Dr. Sun Yoo

A pioneer in complex care management, Dr. Yoo built UCLA’s nationally recognized Extensivist Program from the ground up—transforming it from a one-physician pilot into a multidisciplinary team serving thousands of patients with complex medical needs. Throughout her career, Dr. Yoo has been adept at recognizing problems that need solving in health care and developing creative solutions to address them. “Innovations allow us to take better care of our patients because we’re not accepting the status quo,” Dr. Yoo says. “We’re really trying to figure out what we can do for our patients with their unique combination of complexities to deliver the best care for their needs.”

Dr. Yoo’s path to medicine began early in her childhood in Minnesota, where she accompanied family members to medical appointments to translate for them. She was drawn to the empathy she witnessed from physicians. Later, in college, the experience of supporting loved ones through metastatic cancer highlighted for her the system’s limitations. She saw that while most people would prefer to avoid hospitalizations, few options existed for receiving high-quality, coordinated care at home. This realization became her driving force: “I always want to be creating better models of care that meet patients’ individual needs and complexities,” she says.

After earning her Bachelor of Science in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT, Dr. Yoo pursued her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where she also completed a masters of public health in Quantitative Methods at Harvard School of Public Health. Her public health training grew from her desire to scale interventions beyond individual patients to entire populations.

Dr. Yoo completed her internal medicine residency at UCLA and served as Chief Resident before being recruited to create the Extensivist medical home—a central coordinating hub specifically designed for patients with complex medical conditions.

She also spearheaded UCLA’s COVID Ambulatory Monitoring Program, using innovative remote technology to safely manage patients at home during the pandemic. Dr. Yoo’s leadership roles at UCLA included serving as Chief Wellness Officer, Section Chief, and Medical Director. In these roles, she championed physician well-being and redesigned systems to prioritize both patient-centered care and sustainable clinical practice. Her efforts helped reduce physician burnout and restore meaning in medicine for many physicians.

Her clinical approach is holistic, data-driven, and highly personalized. Dr. Yoo takes time to understand the full context of each patient’s life and works collaboratively to develop realistic, actionable care plans tailored to their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. “Patients know themselves best,” she says. “My role is to bring medical expertise and walk alongside them to create plans that align with their goals and priorities.”

Having spent years caring for medically complex patients, Dr. Yoo is particularly motivated to help healthy individuals stay that way. “I’ve seen the best- and worst-case scenarios,” she notes, “so I’m passionate about prevention, coaching, and empowering patients to take control of their health before problems arise.”

At Atria, Dr. Yoo is thrilled to practice in a truly proactive, patient-centered environment. “Without the barriers of traditional systems, we can focus fully on our patients,” she says. “With the right tools, data, and partnership, we can help people achieve their best possible health and quality of life.” Dr. Yoo is also committed to mentoring the next generation of physicians and advancing the frontiers of precision medicine. She is passionate about scaling impactful innovations and transforming the broader health care landscape.

Dr. Yoo lives in Santa Monica with her husband and young son. Outside of medicine, she enjoys exploring Los Angeles’ food scene and traveling with her family.