Faculty Spotlights

Dr. Oladunni B. Adeyiga is an infectious disease specialist at UCLA. She is currently consulting on admitted patients at RRMC and SMH, and performs outpatient consultations in 200 Medical Plaza.  Her research interest is in diagnostic test development within the disciplines of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases.

Dr. Olujimi Ajijola is a cardiologist who serves as director of the Clinical Autonomic Neuroscience Programs, and Autonomic Testing Laboratory His research interests lie in the application of neuromodulation, as adjunctive therapy, for treating patients with minor and severe cardiac arrhythmias, as well as understanding how cardiovascular injury induces remodeling within the cardiac neural hierarchy, and how various neuromodulatory strategies may be aimed at treating cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Arleen F. Brown is a general internist and health services researcher at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with expertise in quality of care for older adults and minorities with diabetes. She has focused on health care system, social, and individual level determinants of health for persons with diabetes. She is also the Chief of GIM Health Services research at Olive View Medical  Center.

Dr. Alejandra Casillas is an assistant professor of medicine and general internist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and her research focuses on health inequities. She is particularly interested in assessing medical care access and interventions that will improve the quality of life for minority and limited-English-speaking populations.

Dr. Allison Diamant is a Professor at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and has very strong research and clinical interests in striving to eliminate disparities in access to and receipt of health care as a means to ultimately improving health. Her research includes the study of access and quality of care for underserved and vulnerable populations, as well as the evaluation of programs to study care provided to low-income and uninsured populations.

Dr. O. Kenrik Duru joined the UCLA Division of GIM/HSR in 2004. His areas of research interest include enhancing physical activity among minority seniors and designing interventions to reduce disparities in medication adherence and clinical outcomes among patients with diabetes.

Dr. Hernandez is a hospitalist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and his interests include teaching physical exam skills and quality improvement in hospitalized patients.

Dr. Ifeoma Stella Izuchukwu is a general internist at West Los Angeles VA and Clinical Health Sciences professor at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, with a research focus on healthy equity in veterans’ populations.

Dr. Adriana Izquierdo is a Hospitalist at the West Los Angeles VA and is a health services researcher interested in Latino aging research, with a focus on mental health outcomes, social health measures, and chronic disease management.

Dr. Mina Ma is a general internist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Iris Cantor UCLA Women's Health Center.  She is also the Program Director for Primary Care Residency Track and has an interest in medical education and mentoring.

Dr. Folasade P. May is a Gastroenterologist and Co-director for the Global Health Education Program. She is also a member of the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and research collaborator at the Center for Cancer Prevention Control Research (CPCR). Her research focuses on eliminating patient, provider, and system-level barriers to colorectal cancer screening in Federally Qualified Health Centers and in the Veterans Health Administration.

Dr. Susanne Nicholas is a Nephrologist and Clinical Hypertension Specialist. Her research interests are to: understand and identify key factors that promote the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney disease (DKD); uncover and validate novel biomarkers that may predict DKD progression; and to quantify renal structural changes associated with DKD in response to novel therapeutics, using stereology principles.

Dr. Keith Norris is an internationally recognized clinician scientist and health policy leader who has been instrumental in shaping national health policy and clinical practice guidelines in the area of kidney disease. His research interests focus on hypertension and chronic kidney disease in disadvantaged populations. He has been a powerful advocate for minority institutions and served for 7 years as the president of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program Association.

Dr. Gifty-Maria Ntim is a primary care physician in internal medicine/pediatrics at both Santa Clarita and UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. She considers it a privilege to be able to care for patients of all ages, from newborns to the elderly, and ultimately hopes to develop programs for underserved communities and developing countries.

Dr. Veronica Ramirez is a hospitalist at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center and clinical lead for the UCLA Downtown Hospitalist Cohort (serving Barlow Respiratory Hospital, California Hospital Medical Center, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital). She enjoys treating acute complex medical problems, advocating for the health of her patients, and coordinating care with other providers in the inpatient setting.

Dr. Donna L. Washington is a physician and health services researcher who has devoted her career to the health care needs of vulnerable and underserved populations. She practices as a General Internist at the West Los Angeles VA and her research addresses health care access, quality, and equity, with a focus on racial-ethnic minority veterans and women veterans. In current research, she is examining racial-ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender disparities experienced by veterans.

