Faculty

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM

Joseph Esherick, M.D., FAAFP, FHM is the Director of Medicine, a hospitalist and ICU physician at the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California.  He is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Family Medicine at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

He received his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, and completed a family practice residency at the Ventura County Medical Center, Ventura, California. He is board certified in family medicine and the author of the Tarascon Primary Care Pocketbook, Tarascon Hospital Medicine Pocketbook, Tarascon Medical Procedures Pocketbook, Tarascon Clinical Review Seriew: Internal Medicine, Procedures: Hospital Collection iPhone App, Current Practice Guidelines in Primary Care, and the “Hospitalist Procedures” section editor for “Procedures for Primary Care, 3rd Edition, and numerous medical reference cards.

He was the lead instructor of the Hospitalist Procedures course for the National Procedures Institute between 2004 and 2011.  Dr. Esherick was also the Co-Director of the 2015 Society of Hospital Medicine’s Precourse “Medical Procedures for Hospitalists.”  In addition, Dr. Esherick is an editorial board member for Tarascon Publishing, is an expert reviewer for the Medical Board of California and has won numerous teacher of the year awards from the Ventura Family Medicine Residency Program.

Richard Rutherford, M.D., FAAFP

Dr. Rutherford graduated with honors from the University of Washington School of Medicine in 2001 and went to Ventura County Medical Center in California for his Family Practice internship and residency.  He served as faculty in the Stanislaus Family Practice Residency where he practiced and supervised residents in outpatient family medicine, obstetrical deliveries, and inpatient/intensive care. He currently works as an attending physician in the department of Emergency Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center. He also served as Medical Director of Quality for Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital.

His professional skills include a variety of emergency and intensive care procedures including fracture/dislocation reduction, airway management, chest thoracostomy and thoracentesis, vascular access, lumbar puncture, point of care ultrasound use, and procedural sedation. His awards include the Theodore Phillips Award for Excellence in Family Medicine, the Resident Teaching Award from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the Stanislaus Family Practice Residency Outstanding Faculty Award and the Ventura County Outstanding Resident Teacher Award.

Kyle Brooks, M.D.

Kyle Brooks, MD graduated from St. George’s University School of Medicine with honors in 2008 and completed his Emergency Medicine internship and residency at the Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield, CA in 2012.  He currently works as an Emergency Physician at a Level 2 Trauma Center, Los Robles Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, CA  and Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, CA.  Dr. Brooks is the physician liaison to  the Ventura County EMS system and is an active member of the Prehospital Care, Stroke, and STEMI committees. Additionally, he teaches  the Ventura County Paramedics Advanced Airway courses.

At Antelope Valley Hospital, his duties include bedside teaching of UCLA Emergency Medicine residents in emergency medicine and emergency procedures.

Kyle has a particular expertise in advanced airways management, ultrasound-guided vascular access, trauma resuscitation and point-of-care ultrasound including vascular ultrasound and the RUSH and E-FAST exams.

Clare Donnelly-Taylor, M.D.

Clare Donnelly-Taylor, M.D. received her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine, Boston MA.  She went on to complete her residency in family medicine at the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California.  She has also received a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

She currently works as a hospitalist at both the Santa Paula Hospital in Santa Paula, CA and the Ventura County Medical Center.  At the Ventura County Medical Center, Dr. Donnelly-Taylor is a hospitalist attending who supervises and teaches current family medicine residents in inpatient procedures.  She has a particular expertise in ultrasound-guided procedures including thoracentesis, paracentesis and vascular access including ultrasound-guided central line placement, ultrasound-guided peripheral IV placement, and arterial line placement.

Stuart Forman, M.D., FAAFP

Stuart Forman, MD, FAAFP graduated from the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine in 1990 and the Contra Costa Family Medicine Residency Program in 1993.  He is the medical director of critical care services at Contra Costa Regional Medical Center in Martinez, California and is an attending physician at the Contra Costa Family Medicine Program.  At various times in the last 25 years he has worked in surgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics, and gastroenterology, as well as the family medicine clinic.

Dr. Forman is a phenomenal and passionate educator who has taught bedside procedures for 20 years with over 10 years national teaching experience.  He was the founder of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine group on hospital medicine and procedural training.  In addition, he has been the lead instructor of the Hospitalist Procedures Course for the National Procedures Institute since 2011.  His current relevant professional interests are critical care medicine, ultrasound, and gastroenterology procedures.

Gideon Gorit, M.D.

