Dr. Ethan Payton (he/him) is a UCLA Health LGBTQ+ Healthcare Fellow for 2024-2025. His clinical interests include LGBTQ+ primary care, HIV/AIDS, gender-affirming care, street medicine, addiction medicine, and STI prevention/treatment.

Dr. Payton was born in western Washington state and grew up in north Idaho. He received his Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Washington State University in Pullman, WA. After completing his undergraduate studies, he worked as a human anatomy cadaver lab teaching assistant and as an ophthalmology technician. He then went on to complete his medical degree at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine through WSU as part of the college's inaugural class. He completed his residency training in family medicine at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, WA, where he served as Chief Resident for two consecutive years.

To gain additional urban-underserved experiences, he rotated through various clinical electives as a resident, including Prison Medicine, Transgender Care, Street Medicine, Inpatient Addiction Consult Service, and Behavioral Health. These experiences, among so many others throughout training, have encouraged Dr. Payton to continue pursuing his passion for providing excellent, evidence-based care to marginalized and underserved communities in the urban setting, particularly those of the gender and sexual minority experience - a broader community very near and dear to his heart.

Outside of work, Dr. Payton enjoys listening to music, hiking, eating his way through Los Angeles, visiting family, keeping up with whichever iteration of RuPaul's Drag Race is airing that week, and long weekend trips to New Orleans - all with his husband and dog by his side.