Class of 2021

Nana Asabere, MD
PGY-4/Education Chief Resident
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Peds Track

I was raised in the Philadelphia suburbs but spent part of my formative years in Ghana where I came to realize my desire to treat underserved populations.  I loved the city of Philadelphia so much that I decided to stay for undergrad (proud Bryn Mawr College alumna!) and medical school.  I was easily captivated by the field of psychiatry which combined the disciplines of medicine, neuroscience, and the humanities to arm patients with the tools to live full, productive, and meaningful lives.  As someone with a strong interest in early interventions for severe mental disorders, community psychiatry, and clinical research, I can't image a better place to continue my training than at Penn.  This program offers an unparalleled diverse patient population.  Outside of medicine, I love dance of genres, hiking along the Wissahickon and writing short stories!

Mark Baptiste, MD
University of Florida College of Medicine

Hey everybody, I was born, raised, packaged and process in South Florida.  I went to the University of Florida for undergrad (Go Gators!) where I majored in biology.  Then I went to the University of South Florida for my Masters in the Medical Sciences.  Afterwards, I found myself back to the swamp where I went to the University of Florida College of Medicine for medical school.  There I learned that I enjoy psychiatry because of I'm able to fully comprehend a patient's story.  And I thought I could utilize my interest in the etiologies of behavior and perception directly to patient care.  Penn Psychiatry offers a vast array of opportunities to learn and/or lead regardless of your interest.  Mine include Community Mental Health, Forensic Psychiatry, Psychosis, and Psychotherapy.  When I have free time, I enjoy working out, playing basketball, wandering aimlessly around Philadelphia and listening to music.

Philip Campbell, MD, PhD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Research Track

I was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada and went to McGill University in Montreal, Quebec for my undergraduate studies in Chemistry.  Interested in both patient care and biomedical research, I attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY for its Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD).  For part of my thesis work, I modeled a human neuropathy in zebrafish, gaining experience in developmental neuroscience, molecular genetics, cell biology, and animal modeling.  With an interest in neuroscience and behavior, psychiatry was a natural fit, and my interests continued to grow through my psych rotations at Einstein.  I am super excited to have joined Penn Psychiatry and to be living in Philadelphia.  I am especially interested in the Research Track at Penn and have interests in psychosis and molecular genetics of psychiatric disease.  Outside of psychiatry, I love exploring Philadelphia with my wife, spending time with our Toy Australian Shepherd, Bowie, playing/watching hockey, and watching trashy reality TV.

Lea Hecht, MD, MPH
PGY-1 Chief Resident
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Hi! I'm Lea.  I grew up outside of Philadelphia and went to college at Wesleyan University, where I majored in film studies.  After a few years of traveling and volunteering, I found my way back to the Philadelphia area and to medicine through a post-bac program at Bryn Mawr College.  As a medical student at Penn, I became interested in how people's social contexts influence their internal well-being and vice versa, and decided to pursue a Master in Public Health degree.  It was clear to me that psychiatry was the best way to combine the tools I developed through the MPH and medical school with my love of personal stories such as those I once explored through film.  I'm so thankful to be continuing my training at Penn alongside such inspiring mentors and peers.  At this time, I find just about everything in psychiatry exciting, but am particularly interested in ethics, end of life issues, and community psychiatry.  In my spare time, I cuddle with my dog, explore the Schuylkill River banks, and spend too much money at amazing Philly restaurants with my co-residents.

Yin Li, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

I was born in Shanghai, China, and moved to NYC with my parents as a kid.  I was a huge nerd (duh) and decided I wanted to study biology after watching a PBS documentary about the discovery of the double helix.  I went to Harvard for college, where I discovered public radio and This American Life.  In 2008, I came to Philadelphia for Penn's MD-PhD program.  I have come to love this City-its food scene, its people, and its manageable size and pace.  And of course, it's where I met my wife Anna, with whom I have adopted a one-eyed pug, co-parented two kitties, and fostered numerous litters of kittens.  I decided to stay at Penn for psychiatry because of the amazing people — both faculty and residents — and the strong research scene.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do with life, but I am excited to be exploring psychiatry's many possibilities at Penn.

Karina Martinez Juarez, MD
University of California, Davis School of Medicine

I was born in Mexico and raised in a small town in the Central Valley of California. In college, my fascination of the human mind led me to graduate with degrees in psychology and biology. After graduation, I was inspired by the neuroscience and patient care necessary to heal psychiatric diseases working at the Medical Investigation for Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute.  My excitement for the field has translated into broader interests within the field. In addition to my general interest for the field, I see my unique bi-cultural background as an opportunity to make a meaningful impact within minority populations by breaking down stigma surrounding mental health and delivering bilingual competent cultural care. Penn’s culture encourages educational excellence, leadership, advocacy, and breadth of clinical diversity. This spirit strongly resonated with me as an applicant and was a driving force in my decision to come to Penn.

