Marguerite Sanchez, Executive Director
Marguerite (Maggie) Sanchez is the new Executive Director for DWW-SBSM. She is a founding member and was the Secretary/Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the past 14 years. She has been the interim Executive Director, but felt her skills were best served by becoming the Executive Director and managing the day-to-day operations for the organization. Marguerite is currently semi-retired and is the financial analyst for the Natalie Orfalea Foundation. Marguerite was a Financial Analyst IV for the Santa Barbara County Court. Ms. Sanchez began her career as a staff accountant with Bartlett, Pringle, and Wolf. She enjoys traveling, cooking, and experimenting with homeopathic essential oils.
Dr. Chelsea Dean, Medical Director
A California native, Dr. Chelsea Dean is originally from Simi Valley, CA. Her education took her to University of California, Berkeley where she completed her B.A. in Molecular Cell Biology with a minor in Dance and Performance Studies. She received her M.D. from Ross University School of Medicine, graduating with high honors. Dr. Dean returned to California to complete her Internal Medicine Residency at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. She is ABIM Board Certified in Internal Medicine. Intentional about holistic care, Dr. Dean approaches medical problems with an open perspective and whole person mindset.
Dr. Dean’s passion for medicine originated in practicing with underserved populations. She grew up shadowing her Internist father on medical missions to Mexico and the Philippines. During medical school, Dr. Dean volunteered with Salybia Mission Project, bringing medical care to the local indigenous tribes on the island of Dominica. While in residency, she was a regular volunteer clinician with Doctor’s Without Walls. She currently works at the Santa Barbara Public Health Department Adult Clinic as a Primary Care Physician and HIV provider.
Dr. Dean lives in Santa Barbara with her husband and their pit-bull rescue, Reina. When not working, she is usually running along the beach or hiking in the beautiful mountains. She is always on the look out for the best taco in town, along with opportunities to practice her Spanish.
Jorie Nilson, Medical Director, Women’s Free Homeless Clinic
Jorie has been a Nurse Practitioner for the past 40 years. She obtained her BSRN from California State University, Fresno. Immediately after graduation in 1976, she entered an elite comprehensive Pediatric Nurse Practitioner certificate program. From 1978 to 1980, she practiced with the United States Peace Corps and with the United States Embassy in Bamako, Mali, and West Africa. Upon return to the U.S. in 1980, she earned her MSN with a Family Practice Nurse Practitioner Option in 1982. After that, she worked with the Teen Pregnancy Resource Center in Fresno serving high-risk teens ages 16 and under; the Birthing Center in Fresno, an out-of-hospital birthing facility; Central California Indian Health in Clovis, where she made health trips to the various Native American rural clinics; a weekly clinic in various locations in the San Joaquin Valley performing physical exams on the children of migrant farm workers; and briefly at Fresno Juvenile Hall.
In 1988, she moved from Fresno to Santa Barbara and worked as a Family Nurse Practitioner at UCSB Student Health until 2010. During summers, she also worked for Santa Barbara County in various clinics (Franklin, Carpinteria, Calle del Remedio), the Westside Neighborhood Clinic, and Santa Barbara Medical Foundation Clinic (now renamed Sansum Clinic).
After retiring in 2010, she took a year “off,” then began volunteering with Doctors Without Walls – Santa Barbara Street Medicine, primarily with the Women’s Free Homeless Clinic, but occasionally in both Pershing and Alameda Parks and on Street Rounds. A few years ago, she became the Medical Director of the Women’s Free Homeless Clinic. During retirement, she has also gone on medical missions to Malawi, Guatemala, and Honduras as well as travelled to Vietnam, Cambodia, and China with a group of medical people to study the various health care systems.
Lynn Matis, First Line Supervisor, LMFT
Lynn has volunteered with Doctors Without Walls since its founding in 2005 and is one of the longest volunteers. She is currently the First Line Supervisor and Facilitator, overseeing the Parks Clinics. She is also a member of the Vaccination Team and the Advisory Committee for the Board of Directors. Her additional work with the Street Outreach teams allows her the ability to use her career’s profession as a Licensed Counselor with a LMFT degree.
Lynn got her degree at Antioch University in Santa Barbara in 1990. A Sansum internship turned into a job. She learned of DWW and was inspired at a speaking event with one of the founders, Dr. Mimi Doohan and Jennifer Ferraez, a volunteer social worker with DWW.
Lynn is passionate about the DWW mission, but it’s her personal mission which drives her the most, which is to assist and encourage up and coming medical and public health professionals (UCSB students mostly) in deciding a humanitarian path in medical school. This passion also fulfills her love of working with other medical professionals, doctors, and nurses, in the field, helping those in our community who cannot help themselves. Lynn likes to travel (coming from a military upbringing) and enjoys visiting friends in Colorado. We are fortunate to have her with us.
Volunteer Coordinators
Isabel Rauchle
WFHC Coordinator
Until then, she plans to continue the dedicated work of her predecessors and establish a strong community among the women and people of Santa Barbara. In her free time Isabel enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, snacking, and taking any opportunity to learn something new.
