

Professor and Chair, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
Allen Chen (UCLA-NUS EMBA ’22)
Professor and Chair, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
Academic health care is a team sport. Whether caring for sick cancer patients and providing them solace, researching new treatments or educating the next generation of young doctors, creating effective teams is what goes farthest in tackling those goals.
Coach Wooden’s legacy of promoting inclusiveness resonates with me. As an oncologist, I recognize that cancer is a disease that doesn’t affect everybody equally. Underserved communities suffer from disproportionately high incidence and mortality rates, and a distrust of medical institutions still exists.
Perhaps my proudest accomplishment is developing a cancer disparities registry focusing on how ethnicity, socioeconomic background, housing and insurance influence access and treatment. In 2021, I spearheaded the implementation of a “same-day access” clinic for cancer patients. Black, Latino and Asian patients were likelier to use the initiative and wait times for oncology visits were reduced from an average of 11 days to 3.
Data from this project was used to devise outreach programs to bridge many of the identified gaps and serve as the model for access improvement across our entire organization. I was also awarded a grant to develop a health equity curriculum that expands awareness of this issue in the workplace.
I try to see patients not just for their diseases, but as living, breathing individuals. Personalization of care is what I emphasize, and that means understanding that our patients are people with values, goals, loved ones, dreams. Ultimately, everybody on my team is on the same page — trying make the world a kinder, more compassionate place.

Associate, Transom Consulting Group
Samuel Fein (MBA ’23)
Associate, Transom Consulting Group
Every word you say as a coach matters.
Sports have played a big role in making me who I am. Since high school, I have had a passion for sports-based youth development, which led me to serve as a boys’ varsity basketball head coach for nearly a decade. Coaching has been the most transformational experience of my life.
When people talk about Coach Wooden, they talk about his devotion to his players, his attention to detail. And then they bring up his competitive success. Coach Wooden demonstrated that focusing on the players and the process were more important than the results.
Team sports require participants to be vulnerable and to act selflessly in the best interests of the team. Coaches have limitless opportunities to positively impact their players. Our responsibility is to inspire our players to act with empathy, courage and generosity on a team. By instilling these values, coaches can inspire their players’ experiences that lead to team success.
How does Coach Wooden’s philosophy influence my life and the evolution of my leadership style? I’ve always tried to make leadership decisions that enable me to contribute the most to the communities I serve. As a leader, both on the court and professionally, I have been fortunate to develop wonderful relationships with my colleagues and students. As I transition into my post-MBA life as a team-oriented consultant, I want to continue to serve those around me to the best of my ability.

Administrator, Chatsworth Park Health Care Center
Sonia Ly (EMBA ’23)
Administrator, Chatsworth Park Health Care Center
I work in skilled nursing, rehabilitation and convalescent care. And I think I was always destined to work in this industry.
Eight months into my current job, I had to figure out the best way to get information about COVID-19 protocols and regulation to my team — and to families because all visitation was restricted, like a curtain coming down. Family members were having trouble calling in to ask their questions. Everyone was looking to me for answers.
In Coach Wooden’s spirit of teamwork, I relied on my team members’ individual expertise and let them come back with ideas. I also tried to instill humility in my team so they felt free to admit what was or was not working, even if it was my idea. We made a decision to communicate with families the way they wanted: an old-fashioned phone call. It took a few weeks for the process to become streamlined, and the families began to trust us more. It was exhausting, but a call a day was rewarding for us, too. It’s the human touch.
On reflection, I identify with attributes like loyalty and cooperation that form the foundation of Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. Now I aspire to refine my leadership by strengthening the second tier of my own pyramid — better self-control, steady alertness and greater initiative and intentness. I’ll never forget that night in March 2020 when I sat on my staircase, stunned to read that the federal government ordered nursing homes to restrict all visitation because of COVID-19. On the other side of that experience, I feel confident that in continuing to build my foundation I can lead my team to rise above new challenges that will ultimately enable us to keep our facility thriving.

