Addiction Medicine Fellowship

About

Sutter Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Program offers a 13-month, 2 fellow Family Medicine Addiction Medicine Fellowship. During this time eligible primary care physicians develop expertise in the de-stigmatized treatment of those experiencing substance use disorders and frequent co-occuring conditions. This junior faculty position emphasizes the fellow’s role as both learner and teacher, providing direct patient care as well as consultation and supervisory services.

Training takes place in both inpatient and outpatient settings across Sonoma's County safety-net systems. Particular focus is devoted to the care of patients experiencing homelessness with embedded continuity clinics and street medicine work with this demographic. Fellows spend substantial time caring for patients in the acute hospital setting providing addiction medicine consultation for patients in the emergency department and inpatient units. Fellows will leave with a nuanced understanding of the individual and societal risks fueling addiction and empowered with tools to lead system change in underserved settings.

Purpose

In recognition of the escalating epidemic of substance use disorders and their impact on our community wellness, and in recognition of the disproportionate burden on our most underserved communities, and in light of the inadequate specialty resources to address the need of this population, we developed an Addiction Medicine fellowship with goals including:

Provision of an educational environment to develop specialty expertise in community-based addiction medicine and in preparation for Addiction Medicine Board Certification.
Fostering a community of Addiction Medicine providers in Sonoma County to improve services for those with substance use disorders.
Contributing to the advancement of the field through research, writing, and teaching.
Increasing accessibility of evidenced-based treatment for substance use disorders in all medical settings and for all people.
Attracting and retaining a primary care workforce with the knowledge, skills and interest in treating patients with complex substance use disorders in our community.

2025-2026 Fellows

Alexandra Dembar, MD

Dr. Alexandra (Allie) Dembar grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Though she had an idyllic childhood there, this was also the place where she was first exposed to the impacts of structural racism, health inequity, and substance use on her community. She completed her undergraduate studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. After spending time working in rural Honduras during college, she fell in love with the profession of medicine, as she saw how doctors are uniquely positioned to provide healing both through personal connection with their patients, as well as through advocating for higher up systems level changes. She was accepted to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s early acceptance Humanities & Medicine Program, as well as awarded the Primary Care Scholars award for medical students with a passion for primary care and community health. During medical school, Dr. Dembar was deeply involved in her school’s student-run free clinic that served the predominantly undocumented patient population in East Harlem, New York, a historically resource-denied neighborhood. She stayed at Mount Sinai for residency, where she completed residency training in the social-justice and primary care focused Combined Internal Medicine & Pediatrics program, also serving as Chief Resident during her fourth year of training. After residency, Dr. Dembar moved to the Bay Area with her partner, a Bay Area native, and worked as a full time primary care physician at Highland Hospital in Oakland. During her time at Highland, Dr. Dembar took care of many patients with substance use disorders, and found joy and satisfaction in seeing many of these patients heal and thrive. For this reason, Dr. Dembar is absolutely thrilled to bolster her skills in addiction medicine by joining the Santa Rosa Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program! In her free time, Dr. Dembar enjoys spending time with her partner and two adorable cats, cooking up creative dishes using California’s bountiful produce, hiking and exploring Northern California’s beauty, CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting, and reading any and all books she can get her hands on.

Rebecca Rubin, DO

Rebecca Rubin received her B.A. from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA where she majored in Human Biology: Cross-Cultural Health and Healing with a minor in Spanish. While always drawn to medicine, she took some time away from her pre-medical studies to travel and work on self-exploration. During this time, she taught ESL in India, volunteered as an emergency responder, and lived and worked in an intentional community in California amongst other odd jobs. After completing college, she spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar working at La Universidad Intercultural del Estado de Tabasco in Mexico. Her experiences abroad opened her eyes to the various way’s illness is perceived and sustainable solutions are realized. At the same time, she was pushed to reflect on the issues and healthcare gaps in her own country. She attended medical school at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine in New Mexico, where she had the unique opportunity to do clinical rotations in both rural and urban areas throughout the state and see firsthand the consequences of lack of resources and the profound impact substance use has on generations of families. While in medical school, she completed a summer fellowship with Hazelden Betty Ford, an addiction recovery center, which gave her the unique opportunity to engage with patients at various stages of recovery. She was honored to be recognized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society for her excellence in clinical care and compassion and thrilled to complete her residency here in Santa Rosa. During residency, she served as a chief resident, resident liaison for CAFP, and was trained in asylum medicine. She is very excited for the opportunity to keep learning and growing here as an addiction medicine fellow!

