Current Residents

Name: Alan Chajet
College: BS, Integrative Neuroscience, SUNY Binghamton
Medical School: State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Alan and Marlene Norton College of Medicine
Bio: Alan has committed himself to service throughout his academic and professional career holding several volunteer positions that have richly contributed to the transferable skill sets required to successfully work within a patient-centered model; with experiences ranging from providing company and care to those at the end of life, to serving as a volunteer EMT-B and Ambulance Dispatcher, he finds motivation in the opportunities that affirm his ability to positively impact another's life. Alan’s appreciation for diversity of identity and thought was founded in his experience of attending Argentinian Saturday School from pre-K through grade 12. By way of this experience, Alan was able to connect with his family's home culture and language, later becoming an invaluable asset to him when connecting and communicating with his patients during his third year of medical school. On several occasions he was the only person on service who was readily able to translate for his patients.

Hobbies: Alan has swum competitively and enjoys playing basketball. He is a lifelong consumer of anything sci-fi, fantasy, or anime and is also a budding fan of horror but he also loves audio-theater horror podcasts. If he’s not listening to a podcast, he’s probably listening to hip-hop or reggaetón.

Name: Zachary Cohen
College: BA, Liberal Arts, St. John’s College
Medical School:
Bio: His undergraduate background was in the humanities. He completed a post-baccalaureate in pre-medicine at the George Washington University and will be soon graduating from the George Washington University of School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Zach believes that being an effective communicator is absolutely central to being a good doctor and has helped shape how he approaches the world and present himself to it. He has led small group discussions for first year medical students focused on the ethics and responsibilities of physicians. Zach’s hard work on his research project comparing treatments of patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome underscored how critical the process of clinical medical research is in expanding and improving current practice standards and how the standard of care is laid out.

Hobbies: Zach has engaged in competitive soccer and has played the violin since the age of five. He loves listening to music and reading. Zach picked up dancing in college and particularly enjoyed swing dancing and was the waltz club president. After graduating, he continued to dance, though more casually and would go out as much as with friends as their schedules would allow in dance events. If you haven’t tried it, Zach highly recommends it!

Name: Jabbarrius Ervin
College: BS, Chemistry, College of Charleston
Medical School: University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville
Bio: He has consistently demonstrated his passion for diversity, inclusion, and representation through various initiatives. He has actively participated in organizations promoting the success, connection, and enrollment of minority students during his undergraduate and medical school years, primarily through mentoring. His dedication to aiding others in their pursuit of objectives is apparent in his volunteer work and mentorship, including his role as a transition coach for Student Ambassadors at College of Charleston and Legacy Early College in Greenville, SC. He has displayed his leadership skills through numerous roles on executive boards and committees. In these positions, which include treasurer, secretary, vice president, and general board member, he also met the demands of a rigorous education. He has served as a Dean’s Ambassador as a member on the Admissions Evaluation Committee at USCSOM Greenville.

Hobbies: He is a first-generation college graduate. Jabbarrius loves spending time with friends and loved ones. He enjoys watching TV, movies, music, social media and most recently podcast. He also has developed a keen interest in meditation and hot yoga.

Name: Danielle Healey
College: BS, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Rhodes College
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Bio: Danielle was the recipient of The Presidential Scholarship and Summit Scholarship for academic excellence. Danielle’s commitment to community service and advocacy is remarkable and speaks to her broad leadership and impressive skill set in working with different patient populations. She has served as a peer mentor to classmates and helped to train academic faculty in peer coaching and supporting medical students. She has worked as a community outreach coordinator and helped organize events promoting sexual education and reproductive social justice for disempowered and underserved communities. Danielle prides herself on connecting and communicating well with the people she serves. She has served as a student interviewer at George Washington for applicants to the medical school.

Hobbies: She plays video games competitively and is ranked Masters in the League of Legends which equates to the top 0.5%. She enjoys painting and drawing with acrylic paint, watercolor, pencil, and charcoal. She also enjoys hiking waterfalls and forest trails in Oregon, cooking Indian food and trying new recipes and collects fossils. She is a foodie who loves to discover new restaurants and is an avid traveler having visited over 30 countries.

Name: Yumin Kim
College: BA, Biology and Music, University of Virginia
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Bio: Yumin Kim will soon be graduating from the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences where she was inducted to the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Society and was a recipient of the Health Services Scholarship at GW. Yumin embraces active listening and therapeutic alliance formation as key to deliver effective, respectful care. As lead scribe in a large urban ER prior to medical school and as student leader within GW’s student run healthcare clinic for underserved communities facing substance use disorders and sex work related healthcare needs, she has witnessed the power of effective listening and trust-building to improve health outcomes. She hopes to pursue a career committed to serving these communities as a physician. She currently provides mentoring and peer-to-peer support for third year medical students throughout their core clinical rotations as a service offered by the Office of Student Support at her medical school.