Dr. Gideon R. Gorit graduated from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and completed his residency in family medicine at the Ventura County Medical Center.  He works as a hospitalist and attending physician at Santa Paula Hospital and Ventura County Medical Center.  He supervises family medicine residents on the inpatient medicine service and trains them how to perform all bedside procedures. In addition to his medical background, he holds a MSc in Public Health and MSc in Health, Community and Development from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the London School of Economics and Political Science, respectively. He has also received a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene at LSHTM.

His interests include global health and procedural medicine.   Dr. Gorit has a special expertise in ultrasound-guided procedures including thoracentesis, paracentesis and vascular access including ultrasound-guided central line placement, ultrasound-guided peripheral IV placement, intraosseous line placement, and arterial line placement.

Ali Javed, M.D., FCCP

Dr. Javed graduated from Dow Medical College, in Karachi, Pakistan. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2007, followed by a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship at Saint Louis University in 2010.

He served as core faculty at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) / Truman Medical Center, where he supervised medical students, residents and fellows in outpatient and inpatient Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He served as faculty for the yearly “procedure-course” for Internal Medicine Residents at the Simulation center at UMKC.  He also taught the Percutaneous tracheostomy course for the Pulmonary/Critical Care fellows at UMKC.

Currently, he is an Attending Physician at Mercy Hospital in St Louis which is a level one trauma center.  He trains and supervises Critical Care Fellows, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Transitional year and Ob/Gyn residents on their Intensive care rotations.  He trains these resident physicians and fellows in critical care medicine as well as all bedside procedures.  He is a core faculty member for the following critical care courses for fellows:  the Difficult Airway Course, the Critical Care Echocardiography Course, Critical Care Ultrasound Course, and the Mechanical Ventilation Course.

His procedure skills include point-of-care ultrasound, airway management, ultrasound-guided vascular access, tube thoracostomy, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture, and paracentesis.  His medical interests include disaster medicine, medical simulation and education, information technology and physician leadership.

Jordana Kaban, D.O.

Jordana Kaban, D.O. earned her medical degree at Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (AZCOM). She then completed an Emergency Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.  Following residency, she did an Emergency Ultrasound Fellowship at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York and became RDMS certified in Abdominal Ultrasound.

Dr. Kaban worked as Emergency Medicine faculty at North Shore University Hospital and was part of their Emergency Ultrasound Division, teaching Point-of-care-ultrasound to residents and fellows.  Following this, she joined the Emergency Department core faculty at University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) / Truman Medical Center where she was the Emergency Ultrasound Director, supervising emergency medicine residents, and overseeing their POCUS education.

Currently she works as an Emergency Medicine attending at the Ventura County Medical Center and is the Co-Ultrasound Director for the department. Dr. Kaban runs the POCUS Quality Assurance program for the department, reviewing ultrasound imaging and documentation. She also works regularly with the Family Medicine residents, teaching POCUS skills at bedside for both medical management and image-guided procedures.  In addition to her ultrasound expertise, Jordana is an airway management expert.

Mark Lepore, M.D.

Mark Lepore, MD is the Associate Director of Medicine, a hospitalist and intensivist at the Ventura County Medical Center.  He is also the Director of Medicine at the Santa Paula Hospital in Santa Paula, CA.  He received his medical degree from Boston University, and completed his residency at the Ventura Family Practice Residency Program in 2002.  He served as a faculty member at the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center in Lawrence Massachusetts prior to returning to full-time inpatient practice at Ventura.  He served as the Chief of Staff at the Hospitalito Atitlan in Santiago Atitlan for six months in 2007, after living through a natural disaster in the same region in 2005.

Dr. Lepore received outstanding teaching awards from both the Greater Lawrence Family Medicine Residency and the Ventura County Medical Center, the latter largely because of his authoring of the “ICU Green Book”, a comprehensive ICU teaching tool.

He is a specialist in airway management, vascular access, tube thoracostomy, paracentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture, procedural sedation and critical care medicine.

Nate Leu, M.D.

Dr. Leu earned his medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, IL, and completed his clinical ultrasound fellowship at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. In the upcoming year, he will be a senior associate consultant and ultrasound director at Mayo Clinic Northwest Wisconsin.

Dr. Leu has lectured and led workshops at national conferences including the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the American Thoracic Society (ATS), Emergency Medicine Reviews and Perspectives (EMRAP), and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM). He has been faculty on numerous workshops including cadaver labs, transesophageal echocardiography, advanced echocardiography and lung ultrasound, critical care ultrasound, emergency procedures, and regional anesthesia. His passions including point-of-care ultrasound education and regional anesthesia.

