About Us

TIM FALLIS

FOUNDER AND CEO

Tim Fallis founded Street Nurse Sacramento in April 2015 as a pilot project and precursor to Street Medicine Sacramento. His immediate goal was to send small teams of health care professionals into the streets, alleys, and homeless camps to assess the health needs of the homeless population.

Tim has taken physicians, medical residents, medical students, and nursing students on street rounds to expose them to the health needs of the homeless community. He also organized a day-long event at UC Davis School of Medicine which featured a presentation by Dr. Jim Withers, the founder of the street medicine movement.

Tim has been a practicing nurse in Sacramento since 1978. He worked at UC Davis Medical Center in the 70’s during the transition from Sacramento County Hospital. He also worked at Mercy General, WellSpace Health, and other local hospitals. More than half of his career was in inpatient and outpatient mental health.

Tim has been a guest speaker at UC Davis School of Medicine on the subjects of health equity and homelessness. His work experience on the street and in local healthcare organizations gives him a unique and informed view of what it takes to address the health needs of the homeless population.

JOHN LOVEJOY, DO

MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Dr. John Lovejoy is an Associate Medical Director at WellSpace Health, a federally-qualified health center (FQHC) in Sacramento. He realized that many of his patients were unable to enjoy the benefits of the Affordable Care Act because of the challenges and complexities of being homeless. He asked himself if we can make house calls to people who are homebound and in long-term care facilities, why can’t we visit them in parks, along the river, and on the streets?

In 2015, Dr. Lovejoy attended a conference in San Jose where doctors from Pittsburg (PA), San Jose, and Santa Barbara described their successful street backpack medicine programs bringing care to patients where they lived. Since then, he has been working with Tim Fallis and UC Davis medical students and faculty to develop Street Medicine Sacramento. Dr. Lovejoy believes that health care in this country should be a right and not a privilege of circumstances or wealth.

Dr. Lovejoy received his B.A. in Biology from UC Santa Cruz and his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Maine.

KRIS SRINIVASAN, MD

MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Dr. Kris Srinivasan is an Assistant Professor & Co-Director of the Medical Student Education Program for the Department of Family & Community Medicine at U.C. Davis School of Medicine. He practices family medicine at CommuniCare’s Salud Clinic in West Sacramento which is a community health center serving those with public or no insurance. He has devoted his time and energy to treating poverty as a social disease, which has a profoundly negative health consequences for people.

Dr. Srinivasan has joined Street Medicine Sacramento as a Medical Director, providing oversight to ensure quality of care in our field operations.

His personal interests include building and fixing things, creating and enjoying music, various forms of inner and outer exploration, the Oakland A’s, and hanging out with his cool family.

MARLENE M. von FRIEDERICHS-FITZWATER, PhD, MPH

ADVISER

Dr. Marlene M. von Friederichs-Fitzwater retired in January of 2016 as an associate professor of hematology/oncology (2005-2016) from UC Davis School of Medicine, where she also developed and directed the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center Outreach Research and Education Program; created and directed the LGBTQI Cancer Health Task Force; and served as adjunct faculty in the UC Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing and in the UC Davis MPH Program.

Dr. von Friederichs-Fitzwater is also professor emeritus at California State University, Sacramento, where she served for 20 years (1985-2005) as a professor in communication studies including three years as department chair. During her tenure, she was honored with the Distinguished Faculty Award in 1999 and was named a Minority Faculty Mentor in 1996.

Dr. von Friederichs-Fitzwater is the founder and Executive Director of and The Health Communication Research Institute (HCRI). Established in 1989, HCRI is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to reduce health disparities and health care inequities, specifically among the homeless and underserved populations. She is a California Legislative Ambassador for the American Cancer Society and is a cervical cancer spokesperson for the California Medical Association Foundation. She is a national consultant for the American Medical Association Ethics Task Force on Physician/Patient Communication.

JOSE ABAD, MD

ADVISER

Dr. Jose Abad is the President and Chief Medical Officer of River City Medical Group, where he oversees a network of physicians that provides care to more than 150,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Sacramento County. He sees first-hand the detrimental effects that homelessness has on mortality rates and overall cost of care. Under his leadership, River City Medical Group is making large investments in, among other things, social workers and case managers to combat this problem.

Dr. Abad also volunteers his time as the Medical Director for non-profit Clara’s House and serves on the board of Mercy Foundation, which operates a broad range of ministries and charitable organizations in the Sacramento region. Dr. Abad is a true champion for the medically underserved.

Throughout his long career, Dr. Abad has been a very active physician leader. He was the President of Sacramento Society of Internal Medicine, President of Sacramento El Dorado Medical Society, Chief of Staff and Board Member of Methodist Hospital, Member of the Board of Mercy Health Sacramento, and Assistant Clinical Professor of UC Davis School Medicine.

TED FONG, MBA

ADVISER

Ted Fong volunteers his time running operations for Street Medicine Sacramento. He was the Chief Operating Officer of River City Medical Group where he managed Sacramento’s largest Medi-Cal provider network, consisting of more than 400 primary care physicians and specialists. He was also the Chief Operating Officer at Peach Tree Health, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) based in Marysville, CA.

Having worked for both the payor and the provider sides in healthcare, Ted has become a proponent of putting people in the field to service those who are unable or unwilling to come into the doctor’s office. “Not only is it the humanitarian thing to do, it makes economic sense,” he says. “It doesn’t cost much, and it produces a huge savings in terms of reducing avoidable ER visits and hospitalizations.”

Ted was born and raised in Sacramento. His father was Dr. William Y. Fong, an internist who practiced for more than 50 years at his office on 50th and J Streets. Ted has an MBA from UCLA and a BS in bioengineering from UC Berkeley.