Senior Operations Manager, Amazon
Nick Sharma (FEMBA ’23)
Senior Operations Manager, Amazon
With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, I faced my greatest professional challenge yet. I was a department head at a luxury resort, tasked with letting every team member go. And at the end of an excruciating week, I too was asked to leave.
Each employee was like family to me, and the experience tested my faith in myself and my profession. Over the course of my unemployment, I reached out to my former staff, offering help with job resources, resumes, mock interviews and unemployment benefits. I was struck by the newfound sense of purpose in their success, as I managed to help many of them find new jobs.
Coach John Wooden’s example of loyalty and intention inspired me to pursue my MBA, improve my physical and mental health, and secure my dream job at Amazon, sparking a commitment to employ empathy in all facets of my life.
In 2021, I was given the opportunity to help my hometown when the disastrous delta variant hit India. Almost overnight, my childhood community was extinguished like a light. I lost five family members and two friends, along with countless neighbors and colleagues. So, from faraway L.A., I led a fundraising effort to secure $15,000 and I headed home to apply the funds directly via neighborhood support groups.
I would not have been able to affect as many lives as I have, even within my darkest moments, without the transformed leadership style I learned through John Wooden’s tenets. I’m eager to see where his principles take me as a humanitarian, father and executive.

Uzair Alaidroos (FEMBA ’23)
Wooden Fellow 2021
Uzair Alaidroos (FEMBA ’23)
Manufacturing Engineering Manager, Northrop Grumman
Who is Uzair Alaidroos?
Uzair “Uzi” Alaidroos, an aerospace manager and engineer and a father, describes who he is by what he has faced over the last two years:
“Twenty-twenty was the year I left a long-time employer for a new one, took on a leadership position with numerous direct reports and significantly more responsibility, began my MBA at UCLA Anderson, and got diagnosed with and defeated thyroid cancer at age 30.”
While it all felt overwhelming, his daughter has kept him grounded. “Before then, it was all about me, what I want to do. But when Lana was born, I got a different perspective on everything. Why am I really here? What’s my reason to work at Northrop? What’s my view on the world?”
Why is he a Wooden Fellow?
“Unlike 90% of the degree-holding disciplines in the aerospace industry,” says Uzi, “manufacturing engineers could not be afforded the luxury of working remotely. I found myself leading a group that was fearful and dejected as a result of our ‘essential-worker’ status. One month into my tenure, a co-worker succumbed to COVID-19.”
That’s when Uzi fully embraced grit and its five characteristics — courage, resilience, endurance, excellence and conscientiousness — as the only way to help his team become confident and productive. He spearheaded empowerment and process improvement initiatives that improved morale. He took this on while also going through two surgeries for his thyroid cancer and attending a top business school — and still earned a 4.0 GPA that quarter.
What inspires him?
Uzi wakes up eager to learn something every day. Getting past the steep phase of a learning curve makes him want to learn “the next big thing,” which is what led him to business school.
His cancer diagnosis was a serious setback to his own well-being, though he looks at it this way: “I never thought about making each day the most productive, most enjoyable until that point. I need to live every day like it’s the best day of my life.
“Leadership is applicable to the entire person, not just in the business setting. Leadership doesn’t end when I walk out the door here today. As a father, it’s my job to be the best possible role model.”