Hobbies: A trained violist and former music major in college, she hopes to leverage her own varied interests and talents when caring for her future patients in a respectful, collaborative, whole-person care approach. She enjoys playing the viola and piano, being a foodie, continuing to improve her poker game, working out at Orange Theory, hanging out with her dog, and tending to her indoor plants.

Name: Shelby Warren
College: BA, Spanish and BS, Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior, University of California, Davis
Medical School: University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Bio: Shelby Warren will soon be graduating from University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. She is part of her medical school's PRIME-Health Equity dual degree track and completed a Master’s of Science in Health Care Management from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School between her 3rd and 4th years of medical school. She is drawn towards and is passionate about advocating for underrepresented populations, for equity health access and delivery and for parity for mental health services. She has served as Director of Training for their Medical Student Accessible Peer Support Program (MAPS), Continuity Clinical Manager of the USC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic Project, Co-President of the Medical Students for Justice Interest Group and oversaw ten chapters of the Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP). Shelby’s leadership in these roles speaks to service to her school and community in a variety of capacities. She completed a two-week internship with former Assembly Member and now California Secretary of State, Dr. Shirley Weber. She has been inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. She is certified as a medical Spanish interpreter.

Hobbies: Shelby is a year-round softball player through the Amateur Sports Alliance of North America (ASANA). An avid outfielder, she has competed in 13 tournaments across 4 states and was voted team MVP during the 2022 World Series in Washington D.C.

Name: Amari Carter [he/him]
College: BS, Biological Sciences, The Tuskegee University
Medical School: Howard University School of Medicine
Bio: Amari demonstrated a continued commitment to service through his
extensive volunteerism while at Howard. Most notably, at the Adams Place Men’s Homeless Shelter (which offers a hot dinner and beds to the underserved community), he ultimately became a student liaison where he managed schedules and coordinated volunteers for different events. Amari is committed to mentorship and enabling exposure to the field of medicine to underrepresented and underserved students. As a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, he has consistently served as a mentor and provided leadership to disadvantaged black male youths throughout the Atlanta and D.C. metropolitan areas.

Hobbies: Cross-platform video games, with his favorite being Apex legends, where he is currently ranked Platinum on the global servers; Shonen manga, anime, and reading comic books

Name: John Clark
College: BA, Psychology, New York University
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Bio: John Clark is currently a PGY-1 in the Tri-County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Psychiatry Residency Training Program and will be joining us as a PGY-2 in July 2024. He completed a Post-Baccalaureate in the Premedical Program at Scripps College. John articulates a longstanding fascination with the human mind, its ability to cope and manage grief, and the pathologies that can disturb these processes. He served as the President of the Psychiatry Interest Group and Associate Editor for Capital Psychiatry, the e-magazine of the Washington Psychiatric Society. He organized speakers and presentations for students interested in psychiatry during the Covid-19 pandemic. John’s first dream was to become a guitarist like Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. His aspirations shifted towards medicine as he continued to write his own songs and even recorded a short album.

Hobbies: He enjoys reading, basketball, reading and writing poetry and video games.

Name: Gary Hovsepian [he/him]
College: BS, Biology, The George Washington University
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Bio: Gary prides himself on connecting and communicating well with the people he serves through his experiences working in retail, providing comfort to inpatient hospice patients, engaging in ethnic communities, tutoring, and mentoring. Through Gary’s Armenian heritage and experiences with the greater Armenian community, he has gained an appreciation for the unique medical needs and considerations of subpopulations of ethnic minorities. He strives to apply his insights in his future work to provide culturally sensitive, patient centered care.

Hobbies: His hobbies and interests include plant propagation, beginner ukuleleist, 10+ guitarist, weight training, medication, language learning and is  an avid manga reader.

Name: Benjamin McMahon [he/him]
College: BS, Biology; BS, History, University of Florida
Medical School: Tulane University School of Medicine
Bio: 

Ben, raised in Tallahassee, FL, holds dual bachelor's degrees in Biology and History fromthe University of Florida, with a focus on disability studies and Holocaust history. His noteworthy research on the experimental transmissibility of ALS at the Borchelt Laboratory secured a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, leading to clinical research on neurotoxicity models of Huntington’s disease in Berlin, Germany at Charité Hospital. He then joined the National
Institutes of Health for a two-year stint studying the clinical relationship between Gaucher disease and Parkinson’s disease before heading back down south to join his twin sister in New Orleans to attend Tulane School of Medicine. While at Tulane, Ben was the executive coordinator for the Compassion Prison Project, a grassroots organization dedicated to
establishing trauma-informed connections between ambassadors and individuals who are incarcerated. He was also awarded the Tulane Klingenstein Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship prior to hosting a workshop at international conferences titled "A National State of Emergency in Children’s Mental Health: Now What? A Practical Guide on Advocacy." In addition to his rigorous residency training, Ben is pursuing his MBA through the GW School of Business.

