About Me

Hello, and welcome to my Web page. I'm Dr. Zeledon, but over the years I've been called everything from Dr. Robert to Dr. Bob to Dr. Z. Pick whichever you like. I took over the teenage medicine clinic here at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in 1998. Prior to that, I was working for the County of Los Angeles at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar; so I feel comfortable taking care of any teenager.

Biography

I'm proud to say I'm a real Los Angeles native, growing up just three miles from the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. I spent some time up in Berkeley going to college, moved to Chicago for medical school and returned to the Bay Area for my residency. I eventually moved back to Los Angeles in 1993. Southern California is definitely where I want to be. At Berkeley, I was a zoology and genetics major with plans to go to veterinarian school. But that all changed after I volunteered in the Emergency Department at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland. I soon learned that medicine, especially pediatrics, was the thing for me. Surprisingly, the part of pediatrics I enjoyed most during my residency was seeing the teenagers. Most pediatricians like the babies, which I do, but taking care of teenagers is more challenging and fun. So when I finished at Oakland, I moved to L.A. to do a fellowship at UCLA in adolescent medicine.

About my practice

I'm very lucky to work here at the teenage medicine clinic. It's different than most pediatric and adult clinics in that I like seeing my patients first by themselves and then afterwards asking the parent or guardian to join. Although some parents think they are being excluded, they aren't. I just speak to them later to make sure I'm not missing anything and make sure their questions get answered. After all, part of my job is making sure my patients grow up to be responsible and healthy adults. As much as possible, I try to partner with my patient's parents or guardians to reach this goal.

How I thrive

The one thing that is most important to me is my family. My parents are here in L.A. and my brother and sisters and their families are down in San Diego. I see them as often as I can. I try and stay as active as possible, so I go to the gym a lot and love spinning. I enjoy the outdoors, too. My favorite hobby is traveling and seeing the world.