UCSD EM Residents

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UCSD EM Residents

Our EM Residency Program is PGY1-4.

The UCSD Department of Emergency Medicine provides care for nearly 150,000 visits annually at 3 Emergency Departments - urban level 1 trauma center in San Diego, CA.

22/01/2026

🚨 INTERN SPOTLIGHT 🚨

Name: Claire Golba, MD
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Undergrad: Tulane University
Medical School: University of Cincinnati

What’s been your favorite non-work-related memory so far?
- My favorite non-work memory is the intern retreat! We went all-out on the cooking front and it was so much fun playing games all night into the morning.

What’s been your favorite work-related memory so far?
- I love signing out patients to the besties (aka my co-interns) and catching up on life with them as we change shifts!

What things do you like to do living in San Diego?
- I love that you can be outside year-round! A few of my favorite things are biking around the bay, beach volleyball, hiking in SD and surrounding area, surfing, and trying new restaurants!

Summarize intern year so far in a nutshell!
- Hectic in a really good way! Learning a ton of medicine every day meanwhile connecting with amazing coworkers and staying busy outside the hospital hanging with my new friends!

Why did you pick UCSD?
- I loved the community that the residency has built for itself. A ton of us are always hanging outside of work whether it be surfing, post-shift drinks, or trying new restaurants, and I could sense that community and closeness of the residents when I interviewed

Why should everyone else pick UCSD?
- Our program has so many different residents and attendings from such different walks of life and fellowship trainings, and it provides such a unique opportunity to find a niche in emergency medicine and explore your interests with our plethora of elective time. With this, you also get to meet amazing humans with different perspectives who are awesome to work with and will teach you so much.

Shout out an upperclassmen, attending, or fellow intern(s)! Give a story as to why!
- Wes McCue is an insightful 4th year resident who brings great vibes on shift, always giving tidbits of encouragement and wisdom, and is an amazing advocate for his patients. He is also a great roommate!

06/01/2026

🚨 INTERN SPOTLIGHT 🚨

Name: Mycah Freudiger, MD
Hometown: Bedford, TX
Undergrad: Abilene Christian University
Medical School: UT Southwestern Medical School

What’s been your favorite non-work-related memory so far?
- Hanging out with all my new co-residents! Our retreat together was the best! We recently went tide pooling with the low tides with our pen lights which was iconic.

What’s been your favorite work-related memory so far?
- Trauma bonding through MICU with Martin!! Or when Su visited me in the ICU when I was lonely.

What things do you like to do living in San Diego?
- I love going to dog beach w my doggo! Also love going to Sunset Cliffs, walking around north park and going to OB Noodle house.

19/12/2025

🚨 INTERN SPOTLIGHT 🚨

Name: Sophie Dickinson
Hometown: Dana Point, CA
Undergrad: UC Santa Barbara
Medical School: UCSD

What’s been your favorite non-work-related memory so far?
- Surfing in mission bay with the intern squad before our orientation days! And intern retreat as a whole :)

What’s been your favorite work-related memory so far?
- Getting to intubate my first patient in the department alongside my intern colleague who was with the ICU team at the time.

What things do you like to do living in San Diego?
- Surfing, biking, swimming in the bay with our pup, working on yard projects (chicken coop in progress!), and getting beers and hanging with my EM buddies and other friends in town!

Summarize intern year so far in a nutshell!
- Amazing. I’ve truly loved every minute of it despite the steep learning curve largely because of the awesome attendings, residents, and entire team that make up the EM Department here.

Why did you pick UCSD?
- I went to UCSD for medical school and knew how supportive the environment was and how impressed I was with the resident’s knowledge and confidence in the ED.

Why should everyone else choose UCSD??
The EM department is awesome. You will always feel supported. You will learn a ton and get phenomenal training. And you’ll live in San Diego and get to spend most of your time out of the hospital at the beach!

Shout out an upperclassmen, attending, or fellow intern(s)!
- Shoutout to Mycah for taking care of our dog Josie basically this entire year!

17/12/2025

🚨 INTERN SPOTLIGHT 🚨

Name: Martin Day
Hometown: Dallas, TX
Undergrad: Spring Hill College (Mobile, AL)
Medical School: Texas A&M University College of Medicine What’s been your favorite non-work-related memory so far?
- My favorite non-work memory would have to be Halloween night. The night was a self-revolving door as we hopped through Little Italy, OB, and Hillcrest, residents drifting in and out throughout the night. It was the perfect reminder that we squeeze joy out of every window in the schedule.

What’s been your favorite work-related memory so far?
- Nothing excites me more than watching my co-interns work as a team. One of my first shifts in the ED, I watched Sophia on her MICU rotation bagging a patient in Room 6 while Sophie prepared to intubate. Seeing two interns working in sync like that was incredible. I also loved delivering babies on L&D; few things top watching parents anxiously meet their new family for the first time.