Hobbies: Running, amateur woodworking, evening walks, talking with friends, learning American Sign Language from his sister, and fishing with his dad

Name: Justin Sevier [he/him]
College: BA, Spanish language, Literature and Culture, The George Washington University
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Bio: Justin entered medical school with eight years of paramedic
and clinical experience. Through years spent as a medical technician in
inpatient psychiatric units and integrative medicine clinics, and then
through his medical school rotations in our psychiatry department,
he has witnessed advances in the foundational science and clinical
practice of psychiatry and envisions a career contributing to continued
growth in the field.

Hobbies: Exercise, meditation, camping/hiking/backpacking

Clinical Interests: Exercise, meditation, sleep hygiene, ancestral diets

Name: Yuto Tobin Miyaji [he/him]
College: BS, Biochemistry, Binghamton University
Medical School: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bio: Yuto was involved during the COVID pandemic by volunteering his time to deliver groceries, create care packages for mothers, and tutor children for families working in healthcare. He maintained his diligence through health concerns within the family; his father was placed in a nursing home during his first year of medical school, and he ran errands for his 99-year-old grandmother bi-weekly during the height of the pandemic. Yuto is active in the soccer community, playing in a semi-pro/amateur NYC league in medical school where he built strong relationships and provided guidance to underclassmen. He is a member of FC Japan, which plays in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League and consists of semi-pro/amateur teams in NYC.

Hobbies: Running, hiking, snowboarding, salsa dancing, photography, cooking, and baking

Name: Ramsin Yadgar [he/him]
College: BS, Electrical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Bio: Ramsin graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in
Electrical Engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara before attending GW for medical school. Prior to medicine, Ramsin had a successful career working as an electrical engineer in a Fortune 500 company. He decided to change his career to his true passion of becoming a doctor and went on to complete his prerequisites for medical school at the Scripps College Post Baccalaureate Premedical Program in Claremont, California. Ramsin has had extensive research experience and publications, starting from his senior engineering design project in college that culminated in a publication that has been cited over 300 times. His interests include patient education and advocacy, minority health, medical innovation/technology, and mentorship.

Hobbies: Running, high-intensity interval training, skateboarding,
cars, architecture, design, and exploring new places to eat 

Clinical Interests: Addiction psychiatry, cross-cultural psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and neuropsychiatry

Name: Martin Clark, MD [he/him]
College: BS, Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University
Medical School: George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Bio: 

Martin began his career as a mental health technician at Tucker Pavilion Psychiatric Hospital and enrolled in a post- baccalaureate pre-health sciences program while working full time at Tucker. Through his work with student interest groups and as a rehabilitation specialist and crisis intervention specialist on an Assertive Community Treatment in DC, he worked with adults experiencing homelessness and chronic mental illness. He has received awards and recognition for excellence in leadership in mental health delivery and organization both in the community and during medical school. Martin has shown steadfast commitment to providing mental health support for vulnerable patients and populations, and he hopes to continue his work in his future career.

Clinical Interests: Community psychiatry, assertive community treatment, addiction medicine, evolutionary psychiatry, and psychosomatic medicine

Hobbies: Long distance backpacking (hiked 2,650 mile of the Pacific Crest Trail and 1,250 miles of the Appalachian Trail), bicycle touring (completed section of The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Canada to Montana), trail running, and electronic music production

Name: Hira Mohyuddin, MD [she/her]
College: BA, Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Virginia
Medical School: George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Bio: Hira has been a member of a multidisciplinary team of medical students, residents and faculty for the past twelve years, during which time, she has participated in research projects, presented at national conferences and has multiple publications to her credit. She is passionate about advocacy and believes her experience as an intern for former senator and current Vice President Kamala Harris was instrumental in helping her realize that she is drawn towards advocating for underrepresented populations, for equity health access and delivery, and for parity for mental health services. She has served as president for three student organizations in medical school (William H. Beaumont Medical Research Honor Society, Psychiatry Interest Group, Art in Medicine Club) and is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Wellness Committee. Hira’s leadership in these roles speaks to service to her school and community in a variety of capacities. She is also a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

Hobbies: Tae Kwon Do (where she has a black belt!), kickboxing, reading, traveling around the world

Clinical Interests: Forensic psychiatry, consultation-liaison psychiatry, and interventional psychiatry

