Obstetrics & Gynecology

New and Noteworthy

Newsletter Winter 2021

New and Noteworthy: UCLA faculty who have been recognized for excellence in clinical care, research and teaching

HONORS AND AWARDS:

UCLA pelvic medicine specialists Drs. Tamara Grisales, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, Christopher Tarnay, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor, Ja-Hong Kim, UCLA Urology Associate Professor, and the Center for Women's Pelvic Health group, were honored by UCLA Rehabilitation Services with a “Collaboration Award” during National Rehab Month. The FPMRS team was recognized for their support of the pelvic floor rehab program and ongoing collaboration. 

Lab Researcher

Sanaz Memarzadeh, MD, PhD, UCLA OBGYN Professor, was recognized by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for her research and awareness building for ovarian cancer. She also received a Certificate of Recognition from Mayor Lindsey Horvath and the West Hollywood City Council for outstanding service, commitment, and accomplishments in ovarian cancer research.

Tina Nguyen, MD, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, was named an Educator for Excellence for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA for the 2020-21 academic year. A group of 30 accomplished and dedicated faculty teachers with expertise in small group facilitation and an outstanding track-record of exceptional teaching were selected. This program and group of faculty will be a transformative new element in our medical student education program.

Molly Quinn, MD, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, has been named as a CREST Scholar by the Clinical Research/Reproductive Scientist Training (CREST) Program. This training program is offered by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) at Duke University, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and the University of Colorado School of Medicine.  

Aparna Sridhar, MD, MPH, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor, has been appointed as the Vice Chair for applied Anatomy College for David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Additionally, in January 2020 she will assume the role of Clerkship Chair for the department.

GRANTS:

Yalda Afshar, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor In-Residence of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, has been awarded five grants in recent months. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) / MPI for “PRIORITY: Supporting the Public Health Response to COVID-19” funded by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Foundation. She is one of four multiple principal investigators who received a Gates Foundation Grant, as well as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2020 Global Ideas Grant. Dr. Afshar also received an Iris Cantor Women's Health Center Pilot Award for “PRIORITY (Pregnancy CoRonavIrus Outcomes RegisTrY” and a David Geffen School of Medicine Seed Grant for her project “Improving prenatal planning and postnatal care in severe congenital heart disease: Prenatal cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in-utero to improve care for high-risk pregnancies.”

Marta Epeidegui, PhD, UCLA OBGYN Assistant Professor-In-Residence, recently received three NIH awards. She is the project director for “The role of PDL1+ exosomes in AIDS-related lymphoma,” a supplemental award to the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center parent grant for which Michael Teitell, MD, PhD is the Principal Investigator. For the project “The Natural History of AIDS in Homosexual Men,” she is the co-investigator. Dr. Epeidegui is also the director of the biomarker core for the AMC clinical trials, a cooperative consortium to promote clinical trials in AIDS-related cancers.  

Deborah Krakow, MD, UCLA OBGYN Professor and Chair, received an NIH award for her project “Pregnancy and Osteogenesis Imperfecta.” This award includes Rashmi Rao, MD, Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, as a co-investigator.

PRESENTATIONS:

Joshua Cohen, MD, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor:

  • C. Liao, K. Tran , M. Richardson, K. Darcy, C. Tiao, C.A. Hamilton, L. Maxwell, A. Mann, J. Cohen, D.S. Kapp, J. Chan. Increase in Uterine Serous Carcinoma: Will it Surpass Uterine Endometrioid Cancer? A population analysis of 720,984 uterine cancer patients. Oral poster presentation of the Annual Meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, September 10-13th, 2020.
  • C Liao, K Furey, M. Richardson, K Tran, C Tian, A Chan, K. Darcy, D.S. Kapp, JG. Cohen, John K. Chan. The rising incidence of cervical adenocarcinoma in the United States - who is most at risk?  Poster presentation of the Annual Meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, September 10-13th, 2020.
  • C Liao, K Furey, M. Richardson, K Tran, C Tian, A Chan, K. Darcy, D.S. Kapp, JG Cohen, John K. Chan. Increased Incidence of Cervical Adenosquamous Cell Carcinoma in Minority Populations?  Poster presentation of the Annual Meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, September 10-13th, 2020.
  • C Liao, K Furey, C. Chan, M. Richardson, K Tran, C Tian, Darcy, D.S. Kapp, JG Cohen, John K. Chan. Increased Incidence of Cervical Adenosquamous Cell Carcinoma in Minority Populations?   Poster presentation of the Annual Meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, September 10-13th, 2020.
  • C Liao, K Furey, C. Chan, M. Richardson, K Tran, C Tian, Darcy, D.S. Kapp, JG Cohen, John K. Chan. Disproportionate incidence of Neuroendocrine Cervical Cancer in Minority Populations - A study of 2,046 patients.    Poster presentation of the Annual Meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, September 10-13th, 2020.
  • M. Nakhla, A. Mandelbaum, R. Salani, P. Benharash, and JG Cohen. Frailty is Independently Associated with Worse Outcomes and Increased Resource Use Following Procedures to Treat Endometrial Cancer. Oral Plenary Presentation of the Annual Meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society, September 10-13th, 2020