Bianca Judy Choe (FEMBA ’22)
Wooden Fellow 2021
Bianca Judy Choe (FEMBA ’22)
Director of Quality Improvement and Attending Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, UCLA Health
Who is Judy Choe?
Judy Choe envisions a medical system that informs and empowers patients enough to take command of their own preventive care.
In June 2019, Judy graduated as a chief resident in emergency medicine at one of New York City’s largest and most diverse hospitals. She moved to Los Angeles to become a full-time attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UCLA Health — and within a few months, the pandemic escalated.
Why is she a Wooden Fellow?
As if her day job and pursuit of her MBA weren’t demanding enough, during the early COVID-19 surge, Judy rallied her MBA classmates to help her collect 2,000 N95 masks, more than 50 boxes each of surgical masks and gloves, and more than 150 reusable shields and goggles in the first of three curbside PPE drives to benefit those working with the most vulnerable populations. In total, Judy helped collect and distribute some 10,000 pieces of PPE to local hospitals and clinics in desperate need of supplies.
And while the pandemic was hard on Los Angeles in 2020, it was an all-out crisis in New York. By her own volition, Judy flew back twice to work 14-day stints of daily 12-hour shifts, replacing physicians who had been stricken with COVID-19. Among the casualties was her friend and mentor, ER medical director Lorna Breen, for whom the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation is named and whose tragic suicide prompted the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act. “On my first shift back,” Judy recalls, “I admitted a colleague who presented in respiratory distress, breathing almost twice the normal rate per minute. When my shift ended, I had not taken off my PPE in over 12 hours, and I broke down in tears. I knew this would be one of the biggest challenges of my career.”
What inspires her?
The next morning, though risking burnout herself, Judy returned to her post motivated by one of Coach Wooden’s favorite maxims: “Never cease trying to be the best you can be.” Judy says, “Returning to NYC allowed me to use my God-given talent in a powerful way. I learned more about this disease. But I also found solace through the experiences, emotions and reality of what we achieved together.”

Jasson D. Crockett (EMBA ’22)
Wooden Fellow 2021
Jasson D. Crockett (EMBA ’22)
Public Policy Manager, Snap Inc.
Who is Jasson Crockett?
Jasson Crockett’s passion lies at the intersection of public service and finance. From director of community business for the Los Angeles mayor’s office to public policy manager at Snap in Silicon Beach, he has been called on to serve in unconventional capacities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to these recent experiences, he worked for the Nonprofit Finance Fund for three years and has volunteered with AmeriCorps and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, where he helped young people aspiring to become first-time college students in the face of challenges like poverty and food insecurity.
Why is he a Wooden Fellow?
While working at the mayor’s office, Jasson was charged with setting up a large and scalable medical relief center at the Los Angeles Convention Center to treat low-acuity COVID patients. “In the early days, it was chaos, and we looked closely at New York, particularly the conversion of Javits Center. We knew we needed to create a backstop to keep people from dying in line. People were game for learning by doing, but one thing was not tolerated — being flatfooted.”
Jasson also worked with his mayor’s office colleagues and the Port of Los Angeles to create Logistics Victory L.A., a platform for managing inbound PPE offers from suppliers and requests from hospitals. “At no point before the pandemic did anyone ever prepare me for responding to a pandemic,” he says. “There was little by way of a blueprint, and no institutional knowledge to lean on, as none of my colleagues had ever experienced anything similar.”
In his role as director of community business, he collaborated to found the PledgeLA collective of prosocial L.A.-based tech companies and venture capital firms, as well as WiSTEM L.A., an initiative to empower women to lead the city’s STEM revolution.
What inspires him?
Jasson is a sports fan. His grandfather, who helped raise him, was an Amateur Athletic Union coach in Colorado. In 1994, Jasson and his granddad made a bet whether UCLA Basketball would win the championship, and that’s when he learned about Coach Wooden’s legacy, which has been impressed upon Jasson ever since. Now Coach’s principles will guide Jasson through public-private partnerships and public service for years to come.