Gwendolyn Messer, MD
Emory University School of Medicine
Post Peds Portal

Before I joined the Psychiatry Post Pediatric Portal Fellowship at CHOP/Penn, I was the medical director at Children’s Research Triangle in Chicago.  I worked with a multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals providing assessment and treatment for children with prenatal exposure to drugs/alcohol, complex trauma, and emerging mental health disorders.  My practice was entirely focused on behavioral health, and it was about 7 years ago when I first toyed with the idea of becoming a child and adolescent psychiatrist.  Over those 7 years, I got involved in a number of projects trying to find a different path to satisfy my professional goals that didn’t involve a return to residency!  I expanded my practice, I taught, I joined committees…but I kept coming back to the fact that I want to be a child and adolescent psychiatrist.  So, 25 years after completing my residency in pediatrics, I took the plunge and returned to fellowship at CHOP/Penn.  Yes, it’s been difficult and stressful but (with the exception of one particularly challenging night on call!) I’ve not regretted my decision.  The opportunities at Penn and CHOP are incredible and I know I’m in the perfect place to get the skills and experience I need.  When I’m not working, I’ve enjoyed exploring the city or puttering around the old fixer-upper house my boyfriend and I bought when we moved to Philly.

Sarita Metzger, MD, MPH
Wright State University, Boonshoft School of Medicine

Hello everyone! Although I was born in the United States, I was raised on the island of Trinidad. Growing up I was fascinated with the way we think and I wanted to be like the psychiatrist Dr. Huang on Law and Order. Who knew, except perhaps my mother, that this would prove to be more than a childhood curiosity that I would outgrow.

I came back to the US to attend Princeton University (ORANGE AND BLACK!! GO TIGERS!!) and obtained my undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering. After this I worked briefly as a nursing assistant for older adults with neurocognitive disorders then attended medical school knowing I wanted to work with underserved populations. It was in medical school my interest in working with the LGBT community grew and I decided to pursue my MPH at George Washington University to gain skills in advocacy so that I could more effectively serve this community. It was also through my MPH that the immense need in the LGBT community for competent mental health care became more salient to me; I had to become a Psychiatrist.

I specifically wanted to train in Philadelphia to take advantage of the wealth of social and professional resources here and immerse myself in the wonderfully diverse population. Culture has such a huge impact on a person's perception of mental health and illness and being in this diverse city exposes me to a variety of cultures, viewpoints and values.

I started my Psychiatric training at Drexel but unfortunately was suddenly displaced when the historic Hahnemann University Hospital in Center City closed. Penn provided an excellent environment to continue my training. As an aspiring community psychiatrist, I find their commitment to community mental health care energizing. However, having a well-rounded base skillset is important to me so I was drawn to the varied clinical experiences offered here.

Ewurama Sackey, MD
PGY-3 Chief Resident
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Peds Track

I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada.  I attended the University of Pennsylvania where I majored in Health & Societies.  After college, I joined Teach for America and taught high school biology in the 9^th ward of New Orleans.  After that, I completed a post-bac at WashU in St. Louis while teaching in north St. Louis.  I returned to Penn for med school (yes, I'm a Penn lifer).  During medical school, I volunteered with adolescents at Covenant House and conducted pediatric TB research in Botswana through the Botswana-UPenn Partnership program.  Teaching and volunteering with youth who have had limited access to mental health care has made me interested in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Community Psychiatry.  In my free time, I enjoy live music, growing my vinyl collection, kickboxing and roadtrips.

Danielle Simpson, MD
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and spent a large part of my childhood stomping around in the mud on the Ohio River and reading books about faraway places.  I studied Biology and English Literature at Hillsdale College in rural Michigan, before heading to the big city for medical college at Columbia.  I had planned on entering primary care, but psychiatry captured my mind and heart.  I'm very interested in integrated care and cultural psychiatry, and I initially thought that Penn's incredible opportunities in psychotherapy training and public psychiatry would be my favorite things about the program.  However, within days of arriving in Philly, my amazing intern class became my new favorite thing.  In my free time, I've also been overly excited about my new back porch and garden, and have spent most of my days off reading on the porch and trying to chase squirrels away from my squash.

Erika Sims, MD
PGY-2 Chief Resident
Ohio State University College of Medicine

Before moving to Philly, I lived in the Midwest my whole life.  I grew up in a suburb outside of Detroit, Michigan and then moved to St. Louis, Missouri for undergrad, where I studied neurobiology and French at Washington University in St. Louis.  Between undergrad and medical school, I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a year doing neurology research.  For medical school, I attended the Ohio State University in Columbus (go Bucks!).  I decided to come to Penn, because I loved the people I met here and everything the city has to offer.  I spend my free time eating at new restaurants, hanging out with friends, bringing on TV series, and walking around different parts of the city.

Elaine Yingcheng Xu, MD
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Hi! My name is Elaine. I was born in Hunan, China and moved to the States with my family when I was 5. I grew up mostly in the Boston suburbs and found myself liking a lot of things: performing arts, literature, biology, all sorts of music…  I eventually found myself at WashU in St. Louis where I got a taste of Mid-Western hospitality and savored the slower pace of life when I could. I studied Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology, an interdisciplinary look at the mind-brain-behavior connection, and danced a lot. My family moved to Shanghai for work during this time and so I found myself uprooted in a way.  Ultimately, I came to Philadelphia for medical school and came to love this city. Penn had a lot to offer, and it was here that I discovered a curiosity and passion for psychiatry. I chose to stay at Penn for residency because of the friendly and lively residents and the great clinicians and teachers I had worked with. I have found that this program and its leaders are very supportive of our aspirations and needs as individuals, which I think are critical for our development as physicians and future-psychiatrists. In my spare time, I enjoy watching TV, trying new restaurants, and spending time with my loved ones. My personal goal this year is to make more time for photography!