Who We Are

Ryuan Anderson

My name is Ryuan Anderson and I am a medical student from Frank H Netter school of medicine. I am a Connecticut native that has always been involved with my local community. I saw Rising Youth as an opportunity to give students the tools to navigate their complex emotions. I have experience teaching high school juniors at East Windsor high school. It is my hope that we can influence Hillhouse students into becoming emotionally aware adults.

Melany Garcia

Melany is a first-generation Latina college graduate. She graduated from Smith College in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and French studies on the pre-medicine track. She is currently an MD candidate at the Frank H. Netter, MD School of Medicine where she will graduate in 2028 with a micro-credential in medical education. Born and raised in the Bronx, she aspires to provide medical services to the underserved in her community and contribute to breaking language barriers in medicine. She is passionate about providing mental health education to youth so that they may become emotionally well-adjusted young adults. 

Amber Parson

Amber Parson is currently a second year medical student at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine. Before graduating with a Public Health degree from Brown University, she grew up in Saint Mary’s, a small town in southeastern Georgia. Amber’s career interests lie at the intersection of pediatrics and psychiatry, and it is her aim to ultimately provide holistic care to young patients after medical school.  

Victoria Wu

Hi! My name is Victoria Wu and I am a first year medical student at the Frank H. Netter School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University. I am interested in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, and passionate about community health and service. I was born in Montreal, Canada but grew up in Massachusetts, so I consider myself a New England native. For the past two years, I have been working with non-profit organizations in Boston to help women in need access housing and social resources. In my free time, I love to cook and bake with friends, paint, meditate, and explore local attractions. 

Nicholas Diab

Nicholas Diab is a MD/PhD student at Yale School of Medicine. He finished his PhD work in genetics where his research focused on the genetic and developmental basis of congenital heart disease. During medical school Nick became interested in psychiatry, particularly child and adolescent psychiatry. He has previous experience working with abused and neglected youth in both a residential and outpatient setting.

Addy Feibel

My name is Addy Feibel, and I am a medical student at Yale School of Medicine. I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio before moving to New Haven for college, where I graduated with a BA in Global Affairs from Yale. During the 2020-2021 school year, I worked in a 4th grade classroom in Columbus as an Americorps member with City Year. I am passionate about decreasing the stigma around mental health, and I hope to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist after medical school. 

Emily Xu

I am a first-year medical student at Yale School of Medicine interested in mental health. I am originally from New York City and went to the University of Pennsylvania for college, where I studied Neuroscience. Prior to starting med school in New Haven, I also lived in San Francisco for two years working in diabetes research.

Jenny Lizarraga

I’m Jenny (JJ) Lizarraga, currently in my second-year at Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, pursuing my dream of becoming a doctor. I am originally from Rio Rico, a small town on the border with Mexico. After graduating with dual degrees in Psychology and German from the University of Arizona in 2019, I embarked on a four-year journey in healthcare, gaining valuable experience in inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry as well as addiction medicine as a medical assistant. These experiences further solidified my commitment to advocating for underserved communities and improving mental health care. 

Savion Smith, MD

Dr. Smith was born in Phoenix, Arizona and is currently a fellow in the Yale Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship program . He completed his general psychiatry residency at the University of Arizona-Tucson, his medical degree at the University of Arizona-Phoenix, his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Arizona State University, and his premed postbaccalaureate certification at Washington University in St. Louis. During his medical education and training he enjoyed various volunteer and shadowing opportunities, including assisting in providing care at St. Louis Crisis Nursery and In Balance Academy. He has found fulfillment in supporting disadvantaged youth in various settings such his six years acting as a YMCA swim coach in addition to years of tutoring, counseling, and volunteering in Title 1 school districts. Clinically, Savion is interested in school-based mental health, psychotherapy, and trauma. In his free time, Savion enjoys leading social groups, roller skating, and science-fiction/fantasy films.

Sherab Tsheringla, MD, MBBS

Dr Tsheringla is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Adult Psychiatrist at Yale. He completed his residency in Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and his clinical fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center, where he was also a Hilibrand Autism Research Fellow. His clinical and research work at Yale is currently focused on Interventional Psychiatry and Neuromodulation. with research interests at the cross-section of neurodevelopmental conditions, trauma and co-occurring treatment resistant disorders. He has also developed an Ideate Connect Build Model for designing community led innovative interventions for issues ranging from healthcare disparity to environmental justice. Dr Tsheringla has worked in developing systems and community level programming both locally and globally for neurodevelopmental conditions, trauma and mental health. Over the last two decades, he has been involved in training school and medical students, pediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, researchers, social workers, community health workers, juvenile justice board members, governmental organizations, schoolteachers and school administrators using direct teaching and distance education, curriculum development, workshop models and through capacity building and workforce development initiatives. He hopes to keep learning from the community and his students as he ideates and builds connections with them.   

Yun Feng, MD

Dr. Yun Feng is a board-certified psychiatrist in both adult and child & adolescent psychiatry and an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine. She serves as Medical Director of the Transitional Age Youth Unit at Yale Psychiatric Hospital and Residency Site Training Co-Director for Yale Psychiatric Hospital and Yale New Haven Hospital. Her clinical and scholarly work focuses on the mental health of transitional age youth and college students, emphasizing developmentally informed early intervention tailored to the distinctive challenges of this critical life stage. She is dedicated to medical education and has received multiple teaching honors, including the Irma Bland, MD, Certificate of Excellence from the American Psychiatric Association, in recognition of her contributions to residency training and mentorship. Dr. Feng’s academic interests extend to global mental health, where she works to foster mental health capacity internationally and promote equitable access to evidence-based psychiatric care in under-resourced regions.

Sirikanya (Sanya) Chiraroekmongkon, MD

I am an immigrant from Bangkok, Thailand, and grew up in a low-income household attending public schools in Pensacola, Florida. I graduated from the University of Florida with degrees in Biochemistry and International Studies, and completed medical school at the University of Central Florida. My passion for mental health has led me to New Haven, Connecticut, where I completed my psychiatry residency and public psychiatry fellowship at Yale Department of Psychiatry. I am currently a psychiatrist at Asian Health Services in Oakland, California. Rising Youth means a lot me, as it does all of us. It’s a tribute to my late brother, something that would have helped him in our time of need.