Ted Mandryk, M.D.

Dr. Mandryk graduated from the University of California, Irvine Medical School with AOA honors in 1987 and completed his residency in Family Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center in 1990.  He has worked in Emergency Medicine for his entire career, including over 20 years as an Attending Physician at the Ventura County Medical Center, a level two Trauma Center.  In this capacity, he trains Family Medicine Residents who desire to practice in a setting where a full spectrum of clinical skills are required.   These include airway management, vascular access, trauma management, point-of-care ultrasound, emergency orthopedic procedures, tube thoracostomy, paracentesis, thoracentesis and lumbar puncture.

Ben Mati, M.D.

Benjamin Mati, MD earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA and completed his family medicine residency at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California including a year as chief resident.  Dr. Mati has also completed the acute care fellowship at the Ventura County Medical Center spending an extra year training in critical care, emergency medicine, and with the trauma service.  In addition, Dr. Mati has successfully completed a 12-month fellowship in advanced ultrasound.  He is currently a full-time attending physician splitting his time as an emergency medicine attending and an ICU attending at the Ventura County Medical Center.

He is an exceptional instructor of bedside procedures and has a special expertise in point-of-care ultrasound, ultrasound-guided vascular access, and airway management.

Jamil Muasher, M.D.

Dr. Muasher earned his medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA and completed a radiology residency at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine including a year as the chief resident. He subsequently completed a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at the University of Virginia.  He was a full-time interventional radiologist at the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, CA and the Santa Paula Hospital in Santa Paula, CA between 2012 and 2016.  Currently, he is a full-time interventional radiologist working in several hospitals in both Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Dr. Muasher is a specialist in ultrasound-guided vascular access (e.g., PICC line placement, ultrasound-guided central venous catheter insertion, and tunnelled dialysis catheter insertion) and ultrasound-guided bedside procedures (e.g., ultrasound-guided thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar puncture, chest tube placement, and pigtail catheter insertion)

Jamil Muasher is an enthusiastic educator and goes above-and-beyond his normal clinical responsibilities to teach family medicine residents how to perform these bedside procedures.  For his teaching prowess, the Ventura Family Medicine Residents rated him as one of the top teaching attendings in Ventura County.

Sanjay Patel, M.D.

Dr. Patel earned his medical degree from Ross University in Dominica.  He completed his residency and chief residency at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in Chicago, IL.  As faculty there, he was the Director of the Bedside Procedure & POCUS service, responsible for resident education and nearly 3000 procedures yearly—including thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar punctures, lymph node/superficial biopsies, central line and PICC line placement.  Since 2019 he has been the Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency program at Riverside Methodist Hospital (OhioHealth) in Columbus, OH.

He has been involved in a variety of local, regional and national procedural teaching courses including the SHM Annual Pre-Course.  In addition, he has created a housestaff curriculum to further ultrasound skills beyond procedures to include a longitudinal Point-of-Care Ultrasound program for the Internal Medicine residency program at Cook County Hospital & Riverside Methodist.  He is a passionate medical educator for students, residents and faculty.  For his teaching prowess, he has won several faculty teaching and humanitarian awards over his career.

Tara Paterson, M.D.

Dr. Paterson received her medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine in 2008.  She then completed her emergency medicine residency at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York.  She subsequently completed both a trauma and critical care fellowship and an anesthesia critical care fellowship at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland.  She now works as an emergency medicine attending at several hospitals including the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California and the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, California.  In addition, Dr. Paterson works as a critical care attending at Ventura County Medical Center, California.  Among her many credentials, she is an Advanced Trauma Life Support instructor and is certified in Fundamentals of Critical Care Support.

She trains family medicine, internal medicine, and surgical residents in the nuances of both emergency medicine and critical care medicine.  She is particularly adept at procedural teaching including advanced airway management, vascular access, trauma management, point-of-care ultrasound, tube thoracostomy, paracentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture and procedural sedation.

Yohan Perera, M.D.

Dr. Perera graduated from the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and will be completing his family medicine residency at the Ventura Family Residency Program this year. His passions include global medicine, hospital procedures, and teaching.

During his time in residency, he has developed skills in point-of-care ultrasound, airway management, central line placement, arterial line placement, intraosseous line placement, ultrasound-guided peripheral IV placement, tube thoracostomy, thoracentesis, paracentesis and is passionate about teaching these bedside procedures to others.

