About Us

Dr. Malak Shammas joined an established private practice group in July, 2008. A specialist in internal medicine,Dr. Shammas brings with her a wealth of community experience that will benefit private patients seeking excellence in healthcare management, preventative health care and wellness maintenance.

Dr. Shammas sees each patient as a whole person, not merely an accumulation of symptoms. She spends quality time with each one, sharing the benefit of her clinical expertise and extensive medical knowledge, including nutrition. Dr. Shammas emphasizes disease prevention through vaccinations and routine screening exams.

Prior to joining private practice, she served for nine years as the associate medical director of the Saban Free Clinic (formerly known as the Los Angeles Free Clinic). Working there, she developed the kind of know-how that comes from treating all kinds of patients with everything from simple to exceptional medical challenges.

By asking insightful questions, Dr. Shammas frequently treated not only the primary problem for which a patient initially sought treatment, but she also identified hidden conditions or potential problems based on taking a thorough family history including information about lifestyle, outlook, stress levels, diet and exercise. Her experience includes treatment of hypertension, obesity, diabetes, asthma and hypercholesterolemia, plus many other chronic and acute conditions.

In addition to seeing to her own patients at the LA Free Clinic, she supervised a staff of two physicians, three nurse practitioners, and 12 support workers including medical assistants and nurse managers. Dr. Shammas also trained residents in internal medicine from Cedars Sinai Medical Center through the Free Clinic’s Continuity Clinics/Public Private Partnership program, which she developed while working at Cedars.

Dr. Shammas’s relationship with Cedars Sinai began as a resident in 1993, immediately after she earned her medical degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She joined the Cedars Sinai staff in 1996 as an attending physician in Ambulatory Clinics & Employee Health.

Dr. Shammas loves teaching and will continue to teach at Cedars as one of its staff physicians. She is board certified in internal medicine through the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a member of the American College of Physicians. Dr. Shammas speaks fluent Arabic, English and French, and is proficient in Spanish.