Jill Waalen, MD, MPH
Program Director

Jill Waalen, MD, MS, MPH, FACPM is director of the UC San Diego-San Diego State University General Preventive Medicine Residency Program with more than 20 years of experience working with the program before assuming the directorship in 2022. Board certified in preventive medicine and a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), Dr. Waalen has had a career spanning medical research, journalism and education as well as leadership for national organizations in preventive and lifestyle medicine. 

As a scientist at the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, she has published peer-reviewed research subjects ranging from hematology and genetics to digital medicine. She also serves as co-director of biostatistics at the Institute and teaches at the Scripps Graduate School. She has held multiple leadership positions with ACPM, including annual meeting chair, director of the in-service examination, chair of the board review course, member of the Board of Regents, and currently secretary of the board, and received the college’s Distinguished Service Award in 2010. She has received several national medical writing awards from organizations such as the American Medical Association. 

Dr. Waalen has served as an editor of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and the Nature journal Digital Medicine; and is both developer and editor of the certification examinations of the American and International Boards of lifestyle medicine administered to physicians in seven languages in more than 15 countries.  

Linda Hill, MD, MPH: 

Linda Hill, MD, MPH, is a Distinguished Professor, founding faculty and assistant dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health. Dr. Hill obtained her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Ottawa, in Canada in 1978 and completed a transitional internship at McGill University in 1979. She completed her residency in preventive medicine from UC San Diego-San Diego State University General Preventive Medicine Residency in 1985.

Dr. Hill is a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine. She was the founding medical director of the Exercise and Physical Activity Resource Center at UC San Diego. She is faculty and immediate past program director of the UC San Diego-San Diego State University General Preventive Medicine Residency since 1989.

San Diego Family Care, a federal 330 Community Health Center, is the site of her clinical activities, as medical director 1980 to 2001, and senior staff physician since 2001. She is the medical director of the UC San Diego Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety (treds.ucsd.edu) and co-director of the UC San Diego Center for Human and Urban Mobility. She is the executive director of the Asylum-Seeker Shelter Health Assessment Program. Dr. Hill is engaged in prevention research and teaching, and is the author of 101 peer reviewed papers, four book chapters and 135 abstracts. Her hobbies include classical piano and ocean sports.

Jill Waalen, MD, MPH, Program Director

Ryan Moran, MD, MPH, Associate Program Director

Deepa Sannidhi, MD, DipABLM, DipABOM, Assistant Program Director
Deepa Sannidhi, MD, DipABLM, DipABOM, is a board certified family physician. Trained in preventive medicine and family medicine with certifications in obesity and lifestyle medicine as well as lifestyle medicine with an integrative approach. She is a UC San Diego associate clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine and serves as assistant program director for the UC San Diego - San Diego State University General Preventive Medicine Residency. She serves as a concentration lead for UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. She teaches students and trainees at all levels of training. Clinically, she partners with the UC San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine and Center for Advanced Weight Management to offer the UC San Diego Supervised Lifestyle and Integrative Medicine (SLIM) Program, which is an innovative medical weight loss program integrating lifestyle and integrative medicine approaches with medical weight loss using anti-obesity medications in a shared medical appointment setting. 

Linda Hill, MD, MPH, Immediate Past Program Director

Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science

Eric Hekler, PhD
Kathleen Fischer, MD, MPH
Jeanne Nichols, PhD, FACSM
Camila Romero, MD
Michael Criqui, MD
Sayone Thihalolipavan, MD, MPH

Department of Family Medicine 

Matt Allison, MD, MPH
Christine Thorne, MD, MPH
Amelia Eastman, DO
Deepa Sannidhi, MD, DipABLM, DipABOM


Department of Internal Medicine

Timothy Rodwell, MD, PhD, MPH
Ryan Moran, MD, MPH

Department of Trauma

Jay Doucet, MD

Amy Weisbaum, MPH
Program Manager
aweisbaum@ucsd.edu