Tonya Powell, MSN, ARNP-C

Tonya received her Master’s of Science in Nursing from the University of South Alabama in 2003. She practices full-time in an intensivist service at a level 2-trauma center in Pensacola, Florida. She has extensive procedure experience both in the intensive care unit for 8 years and 6 years in interventional vascular radiology. She is also clinical faculty at Georgetown University where she works directly with students in a high fidelity simulation lab. She is dual certified in adult primary care through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and acute care certified through the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She specializes in bedside procedural instruction of vascular access, chest tubes, airway management, thoracentesis, paracentesis, and lumbar punctures to resident physicians, nurse practitioner students, and fellow colleagues in the intensive care setting.

Caleb Scarth, D.O.

Dr. Scarth graduated with honors from Western University of Health Sciences for medical school and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, IL. He currently works as an attending physician at Ventura County Medical Center where he supervises family medicine residents and teaches them point-of-care ultrasound as well the emergency room approach to trauma and critical care.

He is a passionate educator and is adept at procedural teaching including advanced airway management, vascular access, point-of-care ultrasound, trauma management, tube thoracostomy, lumbar puncture and procedural sedation.

Majid Shafiq, M.D.

Majid received his medical degree from the Aga Khan University in Karachi and completed his internal medicine residency at Emory University. He subsequently completed fellowships in both pulmonary/critical care medicine at Stanford University and interventional pulmonology at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Shafiq has authored a book chapter on diagnostic respiratory procedures in the Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. In addition to being a teaching faculty at Harvard Medical School, he currently serves as Medical Director of Interventional Pulmonology and Medical Director of Bedside Procedures Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Majid specializes in procedural instruction of airway management and bronchoscopy, vascular access, tube thoracostomy, thoracentesis, paracentesis, and lumbar puncture. He has extensive experience teaching procedures in the clinical and simulation settings.

Tanya Shah, M.D.

Dr. Shah graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine and is currently completing the family medicine residency program at the Ventura Family Medicine Residency Program in Ventura, California. Her passions include inpatient medicine, emergency medicine, critical care, as well as global health.

Prior to residency, Dr. Shah worked as an EMT in Los Angeles, and enjoyed teaching BLS and ACLS to healthcare providers in the area. During her time in residency, she has had the opportunity to develop her procedural skills including point-of-care-ultrasound, bedside procedures such as thoracentesis, chest tube placement, paracentesis, and vascular access, as well as navigate procedures and care of critical patients during the COVID-19 era.  Dr. Shah will be a member of the hospitalist group at the Ventura County Medical Center.

Scott Speier, M.D.

Dr. Speier earned his medical degree from University of California at Irvine School of Medicine with AOA honors and completed his family medicine residency at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California. He has been a full-time emergency physician at the Ventura County Medical Center since 1998.

Dr. Speier has a special expertise in point-of-care ultrasound, ultrasound-guided vascular access, airway management and the acute stabilization of traumatically injured patients.  He is an exceptional instructor of bedside procedures and has been the recipient of the Ventura Family Residency program teacher of the year award on a couple of occasions.

Instructors

Tyler Barr, M.D.

Doctor Barr graduated from the Univeristy of Colorado Medical School and completed residency training at Ventura County Medical Center Family Medicine Residency.  He is a board-certified family physician whose current practice includes work in clinic, urgent care, inpatient medicine, emergency medicine and obstetrics. He has a particular interest in rural medicine and works at multiple critical access hospitals in addition to working in a more urban environment in Ventura, California.

Dr. Barr has significant experience with point-of-care ultrasound and has been refining skills since initial POCUS training in medical school, He continues using it on a daily basis in his practice. He is actively involved in teaching residents in ultrasound and bedside procedures at the Ventura County Medical Center Family medicine residency.

He is also a procedural expert in ultrasound-guided procedures such as peripheral and central venous access, arterial line placement, paracentesis and thoracentesis. He also has extensive experience with other emergency and bedside procedures including airway management and tube thoracostomy required for work at a Level 2 trauma center..

Nikhil Bordia, M.D.

Dr. Bordia graduated from the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn, NY. He then went on to complete his residency in Family Medicine at the Ventura Family Medicine Residency in Ventura, CA. He currently works as a nocturnist and hospitalist at Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital as well as teaching at the Academic Family Medicine Center and transitions/homeless clinic.

