Grand opening March 2026
About Us
Open Arms Primary Care is a small, independent practice built entirely by its physicians—without corporate backing, outside investors, or insurance company influence. It is a labor of love, fully funded and sustained by the three of us.
We don’t have layers of administration or a large support staff. Every phone call, every message, every decision comes directly from our doctors. We’ve chosen this intentionally, so nothing stands between us and our patients.
Our work is guided by love, responsibility, and long-term relationships. We aim to care for our patients the way we care for our own families: with availability, honesty, and attention. We believe that when patients feel genuinely cared for, healthcare becomes not only more effective, but more humane.
Dr Shannon Connolly, MD, FAAFP, DABFP she/her
Hi, I’m Dr. Shannon Connolly, a board-certified family physician and one of the founders of Open Arms Primary Care. I started OAPC because I believe healthcare works best when there is time, trust, and a real relationship between doctor and patient. My approach is simple: I want to understand you—your life, your priorities, and what matters most—so we can make healthcare decisions together. I care for people at all stages of life, with a focus on family planning, behavioral health, gender-affirming care, diabetes care, and preventing chronic disease.
I’m deeply committed to creating a space that is inclusive, affirming, and never shaming. Whether you are LGBTQ+, transgender, neurodivergent, living in a larger body, have experienced trauma, are undocumented, or have felt unseen in healthcare before—you are welcome here. Open Arms is meant to be a place where coming to the doctor feels safe, human, and supportive.
Beyond the clinic, I’m active in physician leadership and advocacy at the state and national level, working to advance health equity and improve our healthcare system. In 2025, I was honored to be named Family Physician of the Year by the California Academy of Family Physicians.
Outside of work, I enjoy trying new foods, hiking with my dog Sadie, tinkering with my five aquariums, and rescuing animals. I’m so excited to welcome you to Open Arms Primary Care.
Education:
Undergraduate: Brown University and Harvard University
Medical School: University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
Residency: Family Medicine, UCLA
Fellowship: Primary Care Psychiatry, UC Irvine
Accepting new patients for March 2026!
Dr Amy Tressan, MD she/her
Education:
Undergraduate: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Medical School: Thomas Jefferson Medical College
Residency: Family Medicine, UCLA
Fellowship: Family Planning, Tufts University
Fellowship: Physicians for Reproductive Health Leadership Training Academy
About:
Dr. Tressan grew up in Los Angeles and during college, she worked in the student center handing out condoms and helping folks gain access to safe sex education. This experience inspired her to pursue a career in sexual and reproductive health.
Dr Tressan has been working with Dr Connolly for the last four years at a large multi-site primary care facility before co-founding Open Arms Primary Care. She is most passionate about providing equitable and compassionate, trauma informed, patient-centered care. Her areas of clinical interest include family planning, vasectomy, sex positive care and gender affirming care. She recognizes the layered systems of oppression that people face making health harder to achieve and wants to work actively to face this with her patients using harm reduction principles and shared decision-making. She wants her patients to feel heard, seen and supported. Outside of work, Dr. Tressan is involved in several professional organizations and holds leadership positions at the Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP), Los Angeles Academy of Family Physicians (LAFP) and the California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP).
For fun, Dr. Tressan enjoys hiking, dancing, and trying to keep her plants alive!
Dr Shayne Poulin, MD
Dr Poulin grew up in Arizona and went to college at the University of Arizona. Prior to medical school, she taught high school chemistry. She then returned to the University of Arizona for medical school. She completed family medicine residency at Boston Medical Center/Boston University. After residency, she became faculty at Boston University School of Medicine and provided care at South Boston Community Health Center.
Dr Poulin moved to California to join Dr Connolly in a practice focused on patient centered primary and reproductive health care. After working together for almost a decade, the doctors founded Open Arms Primary Care to realize the dream of optimizing inclusive patient centered primary care. Dr Poulin is dedicated to making all patients feel welcome by offering gender affirming care, comprehensive reproductive care and behavioral health care.
Dr Poulin is dedicated to improving health care for all by serving in leadership positions in many organizations including the California Academy of Family Physicians. She also completed the UC Irvine Train the Trainer Fellowship in Behavioral Health.
Outside of work she loves spending time with her family--especially outdoors and near the ocean. She also loves crafting and has melded her passion for medicine, teaching, and crafts by creating unique models anatomical for medical education.
Customer Voices
Hear from our valued patients.
Dr. Connolly made me feel safe and comfortable through my entire visit. She took time answering all my questions. I didn't feel like she was trying to rush through me. She took her time and gave me the care I needed.
Kylie R.
Costa Mesa
"I am so happy that I found Dr. Connolly for a primary physician. She's awesome, caring, sincere and very friendly. She also very professional of what she do. I'm always satisfied and happy the end of my visit, definitely recommend whoever seeking for a primary physician..."
Tammie N
Orange
★★★★★
★★★★★
Location
438 E Katella Ave Suite G
Orange, CA 92867
Tel 714-583-6173 Text us for the fastest response!
Fax (administrative) 714-610-9373
Fax (for medical records) 714-439-5186
info@openarmsprimarycare.com
© 2025. All rights reserved.
NOTICE TO PATIENTS ABOUT THE OPEN PAYMENTS DATABASE: For informational purposes only, a link to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments web page is provided here. The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires that detailed information about payment and other payments of value worth over ten dollars ($10) from manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and biologics to physicians and teaching hospitals be made available to the public. You may search this federal database for payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals by visiting this website.