"My higher level education began at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where I majored in Psycho-biology as an undergraduate. It was the start of my fascination with the intersection between the human body and human spirit & our intellectual faculties and emotive faculties. I completed my medical education in Northern California at the University of California, Davis (UCD) while living in Sacramento. My teachers helped me understand the human body and sharpen my intellect through exacting and cold academia. Simultaneously, I was learning Chassidic philosophy (Jewish mysticism). The warm teachings of the Tanya (the magnum opus of the Alter Rebbe) calmed my spirit and helped develop my emotions. I chose to do my Internal Medicine residency at the State University of New York (at Brooklyn), where we rotated at 3 hospitals, of which Kings County Hospital was the crown jewel. I left Brooklyn humbled by my experiences and simultaneously proud to have had such a training. My hope is to imitate the olive, which when finely crushed releases the purest of oils, to generate the most incredible luminescent display. Since completing residency I have joined the faculty at Harbor-UCLA, a county hospital in Torrance, continuing to work where I felt my impact would be most significantly felt: with an underserved population which has limited psychosocial resources.
My education has not ceased since leaving residency, every day and every encounter is an opportunity for growth and learning. In my return to Los Angeles, while interacting with people in my own community I found that people here are suffering just as they are in Torrance and Brooklyn, albeit through different maladies. I am hoping to begin another concentric circle of peace, love, and healing here in Beverly Hills. Starting with myself, Michael Jacob Ghods."