Daniel Dumesic, MD, UCLA OBGYN Professor:

  • Hoyos LR, Visser JA, McLuskey A, Chazenbalk GD, Grogan TR, Dumesic DA. Loss of Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) Immunoactivity Due to a Homozygous AMH Gene Variant rs10417628 in a Woman with Classical Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Androgen Excess-PCOS Annual Meeting, November 7-8, 2020 
  • Leung KL, Sanchita S, Dumesic P, Ding X, Li X, Morselli M, Pellegrini M, Dumesic DA, Chazenbalk GD. Transcriptional Changes in Lipid Metabolism of Adipocytes Derived from Subcutaneous (SC) Abdominal Adipose Stem Cells (ASCs) of Normal-Weight Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Women. Androgen Excess-PCOS Annual Meeting, November 7-8, 2020. 
  • Dumesic DA, Tulberg A, Leung KL, Fisch SC, Grogan TR, Abbott, DH, Naik R, Chazenbalk GD. Subcutaneous abdominal stem cell adipogenesis predicts metabolic improvements in normal-weight polycystic ovary syndrome women. American Society for Reproductive Medicine 2020 Virtual Scientific Congress and Expo, San Diego, CA, October 17-21, 2020, Abstract O-100. 
  • Chazenbalk GD, Phan K, Dumesic DA. Chromatin accessibility, transcriptional networks, and fatty acid (FA) synthesis during adipogenesis in subcutaneous (SC) adipose stem cells (ASCs) of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) women. American Society for Reproductive Medicine 2020 virtual Scientific Congress and Expo, San Diego, CA, October 17-21, 2020, Abstract O-246. 
  • Pham CT, Williams KJ, Leung KL, Lu GG, McNamara MV, Grogan TR, Dumesic DA, Chazenbalk GD. Total and De Novo Synthesis of Fatty Acids in Adipocytes Derived from Subcutaneous Abdominal Adipose Stem Cells of Normal-Weight Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Undergraduate Research Showcase, Undergraduate Research Week, May 18-22, 2020. 
  • Tulberg A, Naik R, Sanchita S, Grogan TR, Chazenbalk GD, Dumesic D. Subcutaneous Abdominal Adipocyte Stem Cell Development to Adipocytes In Vitro Predicts Metabolic Differences in Normal-Weight Women with and Without Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Undergraduate Research Showcase, Undergraduate Research Week, May 18-22, 2020. 

Sandra Orsulic, PhD, UCLA OBGYN Professor-In-Residence:

  • New Tools for the Study of Fallopian Tubes from BRCA1 Mutation Carriers. DNA Repair and Model Systems. AACR-Rivkin Virtual Ovarian Cancer Research Seminar Series. September 10, 2020.

Molly Quinn, MD, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor:

  • Shapiro AJ and Quinn MM. Patient experience with expanded-carrier screening: adequacy of provider counseling, economic burden and decision-making regarding partner testing. Oral Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Conference. October 2020, Virtual Conference. 
  • Mehr H, Lee V, Jackson-Bey T, Herndon C, Quinn MM. Reading level of patient education material on infertility clinic websites is above national recommendations. Oral Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Conference. October 2020, Virtual Conference. 
  • Hariton E, Morris J, Kao C-N, Jaswa E, Quinn MM, Cedars MI, Huddleston HG. An AMH-based screening tool is both sensitive and specific for predicting a diagnosis of PCOS by Rotterdam Criteria. Oral Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Conference. October 2020, Virtual Conference. 
  • Riestenberg C, Quinn MM, Akopians A, Danzer H, Surrey S, Ghadir S, Kroener L. Endometrial compaction does not predict ongoing pregnancy rate in programmed single euploid embryo transfer cycles. Poster Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Conference. October 2020, Virtual Conference. 
  • Dilday EA, Hoyos LR, Quinn MM, Kroener LL. Luteal phase support with progesterone does not improve pregnancy rates in patients undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation with letrozole. Poster Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Conference. October 2020, Virtual Conference. 
  • Mehr H, Jackson-Bey T, Vu M, Lee V, Herndon C, Ho J, Aghajanova L, Quinn MM. We are here for you: Infertility clinic website communication during the escalating stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Poster Presentation. American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Conference. October 2020, Virtual Conference. 

Andrea Rapkin, MD, UCLA OBGYN Professor:

Aparna Sridhar, MD, MPH, UCLA OBGYN Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor

  • E Chan, Y Korotkaya, A Sridhar. Analysing Patient Experiences from Crowd-Sourced Reviews of Crisis Pregnancy Centers in California. E-poster.  American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists. October 2020, Virtual Conference.

PUBLICATIONS:

For a list of recent publications