Residency Faculty

Academic Medical Director

Dr. Hennessy (she/her) is our academic medical director at Santa Cruz Community Health, the Federally Qualified Health Center that houses the residency continuity clinic at the Live Oak Health Center. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Dr. Hennessy graduated with a B.A. in psychology from Stanford University and attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, cementing her love for community medicine with completion of a Schweitzer fellowship. She trained at the Sutter Health Family Medicine Residency Program in Sacramento where she served as chief resident, and upon graduation, was excited to move to Santa Cruz in 2019 to serve the local community. In 2022, she stepped into the role of site medical director of the Live Oak Health Center prior to taking on her new position, and she is enthused about welcoming residents into the continuity clinic to practice full-spectrum outpatient medicine. 

Dr. Hennessy is passionate about reproductive justice and fundamentally believes in the importance of equitable access to healthcare for all. She particularly enjoys teaching outpatient procedures, well childcare, all-options counseling including medication abortion, gender-affirming care, and office-based addiction treatment, in addition to serving as one of our POCUS champions. She continues to develop her Spanish abilities, and she is attempting to teach her kids her own first language, Finnish. Outside of medicine, she enjoys reading, spending time outdoors, and backpacking adventures.