Our Team
Christopher Landon, MD
Dr. Landon, founder of the Landon Pediatric Foundation assumed the position of Director of Pediatrics at VCMC in 1989. He created the Pediatric Diagnostic Center to bring his pediatric specialist friends to help care for the children and families of Ventura County. In 2017 he turned over the administration duties of the PDC to Dr. Sun Lee. Dr. Landon continues to see allergy and pulmonary disease patients and work on several different health and community projects both locally and nationally, including leading the state-funded ACEs Aware Provider Training initiative in Ventura County.
Brian Abdulhai - Clinical Research Coordinator
Brian Abdulhai received his B.S. in Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara, CA in 2022. During his studies, he worked in Ventura County Pharmacy as a pharmacy assistant and has assisted his family in running their business during his time in school. After his studies he began working as a Clinical Research Coordinator under the Landon Pediatric Foundation and assists Ventura County’s ACEs Aware Program by encouraging county implementation of the ACEs Aware initiative by involving providers, families, and local resources.
Rachel LeeAnn Williams - Clinical Research Coordinator
Rachel received her B.S. in Environmental Science & Resource Management from CSU Channel Islands in 2019. After her studies, she began working as a clinical research coordinator under Landon Pediatric Foundation, alongside Ventura County Medical Center. As one of Ventura County’s ACEs Aware Program coordinators, she encourages county implementation of the ACEs Aware initiative by involving providers, families, and local resources.
Nicole Hickman - Clinical Research Coordinator
Nicole will be graduating in June 2023 with her B.S in Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara, CA. During her studies she worked at Teledyne FLIR as a product test technician and began working as a clinical research coordinator under Landon Pediatric Foundation. By engaging with providers, families, and local resources, she promotes the adoption of the ACEs Aware initiative at the county level.
Emani Kelley - Grant Coordinator
Emani received her B.A. in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Latin American Studies from The College of Wooster, OH in 2019. After her studies, she received a 2019-20 Fulbright Grant to teach English at IE University in Madrid, Spain. As one of the Ventura County Grant Coordinators, she works to organize trainings for providers and encourage county implementation of the ACEs Aware initiative by involving providers, families, and local resources.
Sharon Elmensdorp, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Dr. Elmensdorp earned her M.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in Education with an emphasis in Special Education, Disabilities, and Risk Studies and a specialty in behavioral intervention and autism spectrum disorders. She is a Program Manager for First 5 Ventura County and lead for the Help Me Grow initiative to address early identification for young children with developmental and behavioral needs. As part of the ACEs Aware VC team, Dr. Elmensdorp works to connect providers and families to local services.
Daisy Sumaya - Asst. Grant Coordinator
Daisy Sumaya received her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from California State University Channel Islands in 2020. As the Assistant Grant Coordinator, she works to organize trainings for providers and encourage county implementation of the ACEs Aware initiative by involving providers, families, and local resources.
Lucy E. Marrero, MA, LMFT, CPHQ
Lucy Marrero oversees ambulatory care quality improvement, population health, and behavioral health integration for the Health Care Agency in Ventura County. Her passion is ensuring access and early intervention for mental health concerns and substance misuse. Ms. Marrero holds a Master’s degree in Clinical and Applied Community Psychology, and she is also a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ).
Melissa Ruiz, MD, MPH
Dr. Melissa Ruiz is a pediatrician at Pediatric Diagnostic Center. She is a child of Peruvian immigrants to whom she is incredibly thankful for giving her the gift of bilingualism and for instilling in her a dedication to serve her community. She received her M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed her Master’s in Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago during her Pediatric Residency. She serves on the board of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) District 9 as the Section on Early Career Physicians representative as well as the AAP District 9 Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) grant facilitator. She moved to Ventura in 2016 and immediately fell in love with this community where she is raising her 3 boys. Dr. Ruiz started her work around screening for ACES and social determinants of health in 2014 and is ecstatic to be part of this team that is moving this work forward to serve the families of Ventura County.
Tomás Torices, MD
Tomás Torices is the Executive Director for The American Academy of Pediatrics, California Chapter 2 (AAP-CA2), which serves the counties of Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura. In his leadership position, Tomás has been involved as a quality improvement advisor in projects aimed at improving immunization rates in children under 2 years old, HPV vaccines in adolescents, and improving optimal asthma care.
Sarah Hemmer, MD
Dr. Sarah Hemmer is a pediatrician at the Pediatric Diagnostic Center in Ventura, California. She is a Chicagoan who was converted to loving California during her time at Stanford. She returned to Chicago briefly and enjoyed her time at Northwestern University Medical School, but found the winters too cold and decided to settle back in California where her husband is from. She completed her residency at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and then moved to San Francisco where she worked as a pediatrician in an underserved community and began her Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) work with Dr. Nadine Burke. She and her husband moved to Santa Barbara in 2013 and she began work at the Pediatric Diagnostic Center. She really enjoys her patient population and loves a chance to speak Spanish with many of her patients. She served on the Santa Barbara Resiliency Project helping ACES work become more widespread in Santa Barbara and she is now thrilled to be a part of ACES Aware Ventura County.
Joni Bhutra, MD
Dr. Joni Bhutra is a board-certified pediatrician for the County of Ventura. Her passion is providing trauma informed care for foster and underserved youth in our community. Completing her pediatric internship and residency in the heart of LA at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, solidified her desire to serve those who are often left in the shadows of our society. Serving on the Social Emotional Learning Taskforce for the Ventura County Office of Education, she is helping develop resiliency training for our teachers and our youth. In her off-time you can find her pursuing her MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Business, reading, or enjoying Southern California's many outdoor spaces with her husband and two kids.
Chandra Schlee, BSN, RN
Chandra received her B.S. in Nursing from Mount St. Mary’s College. As a Registered Nurse, Chandra worked in the fields of maternal health, labor and delivery and surgical services, providing care for populations with complex clinical courses. Now a Quality Improvement RN for Gold Coast Health Plan (GCHP), Chandra prides herself on being the organization’s ACEs Subject Matter Expert, learning from and lending her experiential knowledge to the innovative work being done to support the ACEs Aware initiative in Ventura County. Chandra is committed to building bridges between GCHP, Gold Coast Health Plan, healthcare providers and community resources to ensure equitable access to trauma-informed care for all.