Meet the Team

Jacob A. Bailey, M.D., M.A.

Co-Director, Region X California Medicine Scholars Program
Assistant Director, Program in Medical Education – Health Equity

Dr. Jacob Bailey was raised in a bicultural home in the Los Angeles area. A circuitous route led him from factory work to construction and finally to the research laboratory where he was introduced to the field medicine.

His clinical interests include transitions of care for adolescents and young adults with chronic lung disease and the intensive care unit’s role in the social safety-net. Throughout his career Dr. Bailey has held regional leadership positions in affinity groups, national leadership positions in organized labor and is actively engaged in medical education research and service.

Dr. Bailey earned his doctor of medicine from University of California San Diego School of Medicine and a master of arts in education from University of California Los Angeles. He completed his residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at UC San Diego.

Ramón A. Hernandez, DrPH, M.P.H.

Co-Director, Region X California Medicine Scholars Program
Director, Pathways and Community Partnerships, School of Medicine
Section Chief for Community Health, Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Ramón Hernandez has more than 25 years of local and national experience in adolescent and young adult development; minority and urban health; adolescent mental health; and academic diversity and retention programs. His work focuses on increasing the diversity of the health care workforce by nurturing and supporting underrepresented and disadvantaged students along their personal, academic and professional paths. He is the project director for the Hispanic Center of Excellence and the Health Career Opportunities Program (HCOP) and oversees the University Link Medical Science Program (ULMSP), a pathway program for community college students interested in pursuing careers in health care.

Dr. Hernandez serves on the boards for several organizations including the San Diego Chapter of the American Heart Association, California Medicine and Latinas in Medicine. He also sits on the advisory board for Scripps San Diego Border Area Health Education Center (AHEC); Imperial Valley AHEC; UC San Diego’s Hispanic Serving Institution Workgroup; the Environmental Justice committee on San Diego County’s COVID Task Force; and the Mayor’s COVID Work Group Task Force for the City of Imperial Beach.

He received his doctor of public health in maternal child health and master of public health in health service administration from Boston University School of Public Health.

Sausan Buran

Co-Assistant Director, Region X California Medicine Scholars Program
First Year Medical Student

Sausan was born and raised in the coastal town of Mombasa, Kenya, before immigrating to the United States. She attended Long Beach City College and later transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology and a minor in Biomedical Research. While in college, she volunteered at the UMMA Community Clinic and worked as a supplemental instruction leader and tutor. Following graduation, she worked in the Department of Developmental Biology at UCLA as a Research Associate and later served as a Lab Manager at Stanford University School of Medicine. Her research focused on blood cell development in Drosophila melanogaster.

Sausan’s experiences growing up in an under-resourced town with limited health literacy, access to healthcare, and poor health outcomes, inspired her to pursue a career in medicine to improve healthcare for marginalized populations. Sausan also grew up watching her father, a prominent physician, tirelessly provide care to underserved local communities and now uses the lessons she learned as her guiding light. She looks forward to being a physician rooted in service, empathy, compassion, and resilience in the face of adversity.

She is proud to be attending the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and is also a student researcher at the Displacement and Health Research Center, where she investigates the effects of displacement on health outcomes. Her journey to medical school would not have been possible without the unwavering support of her family, advisors, mentors, professors, and friends who believed in her dream and continue to cheer her on. Understanding the importance of mentorship, Sausan is passionate about guiding others as they pursue similar paths. She is overjoyed to be part of CMSP and to contribute to an incredible program providing structured support for community college students. In her free time, Sausan enjoys hiking, exploring different cities, watching sunsets, and spending time with family.

Jose Adonnis Jimenez

Co-Assistant Director, Region X California Medicine Scholars Program
First-Year Medical Student - PRIME-HEq

Jose A. Jimenez was born and raised in Salinas, California. A proud son of two Mexican immigrant parents, he left Salinas to attend UC Berkeley and graduated with his degree in Public Health. He spent the next few years working as a healthcare consultant where he collaborated with impactful leaders who inspired him to believe in himself and his potential to transform the health of his community. Learning about inequities and reflecting on his own experiences growing up in an under-resourced immigrant community, Jose realized that to become the catalyst of change his community needed, he had to be bold enough to dream big, and courageous enough to take the leap and become a physician. On his non-traditional journey, Jose has also realized that achieving cross-generational health equity and correcting deeply rooted systemic issues are too ambitious to accomplish alone. With this in mind, Jose has come to UCSD School of Medicine to join the community of health advocates and champions for equitable care that make up the amazing teams of PRIME-HEq and CMSP. 

Programs like CMSP hold a special place in Jose's heart because, without them, he wouldn’t be where he is today. As an undergraduate, he struggled to find his footing, fumbled the ball in more ways than one, and as a first-gen college student, was overwhelmed by the steep learning curve of higher education. However, along the way, he found support in mission-driven organizations that helped him navigate this new professional world. One of these was Health Career Connection (HCC), a national internship program focused on supporting underrepresented students interested in healthcare. Through HCC, he gained access to mentors, practical advice, and career defining opportunities. Since then, knowing from experience how transformative mentorship can be, Jose has returned to many of these same programs as a mentor to help other students behind him in the pipeline. During two of his gap years, he worked as a Program Manager with HCC and coached college students through their summer internships. When he left HCC and became a Director at an FQHC in San Francisco, he used his privileges as a leader to bring students in and coached summer interns. As CMSP Co-Assistant Director, Jose hopes to continue strengthening the network of aspiring diverse health leaders to support their collective success. Overall, mentorship has been a deeply meaningful experience in Jose’s life, both as a mentee and mentor, and he is excited to be a part of the CMPS team to keep empowering students to achieve their dreams and build the diverse health workforce our underserved communities need.

Kenneth Bush, M.S.

Project Manager, Region X California Medicine Scholars Program

Kenneth Bush has dedicated his career to promoting health equity, minority health, and diversity and inclusion in health care. As a California Community College graduate, he intimately appreciates the significance of tailored guidance and individual support at the beginning stages of one’s academic journey. He has participated in and contributed to multiple mentorship programs that promote the success of underrepresented students in health professions, and understands the impact they have on a career development.

Originally from Calexico, Kenneth attended Cerritos College in Norwalk, CA where he began his involvement with Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine (CCM), MiMentor, and Medicos Enfermeros Y Dentistas Para El Pueblo (MED PEP). After transferring to California State University, Long Beach, he joined the NIH BUILD (BUilding Infrastructure Leading to Diversity) Scholars Program where he continued his health equity advocacy work and began his career in health outcomes research. He completed a Master of Science in Health Promotion from the University of Oklahoma and returned to Southern California with the skills he developed to advocate for health improvements in his community. Through these experiences, Kenneth has strengthened his belief that there is power in lifting members of the community into positions of leadership and influence to achieve favorable community health outcomes, which is a crucial aim of CMSP.

Sedtavut D. Nilaad, M.S.

Project Coordinator, Region X California Medicine Scholars Program

Sedtavut Nilaad was born and raised in Thailand before moving to the U.S in sixth grade. He began his community college career in Riverside, California and later transferred to UC San Diego to complete his bachelor’s and master’s degree in microbiology. Sedtavut has always been engrossed in education and mentorship, receiving the Excellence in Teaching Award by UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences. He later began working at the UC San Diego School of Medicine providing academic and organizational support to faculty during the COVID-19 lockdown.   

Using his experience from serving as director of recruitment for the Palomar Health Pathmaker Internship, medical student research studies, and his journey through community college himself, he is committed to provide CMSP scholars his support and encouragement to help develop future healthcare leaders.