Nik has a passion for teaching and continues to train resident physicians in inpatient medicine, procedural medicine, and in the ambulatory setting. He is a strong proceduralist with particular expertise in central line placement, arterial line placement, and ultrasound-guided peripheral IV placement, as well as bedside invasive procedures such as paracentesis, thoracentesis, lumbar puncture and chest tube placement.

Benjamin Fowler, M.D.

Benjamin Fowler M.D. graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine with AOA honors and completed his residency in Family Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center.

Dr. Fowler is currently practicing as a hospitalist at the Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital. He is particularly adept at the use of bedside ultrasound to guide both clinical management and bedside procedures. He has become a procedural expert in vascular access, arterial line placement, thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar puncture, chest tube placement, and airway management. Teaching resident physicians bedside procedures and point-of-care ultrasound techniques is one of the favorite parts of his job.

Richard Nakano, M.D.

Dr Richard Nakano received his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado. He completed a family medicine residency at the Ventura County Medical Center to develop a full spectrum skillset. He looks forward to providing emergency and hospital medical care to rural communities.

He has a particular passion for the use of point-of-care ultrasound as a procedural adjunct, diagnostic tool, and indispensable teaching aid. Much like the video laryngoscope, the ultrasound machine in the hands of the learner allows the teacher to adopt their perspective. He believes this shared vantage point is what makes teaching through ultrasound such a rewarding pursuit.  Dr. Nakano is also a great instructor in vascular access, arterial line placement, thoracentesis, paracentesis, lumbar puncture, chest tube placement, and airway management.

Danielle Grossman, M.D.

Dr. Grossman graduated from the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and then headed west to complete a residency in Family Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center. She now practices as a hospitalist at the Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital in Ventura County, California. She has a love for procedures and teaching as well as a passion for global health.

Dr. Grossman has special expertise in point-of-care ultrasound and ultrasound-guided procedures such as peripheral and central venous access, arterial line placement, paracentesis and thoracentesis. She also has extensive experience with airway management and tube thoracostomy required for work at a Level 2 trauma center.

Clint McBride, M.D.

Clint McBride, M.D. earned his medical degree at the University of Colorado and completed a Family Medicine Residency and Maternal/Child Health fellowship at Ventura County Medical Center and affiliated Santa Paula Hospital.

He is currently a full-time faculty member at the Fort Collins Family Medicine Residency program where he is passionate about teaching full spectrum family medicine to residents and medical students.  Particular areas of interest include hospital medicine, obstetrics, procedural medicine and care of underserved patients.

Clint has a passion for teaching and is a very strong proceduralist with particular expertise in ultrasound-guided procedures including central line placement, arterial line placement and peripheral IV placement as well as intraosseous line placement, tube thoracostomy, surgical obstetrics, and endoscopy.

Marina Morie, M.D.

Dr. Morie graduated from the University of Hawaii John A. Burns Medical School with AOA honors.  She then completed her residency in Family Medicine at the Ventura Family Medicine Residency Program.  She has completed a faculty development fellowship with a focus in geriatrics.  She also practices as a hospitalist at the Santa Paula Hospital in Santa Paula, California.  In addition, Marina teaches resident physicians and medical students on the inpatient medicine and obstetrics/newborn services at the Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California.

Dr. Morie is also a proceduralist with a special expertise in vascular ultrasound and vascular access.  She is especially proficient with intraosseous lines, arterial line placement, ultrasound-guided peripheral IV placement, and central line placement.  She is an exceptional instructor of bedside procedures and has a passion for teaching.

Lindsay Waggerman M.D.

Dr. Waggerman received her medical degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She completed her residency in Family Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center. She is currently a hospitalist in Ventura County, working at Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital.

She has an expertise in multiple procedures including airway management, chest tube placement, vascular access and lumbar puncture. She is particularly adept at ultrasound-guided vascular access and other ultrasound-guided procedures. Dr. Waggerman is a great clinician and instructor who loves teaching residents and medical students.

Jacob West M.D.

Dr. Jacob West graduated from Loma Linda University with AOA honors. He then went on to complete residency in Family Medicine at the Ventura County Family Medicine Residency Program. As a full spectrum family physician he works in clinic, urgent care and in the Emergency Department at Santa Paula Hospital in Santa Paula, California.

He has a broad skillset encompassing a variety of procedures including airway management, chest tube placement and lumbar puncture. He especially enjoys point-of-care ultrasound and ultrasound-guided procedures including central venous access, arterial line placement, paracentesis and thoracentesis. He is an exceptionally gifted instructor and loves to teach residents and medical students every chance he gets.