Miranda Fang (’22)
Wooden Fellow 2021
Miranda Fang (’22)
Senior Consultant, Deloitte
Who is Miranda Fang?
“I want to use my life and career to drive equity and empowerment for all people,” says Miranda Fang. She is an Ivy League alumna, Consortium scholar, Forté fellow, former Deloitte senior consultant and former Teach For America staff member. Now she’s pursuing her MBA with concentrations in strategy and social impact.
Why is she a Wooden Fellow?
“The happiest I’ve been at work is when I’m inspired by the colleagues around me. I believe people are a company’s greatest asset,” says Miranda.
On a volunteer basis, she led Deloitte’s stepupLA initiative, which gathered more than 160 consultants to develop their professional skills while working on strategic projects for 40+ nonprofits across Southern California. Throughout her career, Miranda has facilitated diversity and inclusion training and workshops, and she has participated in various underrepresented minority mentorship programs.
At Anderson, Miranda is president of Net Impact, co-president of Christian Student Fellowship, a VP of Anderson Venture Impact Partners and the Outdoor Adventure Club. These activities are part and parcel of her commitment to expanding access and building spaces of inclusion. “With the pandemic highlighting and exacerbating inequalities, what better time to talk about and accelerate efforts toward equity and justice?”
What inspires her?
“My parents are immigrants to the U.S. and have sacrificed so much in order to build a life of opportunity for my sisters and me.” Miranda says. “The values of learning, growth, respect and kindness that were instilled in me from a young age serve as the foundation of my life and how I want to live it.”
With four marathons to her credit, Miranda prizes running as self-care for both her body and mind. Running and spending time in nature enable her to start each day with renewed energy, intention and perspective.
Miranda is inspired by Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and how principles are integrated into useful leadership models and value structures. “Success isn’t achieved just by being competitively great,” she says of the pyramid’s apex, supported by the other 14 blocks. “It can’t be independent of the other values.”

Jesse Brandon Baker (EMBA ’21)
Wooden Fellow 2020
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Ariana Cernius (J.D. ’17, ’21)
Wooden Fellow 2020
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Mitchella Gilbert (’21)
Wooden Fellow 2020
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Stephen Johnson
(B.S. ’05, FEMBA ’21)
Wooden Fellow 2020
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Kelsey Kawana (FEMBA ’22)
Wooden Fellow 2020
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Amanda K. Beck (MBA '20)

Danielle Schlegel (EMBA ’20)

Rob Busalacchi (FEMBA ’20)

Apichaya Taechamahapun
(UCLA-NUS EMBA ’20)
Wooden Fellow 2019

Jessica Barnette
(MPH ’14, FEMBA ’19)
Wooden Fellow 2018

Gerry Sims (’19)
Wooden Fellow 2018

Leah Maddock Loh
(MPH ’05, EMBA ’19)
Wooden Fellow 2018

Ryan Tan (UCLA-NUS EMBA ’19)
Wooden Fellow 2018

Evan Barnes (EMBA '18)
Wooden Fellow 2017

Anna Goldberg (MBA '18)
Wooden Fellow 2017

Sana Rahim (FEMBA '19)
Wooden Fellow 2017

Brandon Scott (MBA/M.D. '18)
Wooden Fellow 2017

Doug Larratt (EMBA '17)

Corey McMillen (MBA '17)

Datra Oliver (FEMBA '18)

Eric Potocek (FEMBA '18)
Wooden Fellow 2016

Tiffany Cantrell (FEMBA '16)
Wooden Fellow 2015

Christian Dunbar (EMBA '16)
Wooden Fellow 2015

Virginia Tancioco (M.D./MBA ’16)
Wooden Fellow 2015

Dr. Rob Douk (GEMBA ’16)
Wooden Fellow 2015

Nicole aBeckett (FEMBA ’15)
Wooden Fellow 2014

Derek Herrera (’15)
Wooden Fellow 2014

Elizabeth Pratt (MBA/MPP ’16)
Wooden Fellow 2014

Jordana Mora (FEMBA ’15)
Wooden Fellow 2013

Elliot Ling (’14)
Wooden Fellow 2013

Aviva Altmann (’13)

Karla Sarni (FEMBA '13)

Juan Rose (EMBA '13)
Wooden Fellow 2012

Valerie Sun (FEMBA '13)
Wooden Fellow 2011

Russell Altenburg ('12)
Wooden Fellow 2011

Archana Sunder Rajan (EMBA '11)
Wooden Fellow 2010

Joanna Shochet Bowe ( '11)
Wooden Fellow 2010

Shahrouz Golshani ( FEMBA '11)
Wooden Fellow 2009

Dana Taylor ('10)
Wooden Fellow 2009