community Psychiatry Track. Born and raised in Venezuela, she began her academic journey as a Studio Art major at The University of Texas at Austin. Inspired by surrealism and its exploration of the human experience, she discovered her drive for psychiatry and transitioned to a B.S. in Psychology, graduating with honors in 2018. During her gap years, she served migrant communities as a medical interpreter at a clinic in Tijuana before conducting molecular neuroscience research through the University of Michigan’s Postbac Research Education Program. She returned to Austin in 2021 to pursue her medical degree at The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, earning her MD in 2025. During her third year, she also completed an MPH with a concentration in Community Health Practice.

Anuska’s interests lie at the intersection of neuromodulation, cultural psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry, with a strong commitment to accessibility and community-based care. She is an active member of the North American Neuromodulation Society, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and Doctors for Global Health. Outside of medicine, she finds balance through art-making, yoga, the great outdoors, playing with her rambunctious Husky Shepherd, and film nights with loved ones.

Joseph Barnett

Gabriel Zamora

Gabriel Zamora is a psychiatry resident in the Research Track at UC San Diego and a Southern California native. He earned his medical degree from UC San Francisco School of Medicine, where he served as president of the psychiatry student interest group and mentored underserved high school students, helping them pursue careers in healthcare. Gabriel's research focuses on child and adolescent mental health, particularly the developmental impacts of screen time, social media use, and their intersection with mental health outcomes. His work on several projects within the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study has been featured by national media outlets including NBC, CBS, and U.S. News & World Report. In his free time, Gabriel enjoys jiu-jitsu, chess, and pickleball.