Dr. Karol Watson is an attending Cardiologist who practices at RRMC where she is Director of the UCLA Women’s Cardiovascular Health Center, the UCLA-Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Health Program, Co-Director of the UCLA Program in Preventive Cardiology, and Director of the UCLA Fellowship Program in Cardiovascular Diseases.

Dr. Lindsay Wells is a Medicine-Pediatrics outpatient physician who practices at the UCLA Redondo Beach Practice. Her area of interests includes patient empowerment, health literacy, and health care of the underserved.

Dr. David Hayes-Bautista is a professor of public health and of medicine, and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. His research focuses on the dynamics and processes of the health of the Latino population using both quantitative data sets and qualitative observations.

Dr. Estelle Everett is faculty member in the division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at UCLA. Her clinical time is spent at the West LA/ Sepulveda VA. She is also a researcher in General Internal Medicine- Health Services Research division at UCLA. Her research interests involve exploring barriers to care including social determinants of health in high risk populations with diabetes, and developing and evaluating approaches to improve outcomes in this population.

Dr. Jaime Betancourt is the Medical Director of the UCLA-VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) Pulmonary Physiology Laboratory and Oxygen Program and the Site Director for the UCLA Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship at the VAGLAHS.  His clinical focus is on caring for a diverse, medically underserved population of veterans.

Dr. Adrian Mayo is a hospitalist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and his academic interests include global health and medical education.

Dr. Rachel Dajani is a general internist at the West Los Angeles VA Homeless PACT and has an interest in chronic disease management and preventive medicine.

Dr. Jonathon Garcia is a hospitalist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and his interests are in medical education and equitable health care access in the Latino community.

Dr. John Ebrahim is a hospitalist at Ronald Reagan/ Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital and has an interest in medical education.

Dr. Daniel Kozman is a primary care physician in internal medicine/pediatrics at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. His clinical interests include primary and urgent care for all ages, preventive medicine, access to care for medically underserved populations and global health. Dr. Kozman remains heavily involved in medical education as an Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director for UCLA's Medicine-Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine training programs.

Dr. Evelyn Curls is a primary care physician at Redondo Beach in Preventive Health Care, Women's Health and Family planning, Primary care of patients with HIV, management of disease processes such as Hypertension, Diabetes, Hyperlipidemia, and Primary care of patients with solid organ transplants. She enjoys providing excellent care to a diverse population of patients including the underserved communities of Los Angeles.

Dr. Kimberly Narain specializes in Internal Medicine and practices at the Iris Cantor UCLA Women's Health Center. Her primary research focus involves investigating the implications of social, economic and health policies for health equity among women, individuals with low socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic minorities.

Dr. Didi Mwengela is a general gastroenterologist who practicing in Torrance with an interest in medical education, promoting diversity in medicine, and bridging the gaps in healthcare disparities.

Dr. Amubieya recently completed his pulmonary critical care fellowship at UCLA and has remained at UCLA to practice. His clinical and research interests are advanced lung diseases, lung transplantation, and the impact of social determinants of health on outcomes within those populations. He is working towards his PhD in Health Policy and Management at the school of public health through the UCLA STAR Program.

Dr. Roxana Hixson (Cortes Lopez) is a Clinical Instructor within the Pulmonary and Critical Care division at UCLA. She splits her time between Olive View Medical Center and the outpatient Pulmonary clinic at UCLA Santa Clarita. This coming year, she will serve as the Site Director for the Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship program at Olive View. Her research interests include alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, medical education and increasing the pipeline of underrepresented minorities in medicine.

Dr. Nina Harawa is a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. She also holds a faculty appointment at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) where she serves as Associate Director of Research for CDU’s Center for AIDS Research, Education and Services (Drew CARES).

Benjamin Meza is assistant professor in residence and new faculty at UCLA.  He is an internal medicine and pediatrics trained clinician-investigator whose research interests include the role of social networks in health equity and development throughout the life course.

Dr. Evan Michael Shannon is a clinician-investigator, Assistant Professor-in-Residence in the UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, and hospitalist at the West Los Angeles VA. He is interested in studying racial and ethnic disparities in specialty care access and the impact of social determinants of health on healthcare delivery to vulnerable populations.

Dr. Elizabeth Asfaw is a primary care and extensivist physician at UCLA Westwood. She is the current faculty advisor for the UCLA Internal Medicine Resident Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee (IM REDI). Dr. Asfaw received her medical degree from the Drew/UCLA program, then stayed at UCLA to complete her residency and chief year. Her interests include complex medical care, caring for the medically underserved, and medical education.