What things do you like to do living in San Diego?
- I love just about anything that Ocean Beach has to offer: running to Sunset Cliffs everyday, gazing into the sunset at the Santa Cruz Cliffs, exploring the tide pools at Cabrillo, and catching up with my friends at OB Noodle House on Sundays!

Summarize intern year so far in a nutshell!
- Intern year in a nutshell is comprehensive, welcoming, warm, diverse. I’ve explored just about every off-service rotation you can imagine, made new friends, learned new skills including surfing and placing chest tubes and central lines. Why did you pick UCSD?
- I chose UCSD because it’s an incredible learning environment. You see a wide spectrum of patients — clinically complex, socially vulnerable, culturally diverse — and you’re supported every step of the way. Our faculty and senior residents genuinely love teaching, and I have yet to encounter a specialty that isn’t collaborative.
Outside of medicine, I wanted a place with great weather and scenery, the Big Apple also known as San Diego, and a community where I could fully use and continue improving my Spanish (and Brazilian Portuguese).

09/12/2025

🚨 INTERN SPOTLIGHT 🚨

Name: Sophia Bylsma
Hometown: Arroyo Grande, CA
Undergrad: UC Berkeley
Medical School: UCSD

What’s been your favorite work-related memory so far?
- Sporadic yap sessions with my besties (cointerns) when we run into each other on random services throughout the hospital

06/12/2025

Recruitment season is in full swing, and we’ve loved meeting our potential future coresidents! We look forward to interviewing the rest of you!!
In the meantime, we’d like to formally introduce our academically-elite, high-performing, thrill-chasing family disguised as the intern class of 2025.
Stay tuned for individual spotlights!

05/07/2025

Class of 2025, we love and will miss you! 🎓💐

You left a culture of positivity and encouragement, and we’re endlessly grateful for you! To those who are staying, we’re so excited to see you around and continue to learn from you. To those who are going, we can’t wait to see what you do and will be cheering you on from the sunny beaches of San Diego! Wherever you go, keep up the great vibes!

30/06/2025

✨Senior Spotlight✨

Dr. Sidra Speaker

Hometown: Santa Cruz CA
Post Grad plans: Pain Fellowship UCSD
What I’ll miss most: The whole family here - residents, nurses, techs, attending and security

What’s your go-to doc box song/playlist?
My night shift spotty playlist call QHS

Favorite post-shift hangout spot? Post nights Lamplighter

What advice would you give to incoming interns? You deserve to be here and it’s okay that you’re not good at anything - you’ll get there!

28/06/2025

🌟 Senior Spotlight 🌟
Dr. Brandon Schabacker

Hometown: Virginia Beach VA

Post Grad plans: Staying at UCSD for Sports Medicine Fellowship!

Favorite memory: Oceanside Mansion retreats and Chew World yacht parties

What I’ll miss most: Working with all of my best friends and the Doc Box camaraderie

What’s your go-to doc box song/playlist?
Bangers Only

What advice would you give to incoming interns?
Make time to live your life despite the challenges of residency.

27/06/2025

✨Senior Spotlight✨

Dr. Nicole Franklin

Hometown: Denver, Colorado
Post Grad plans: St. Anthony’s in Denver, CO
Favorite memory: intern retreat and stargazing/bonding with my coresidents!
What I’ll miss most: bay walks and beach sunsets

What’s your go-to doc box song/playlist? Good vibes
What advice would you give to incoming interns? 4 years fly by! Explore and enjoy all of it!

Also shout out to Brandon for taking care of my cat peaches and Kylie, Taylor, Wes, Danny, and Maya for taking care of my dog Ruca while on vacations!

25/06/2025

✨Senior Spotlight✨
Dr. Drew Weinstein
Hometown: Santa Rosa, CA

Post Grad plans: Clinical Operations and Administration Fellowship at Northwestern
MBA at Kellogg School of Management

Favorite memory: Hanging out with my class in our matching unicorn onesies.

What I’ll miss most: My coresidents! I could not have made it through without them.

Pick 1-3 extra questions to answer:

Favorite post-shift hangout spot? 7 am beers and karaoke at Lamplighter

What advice would you give to incoming interns? Every patient is a learning opportunity.

Are there any residents or attendings you’d like to shout out? Dr. Danny Brownstein for being my residency twin

19/06/2025

✨Senior Spotlight✨

Dr. Nagehan Ayakta

Hometown: Istanbul, Turkey and Voorhees, NJ

Post grad: Full time at Temecula Valley Hospital

Favorite memory: Intern retreat and realizing I am surrounded by incredible people who will becone friends for life 💕

Go to doc box vibes: yacht rock 🤪

Advice to interns: spend the first year building your foundation and focus on studying off of cases and understanding the why. The efficiency and speed will come later.

What I’ll miss the most: The people! The best co-residents, so many brilliant attendings, amazing and patient nurses, the best pharmacists. I am just so grateful to the people who helped shape who I am as a physician and will miss them dearly

Address

9500 Gilman Dr

92093

Website

https://emergencymed.ucsd.edu/education/residency/index.html

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