Sophia Fischer
Companion Care Coordinator
Sophia is a Santa Barbara native who returned home in 2020 after earning a degree in Biology from The University of Alabama. In 2021, she became a Companion Care volunteer for Doctors Without Walls and has now taken on the role of Companion Care Coordinator for the 2023-2024 term. Sophia is dedicated to serving her community and building meaningful relationships with underserved individuals to make a positive impact in her neighborhood and address systemic issues. Currently serving as the Chief Scribe at the Emergency Department of Santa Barbara, Goleta Valley, and Santa Ynez Cottage Hospital, she appreciates the continuity of care that Doctors Without Walls provides. Sophia’s ultimate goal is to become a physician and contribute to improving healthcare accessibility for marginalized communities. In her free time, Sophia enjoys yoga, cooking, skiing, and spending time with her cat, Jason, who has been by her side for 19 years.
Majd Bakdounes
Data Coordinator
Majd graduated from UC Santa Barbara in June 2022 with a degree in Biological Sciences. He has been a part of Doctors Without Walls for two and a half years, serving in the scribe, packs, and vitals roles. Majd has enjoyed the friendships and connections formed with the local underserved population and fellow volunteers at DWW and is excited to lead parks clinics for the 2022-2023 year. He currently works for the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department as an EMT and aspires to work as a physician in the future. In his free time, he enjoys playing golf, cooking, training in martial arts, and watching Formula 1.
Robert Hinojos
Companion Care Coordinator
Robert was born and raised in the rural town of Tulare, California, and graduated with honors from UC Santa Barbara in 2022 with a B.S. in Biopsychology and Pharmacology. His initial exposure to health and socioeconomic inequities began from experiences in his hometown, which led him to work as a staff member at the Hedges House of Hope Shelter in Isla Vista. Robert then started volunteering as a Companion Care volunteer in 2021 to specifically focus on how to address health inequities present within the Santa Barbara community. He is now happy to be serving as Companion Care Coordinator for the 2022-2023 term and hopes to continue DWW’s long-standing mission to help those who are the most vulnerable, wherever they may be. As an aspiring physician, Robert intends on returning to his hometown to take a similar approach to address healthcare needs, although he has found a second home here in Santa Barbara. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball, reading fiction, and writing short stories/poems.
Devanshi Tomar
Companion Care Coordinator
An undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara (’24), Devanshi is a double-major in Biopsychology and English, pursuing a minor in Poverty, Inequality and Social Justice. Before her role as Companion Care Coordinator, Devanshi began at Doctors Without Walls as a volunteer in fall of 2022. Throughout her involvement with DWW, she has enjoyed fostering and furthering connections with clients, fellow volunteers, and community members. An ambition to increase the access that underserved populations have to the education and resources conducive to their health and wellbeing, is what underlies her interests and involvements. She is a writer, editor and chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UCSB’s student-driven newspaper, the Daily Nexus. She also serves as the co-director and is the co-founder of Preserve Abortion Access California Taskforce — an organization partnered with the UC Center for Gender and Health Justice to improve the access and awareness students attending California’s public colleges have regarding reproductive health services on their campus. She intends to become a physician and continue as an advocate for progressive healthcare policy and its equitable implementation. In her spare time, she is a poet and peripatetic working on balancing out her bookshelf’s ratio of books fully read, and books newly purchased.
Marea Gordon
Packs & Logistics Coordinator
Marea is a 4th year undergraduate student at UC Santa Barbara working towards a degree in Biological Sciences BS. She joined DWW in Fall 2021 and volunteered as a scribe at the Women’s Free Homeless Clinic prior to becoming a Packs Coordinator.
Marea spent most of her childhood growing up in rural Mexico which left her with a passion for improving access to and equity in healthcare services. This has led her to pursue a variety of opportunities within the Santa Barbara community oriented towards improving healthcare for the underserved and promoting education on important public health issues — including serving as a Capps Center Public Service Intern with Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, working as an EMT in the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Emergency Department and, of course, volunteering with DWW.
As an aspiring physician, Marea plans to develop a career in which she can help address the healthcare needs of underserved populations following the principles she has learned through her work with DWW. While she applies to medical school in the upcoming 2023-24 cycle, Marea plans to continue her work with DWW and spend as much time as she can enjoying the beach while she is still in sunny Santa Barbara.
Arsya Sinha
Volunteer Coordinator
Arsya grew up in the Bay Area for most of her childhood. Despite growing up in the United States, much of her family resides in Bihar, a rural state in India, and she enjoys visiting them whenever time allows. She recently graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Biological Sciences and a minor in Religious Studies. During her time in college, she worked at UCSB's Women's Center in addition to Isla Vista's Homeless Shelter, Hedges Houses of Hope. She also pursued volunteering with Doctors Without Walls as a Women's Free Homeless Clinic General Volunteer in 2021 to understand the mechanics of street medicine and contribute to advocacy for the underserved community. Understanding and addressing healthcare inequity has been an important part of her time in college. She is excited to be serving as the Volunteer Coordinator for DWW alongside her wonderful coordinator team this upcoming year before applying for medical school. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, reading, and cooking.