Program Director

Jonathan Heldt, MD

Jonathan Heldt is the Program Director of Residency Education at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. He is a southern California native who grew up in Newbury Park. He graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry from Pacific Union College before getting his M.D. from Loma Linda University. He completed his psychiatry residency training at UCLA and served as Chief Resident his fourth year. His current clincial work includes being an inpatient psychiatrist at the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital as well as attending in resident teaching clinics. He is deeply involved in education at various levels, including being the director of the Clinician-Educator Concentration and leading the David Geffen School of Medicine pre-clinical psychiatry block. He also serves as a Physician Informaticist for the UCLA Health System which involves navigating the intersection between clinical work and the electronic medical record. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his husband and two kids, sampling the many amazing cuisines that Los Angeles has to offer, traveling whenever he can (Hạ Long Bay, Cape Town, and Madeira are particular favorites), playing board games, and going bike riding. 

Track Directors

Alaina Burns, MD

Mid-Wilshire Track Director

Alaina Burns is the Associate Director of Residency Education. She grew up in New Rochelle, New York and received her B.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from Columbia University. She completed her M.D. and M.P.H. at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn before relocating to Los Angeles for the adult psychiatry residency program at UCLA, where she served as Chief Resident during her fourth year. She is the founder and medical director of the Thought Disorders Intensive Outpatient Program, which provides day treatment for individuals with psychosis. She also serves as the Medical Director for the Adult Partial Hospitalization Program and is an inpatient psychiatrist at the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. She enjoys working with individuals with severe mental illness and in hospital settings and has a particular interest in the management of schizophrenia. Dr. Burns loves exploring Los Angeles, cycling, cooking, and spending time with her wife and son.

Sabrina Reed, MD

VA Track Director

Sarah Nguyen, MD

Westwood Track Director

Sarah Nguyen is currently the Associate Program Director of the UCLA Psychiatry Residency Training Program and the Associate Director of the Integrative Psychiatry Clinic at UCLA. She earned both her BS in neurobiology and her MD from the University of California, Irvine before leaving to experience life and training on the East Coast. She completed her Adult Psychiatry Residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York followed by a fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at Yale University. Despite her love for the East Coast and spending almost a decade there, she was drawn back to southern CA and UCLA for the strong emphasis on teaching and academics. Dr. Nguyen loves teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows and has received multiple awards for her outstanding work, including the Outstanding Medical Student Teaching Award, the Clinical Attending Teaching Award, and a Kindness Award. She was selected for the David Geffen School of Medicine Medical Education Fellowship and completed the two-year fellowship in Innovations in Curriculum Design and Teaching Excellence and Medical Education Scholarship. In her prior role as Director of Resident Mentorship and Professional Development, she developed an opt-in formalized mentorship program and a professional identity formation curriculum. Her clinical interests include mood, anxiety, and cognitive disorders in adults and older adults; psychodynamic psychotherapy; family systems therapy; and the use of integrative interventions for mood and cognitive disorders in adults of all ages.

Yvonne Yang, MD, PhD

Research Track Director

Yvonne Yang is the Director of the Research Track of the Psychiatry Residency Program of the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. A California native, she earned her B.A., M.D., and Ph.D. from Yale University and Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. She returned to California for the UCLA Psychiatry Residency Research Track, and served as program chief resident during her PGY4 year. She completed the Veterans Affairs Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) Advanced Fellowship on clinical and research training in psychosis after residency. She currently holds the positions of Director of the Thoughts and Perceptions Clinic at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, Chief of the Psychosis Section at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare Center, and Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at UCLA. She is the recipient of a career development award from the VA, through which she studies the role of inflammation and oxidative stress on functional outcomes in psychotic disorders. Outside of work she enjoys rock climbing and film photography, but most of all spending time with her partner and two children.

Associate Program Directors

Philip Blumenshine, MD

Associate Program Director of Psychotherapy Training

Philip Blumenshine received a B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College and a M.Sc. in Medical Anthropology from University of Oxford. He obtained his M.D. at Weill/Cornell Medical College and completed residency at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, where he served as a chief resident. He has been involved in psychotherapy education since finishing residency. At the University of Connecticut, where he worked from 2015-2020, he developed a psychotherapy concentration for psychiatry residents; at UCLA, he has worked to standardize and simplify psychodynamic psychotherapy teaching and supervision at both VA and NPI residency programs. He supervises in both psychodynamic psychotherapy and general psychiatry. Since moving to Los Angeles, Dr. Blumenshine has continued his own education: he completed the New Center for Psychoanalysis’ (NCP) Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program in 2022 and is beginning his third year of adult psychoanalytic training, also at NCP. In his free time, Dr. Blumenshine enjoys going to theatre, eating good food, and spending time with his Sealyham Terrier, Bryn.

Jared Greenberg, MD

Associate Program Director of Community Partnerships

Jared Greenberg is currently one of the Associate Program Directors for the UCLA/VA Psychiatry Residency Program. An Assistant Clinical Professor within the department, he joins the new residency leadership team with a long history in community and public psychiatry. During his premed years he worked as a case manager for an Assertive Community Treatment team serving some of the most vulnerable residents of San Francisco. He attended medical school at USC where he enjoyed working with patients served by the county hospital and clinics, and was involved in numerous advocacy efforts including lobbying state and national representatives for healthcare access. He attended the UCLA Semel Psychiatry Residency, graduating in 2015, followed by a research and clinical fellowship at the West Los Angeles VA’s MIRECC, focused on Veterans with serious mental illness, especially those who are unhoused. From 2014 through 2017 he was the medical director and sole psychiatrist at Homeless Healthcare Los Angeles and also worked at Exodus Urgent Care, a mental health safety net organization. His passion for medical education is longstanding. He received the award for outstanding teaching by a resident in 2015, completed the UCLA Medical Education Fellowship in 2016-17, and has provided teaching and mentorship in the Clinical Educator Concentration for the past several years. In 2017 he joined the UCLA faculty and took a full-time position at Greater Los Angeles VA, where he co-directs the Thoughts and Perceptions Clinic (formerly known as Psychosis Clinic), does clinical work at the Downtown LA VA clinic, and continues to conduct mental health services research with Veterans with serious mental illness. Dr. Greenberg is originally from New Mexico and enjoys amateur landscape photography, exploring the greater LA area and world beyond with his wife and daughters, making music with friends and family, and hosting musical events at his home.

Michael Sassounian, MD

Associate Program Director of Curriculum Development

Michael Sassounian is a southern California native, born in Orange County but has spent most of his adult life in West LA. He graduated with a B.S. in Neuroscience from UCLA and graduated from UC Irvine School of Medicine. He completed residency at Harbor-UCLA where he served as chief resident with a specific interest in education and curriculum. He then completed a fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at the VA/UCLA program and transitioned to a full time position at the VA afterward. He currently works on the Consult Liaison Service at the WLA VA teaching residents and trainees from several training backgrounds. He is deeply passionate about education at all levels, including medical school to fellowship, and is heavily involved in teaching as part of his day to day activities. Outside of work, he loves to spend time playing volleyball on the beach, SCUBA diving as often as possible, and exploring the incredible food scene of Los Angeles.