Name: Marisa Penn, MD [she/her]
College: BS, Neuroscience with Chemistry and Psychology Minors, Duke University
Medical School: Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Bio: Marisa recently graduated from Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. She completed her B.S. in Neuroscience with Chemistry & Psychology Minors from Duke University. Marisa has developed an interest in neural networks and their implications in psychological pathology, and became involved in a variety of research in brain pathology and neuromodulation as a treatment for psychiatric disorders, including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She is passionate about mentorship, and integrated opportunities to give back through mentorship in her various leadership roles during medical school, as an anatomy tutor and mentor in medical school for first year medical students, and as a participant in a various mentorship programs for premedical students, elementary children interested in STEM, and underserved communities. Marisa first became interested in psychiatry prior to medical school when she worked in an inpatient psychiatric facility alongside a multidisciplinary team leading dialectical behavior therapy groups and assisting patients as they adjusted to medications and processed their traumas and diagnoses. She later came to love psychiatry because it allows her to explore the intersections of medicine with social issues within the legal and education systems, and make significant impacts on patients' quality of life. 

Hobbies: Marisa has been slowly turning her apartment into a jungle with her extensive houseplant collection. During her free time, you can find her re-watching The Office for the 100th time, exploring the city through food (especially brunch!), frequenting overpriced coffee shops, or hanging out near a body of water.

Clinical Interests: Neuromodulation, child and adolescent psychiatry, and consultation-liaison psychiatry

Name: Vignesh Sadras, MD [he/him]
College: BS, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University 
Medical School: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Bio: Vignesh provided GED tutoring to people who were incarcerated and experiencing mental illness at the Baltimore City Detention Center through the Johns Hopkins University Jail Tutorial Project. Through his experience, he recognized his own biases and the truth of human dignity. He facilitated engagement with an East Baltimore community advocacy group to repair the historic and current injustices experienced by this community of color and it has impressed upon him his responsibility as a physician to advocate for social justice. Vignesh led a 30-minute weekly meditation group for the entire East Baltimore Johns Hopkins community for participants to learn about, practice, and reflect on approaches to Dharmic religions. Guiding this group has taught him how to create a safe and engaging learning environment, how to facilitate group discussions, and it has also deepened his own practice of meditation.
 

Hobbies: He enjoys singing, especially spiritually oriented songs and Carnatic (South Indian Classical) music, appreciates books written by visionaries in spirituality and social justice (Swami Chinmayananda, Marisela Gomez, Bryan Stevenson)

Clinical Interests: Spirituality in Psychiatry, Homelessness

Name: Rina Samant, MD [she/her]
College: BA, Psychology, The George Washington University
Medical School: The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Bio: Rina Samant is originally from Michigan. She received her B.A. in
Psychology from the George Washington University, where she
also attended medical school. Along with the M.D. program, she
completed a Scholarly Concentration in Health Policy. Between her
first and second years of medical school, she was selected to
participate in the national Health Policy Fellowship Initiative. She
completed an internship in the Government Affairs division of the
American Academy of Ophthalmology. She authored a letter to be
circulated among organizations that will work with the Academy to
advocate for Medicare coverage of visual assistive devices for
individuals with low vision. She also co-authored the paper “A Call
to Cease the Use of Slave Analogies in Medical Literature”, which
explores the use of the term “master-slave” in medical literature
and proposes alternate terminology. She is completing her PGY 1
in Internal Medicine at Piedmont Macon Medical Center. Rina is
excited to pursue psychiatry at GW because of the positive impact
that mental health care can have on every aspect of a patient’s life.
Her clinical interests include inpatient child and adolescent
psychiatry.

Hobbies: Rina loves to read, especially biographies and books
about European history. She also enjoys solving sudoku puzzles
and word searches.

Clinical Interests: Child and adolescent psychiatry

Name: Aryan Tafreshi, MD [he/him]
College: BA, Biological Sciences, Binghamton University
Medical School: State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University

Bio: Aryan played a pivotal role in refugee care during his time as a medical student as he had provided translation services in Dari, assessed patients in the clinical setting, and helped connect Afghan patients with health-services after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021. He remains committed to refugee care and is interested in global mental health as he is currently involved in GW’s Global Mental Health Equity Lab under the supervision of Dr. Brandon Kohrt. He is an active singer-songwriter and recognizes the important role music and arts can play in mental health as it can be both an outlet and a way to connect with others' shared experiences. 

Hobbies: Sound Design, Music Production, Audio Engineering, Vocal Recording & Songwriting, Fishing, Kayaking, Iranian/Persian Culture and Associated Festivals/Holidays; Reading Russian Literature, Fantasy and Magic Realism (Favorite author is Haruki Murakami)

Clinical Interests: Global Mental Health, Translational Medicine, Refugee Care