2024-2025 Fellows

Bianka Aguilar, MD

Dr. Bianka Aguilar’s bicultural upbringing and relentless curiosity have lent her a special perspective on health and the systems that affect disadvantaged populations. She completed her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley in Public Health before advancing to USC’s Keck School of Medicine where she was the recipient of multiple endowed scholarships. Throughout her formal education Bianka consistently pursued her academic interests across multiple fields of inquiry accumulating significant research experience in basic science, clinical medicine and system applications, leveraging her expertise for multiple binational health efforts including collaborations with Mexican governmental agencies. Her commitment to underserved populations brought her to Contra Costa Family Medicine Residency where she completed the Global Health track, winning praise for administrative talent as Chief Resident. In every setting Dr. Aguilar has worked to promote diverse representation within the healthcare workforce. Inspired by the great need for improved addiction care for her patients, we are thrilled to welcome Dr. Aguilar to Santa Rosa for Addiction Medicine Fellowship Training.

Anna Bowen, MD

Dr. Anna Bowen’s path to Addiction Medicine has been guided by their persistent commitment to marginalized populations. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from UC San Diego with a degree in Sociocultural Anthropology, Anna completed medical training at the University of Rochester School of Medicine where they participated in the Global Health and Latino Health pathways and were recognized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society for their outstanding commitment to research and service. Prior to residency, these passions took Anna around the world, working in Ghana, Malawi and India while simultaneously demonstrating longitudinal commitment to reproductive health justice, anti-human trafficking and migrant health. Anna completed her residency in family medicine, choosing Sutter Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency for its commitment to advanced reproductive health training and longitudinal addiction medicine curriculum. Inspired by her incredible patients managing addiction, we are so pleased Dr. Bowen will be staying on to complete Addiction Medicine Fellowship training.

Sponsoring Institution

Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital

Participating Sites

Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital (Inpatient Medicine Attending/Addiction Medicine Consultation Service)
Santa Rosa Community Health - Vista Campus (New Beginnings, Precepting)
Santa Rosa Community Health - Caritas Campus (Primary Care, homeless outreach and MAT clinics)
Santa Rosa Community Health - Lombardi Campus (MAT clinic)
West County Health Center - Third Street House (Healthcare for the Homeless)
West County Health Center - Russian River Health Center (Psychiatry)
Drug Abuse Alternative Center - DAAC REAP (Community-based MAT/methadone treatment)

Longitudinal Electives

HIV and Hepatitis C
Integrative Medicine

Inpatient Attending
Obstetrics with deliveries

Employment Details

13-month fellowship
Employer - Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital
Salary: Competitive PGY-4 salary ($99,976/year) + additional annual stipend for inpatient call
CME Reimbursement: $2,500
Housing stipend: $12,000
Relocation reimbursement up to $2,000
UCSF access to digital library and free faculty development training
Full Benefits: Health, Dental, Vision, Disability, Malpractice
31 days paid time off including vacation, sick, holiday + CME
4 week Orientation: Mid-August to Mid-Sept

*Option for inpatient OB experience if desired

Application Requirements

We accept applications from Primary Care specialties. Applicants must have graduated or be about to graduate from an ACGME-approved residency program. A full active California medical license is required before the start of fellowship. Applicants must be board-eligible and complete their residency training by July 15th, 2025 at the latest. As a multidisciplinary fellowship, we accept applicants from family medicine, internal medicine, med/peds or emergency medicine backgrounds. We are not currently able to sponsor H1 visas.

How To Apply

Listed as ERAS ID: 4040540012
SUTTER HEALTH/SUTTER SANTA ROSA REGIONAL HOSPITAL PROGRAM
Apply to Fellowships with the ERAS® System | Students & Residents

Scholarly Activity

Fellows are expected to engage in scholarly work throughout their 13 month fellowship. Fellows select a quality improvement project in either the outpatient or inpatient settings and submit a poster or presentation to a regional or national conference such as STFM, ASAM or CSAM. Fellows will also be expected to provide education to residents, faculty and the broader community through a number of didactic presentations. Fellows may collaborate on these presentations together or divide them equally. At the conclusion of fellowship, fellows should plan to submit a journal article for scholarly publication. After completion of fellowship, fellows will be eligible to sit for the American Board of Preventive Medicine Addiction Medicine Certification Examination.

Deliverable	Venue	Due Date
Quarterly Journal Club	Community	Oct/Jan/April/Aug
Residency Didactic	Vista	Nov/Feb/May/Sept
STFM or ASAM or CSAM Presentation	TBD	TBD
Sutter Grand Rounds	Zoom	Minimum 2 per year
CSAM Report Back	Zoom	Oct
ASAM Report Back	Zoom	May
Scholarly Paper Submission	Journal	August