Michala Patterson, MD

Michala (she/her/hers) grew up in rural South Carolina, where she saw firsthand how many of the people she loved lacked access to basic care. That early exposure turned into action fast. As an undergraduate at UNC, she racked up over 900 hours of service, co-founded a medical literature book club to explore medicine through story, and volunteered everywhere from a mobile health clinic for the homeless to the Duke Regional Emergency Department.

As a medical student, she kept building: she was Senior Coordinator at SHAC (the oldest student-run free clinic in the country), led patient care for uninsured and unhoused patients, and researched a low-cost pain management tool for sickle cell patients with limited healthcare access.

Michala didn't arrive at Med-Peds through a single moment; it built rotation by rotation. On her adult medicine block, she found herself reaching for pediatric eating-disorder protocols to guide a patient's care; months later, on pediatrics, she drew on adult medicine to help an 18-year-old with Crohn's disease navigate the transition out of pediatric care. Each experience kept reinforcing the same idea: the two fields aren't separate toolkits; they're one continuous skill set for meeting patients wherever they are in life. That's the version of medicine she wanted to practice.

What drew Michala to UCLA was the combination she didn't think she'd find in one place: real structural and systemic support for residents, alongside the social and personal support that Med-Peds programs are lucky to be known for. She was looking for the broadest possible training, and UCLA had built something that felt almost impossible: a program that empowers residents to care for every age, every background, and every kind of hospital or system in four years, without sacrificing resident well-being. To Michala, that's a truly unique opportunity and exactly the kind of adaptable, wide-reaching education she came here for.

Michala's commitment to underserved and Spanish-speaking communities runs through her life, including a global health rotation at a clinic in Sucre, Bolivia, a study abroad experience in Costa Rica, and ongoing plans to continue that work stateside. She also spent a year as a Team Lead COVID-19 Case Investigator for the Orange County Health Department, training and overseeing50 employees.

As Chief Advocate for her medical school class, she shaped the College Advocate system and created the "Happiness Project" to support classmates through dedicated work that earned her an Alpha Omega Alpha induction and two Gold Humanism Honor Society nominations. As a resident, Michala is working toward POCUS certification and serving on the mEDI-pEDI committee. She's still shaping her long-term interests, but hospital medicine, medical education, and continued global and underserved health work are all high on the list.

Outside the hospital, you can find Michala walking the beach with her mini dachshund, trailing after her fellow residents wherever they'll let her tag along, and eating … genuinely … everything in sight.