Team Members (A-L)

William S. Adams Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Chair and Executive Medical Director
Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA Health

Dr. Abel graduated with Distinction from the University of the West Indies School of Medicine, obtained a DPhil from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, trained in Internal Medicine at Northwestern University, where he was chief resident and in endocrinology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical school. Dr. Abel has had a distinguished career in endocrine, metabolism and cardiovascular research. His pioneering work on glucose transport and mitochondrial metabolism launched his current research interests: molecular mechanisms responsible for cardiovascular complications of diabetes. Dr. Abel has published more than 250 peer reviewed publications in competitive journals, his work has been highly cited and has shaped much of current understanding of the metabolic mechanisms underlying heart failure, particularly in obesity and diabetes. Dr. Abel is the recipient of numerous awards for scholarship and mentorship, including awards and endowed lectureships such as the Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award of the Endocrine Society, the the 2018 African American Museum of Iowa History Makers Award. He is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians (AAP), the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). He is past president of the Endocrine Society and the Association of Professors of Medicine. Dr. Abel Profile

Professor of Surgery and Pharmacology
Co-Director, Comprehensive Liver Research Center
Director, Dumont-UCLA Liver Cancer Center
Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery
Department of Surgery
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA 

Dr. Agopian is professor of surgery and pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and serves as the director of the Dumont-UCLA Liver Cancer Center, which includes a multidisciplinary team of hepatologists, medical oncologists, interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and interventional gastroenterologists in delivering evidence-based, state-of-the-art care to patients with primary and secondary liver malignancies. His clinical expertise is focused on liver transplantation and the surgical management of both benign and malignant conditions of the liver and bile ducts. Dr. Agopian is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health funded translational laboratory focused on the development of blood-based biomarkers (“liquid biopsy”) for the early detection and prognostication of hepatocellular carcinoma- the most common primary liver malignancy. In this capacity, he has developed an extensive biorepository of blood and tissue samples from patients with liver cancer, cirrhosis, and healthy controls. He also serves as the deputy editor of Liver Transplantation, a leading journal in the field. Dr. Agopian Profile

Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences 
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology
University of California Irvine  

Dr. Albrecht is an assistant professor at the University of California Irvine in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology. Dr. Albrecht’s research laboratory applies chemical and cell biological approaches to understand organellar signaling and metabolism in live cells and remodeling tissues. Additionally, her group develops novel proximity-based methods to rapidly control protein levels in fundamental research and clinical settings. She received her bachelor of chemistry from the University of California San Diego and performed structural biology research in the laboratory of Stanley Opella using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to elucidate GPCR proteins. Dr. Albrecht earned her PhD at Northwestern University in the laboratory of Kathleen Green. Her PhD work led to new molecular insights into cytoskeletal remodeling and cell-cell contacts in genetic skin and heart disease. Subsequently, Dr. Albrecht was an AP Giannini fellow in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the University of California Los Angeles and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. During her time in the lab of Edward De Robertis, Dr. Albrecht’s postdoctoral studies applied microscopy and biochemistry to understand the role of autophagy in cellular metabolism and tissue development. Dr. Albrecht started her independent research laboratory in the Fall of 2021 at the University of California Irvine. Dr. Albrecht’s group has published new research in the fields of Wnt signaling, lysosomes, and cancer metabolism using disease models and organoid systems. Dr. Albrecht’s group has also uncovered new molecular insight into bone and kidney disease in her collaboration with Dr. Isidro Salusky, chief of Pediatric Nephrology and director of the Pediatric Dialysis Program in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Albrecht’s work has been featured in Science Advances, Kidney International, PNAS, Cell Reports, the Journal of Cell Biology, Nutrients, and Metabolites. Further, Dr. Albrecht’s work has been continually supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NIGMS, the American Heart Association, the A.P. Gianni Foundation, and the Cystinosis Research Foundation. Dr. Albrecht also serves as the Departmental DECADE representative that focuses on improving inclusive excellence across the University of California communities. The Albrecht Laboratory

Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Benhammou completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, with a major in human biology. She then completed medical school at University of California, San Francisco with a thesis in molecular medicine. Before starting her internship at the University of California, Los Angeles in internal medicine, Dr. Benhammou participated in a two-year intramural program at the National Cancer Institutes studying functional genomics and hereditary forms of kidney cancer.

Dr. Benhammou went on to complete her internal medicine and gastroenterology training at UCLA. There, she received advanced research training in the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) program and NIH T32, which supported her graduate studies in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology. Her doctoral dissertation addressed the clinical risk factors of MASLD hepatocellular carcinoma and the molecular mechanisms at play in MASLD pathogenesis. Following her PhD, Dr. Benhammou completed additional clinical training in transplant hepatology at UCLA.

Dr. Benhammou joined the digestive diseases and hepatology faculty at UCLA and Greater Los Angeles VA where she will care for patients with chronic liver disease before and after liver transplantation. She continues to pursue her research on MASLD-associated hepatocellular carcinoma using multi-pronged novel research tools. Her laboratory is within the Comprehensive Liver Research Center at UCLA where she collaborates with clinical, translational and basic scientists. She is board certified in internal medicine, gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. Benhammou Lab

Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Bertholet was trained in Toulouse, France at the Université Paul Sabatier. She earned her BS in cell biology and physiology, MS in gene cells and development, and her PhD in biology, health and biotechnologies. Subsequently, she did her postdoctoral training with Dr. Yuiry Kirichok at UC San Francisco and is currently an assistant research physiologist. Her interest in mitochondria was sparked as a graduate student in the laboratory of Pr. Pascale Belenguer. During her PhD research, she analyzed the influence of mitochondrial dynamics on neuronal maturation and functioning. As a postdoctoral trainee, she focused on another important aspect of mitochondrial physiology – the transport of ions and metabolites across the mitochondrial membranes. In the Kirichok lab, she developed a patch-clamp method for directly measuring proton movement across the inner mitochondrial membrane. This innovation enabled Dr. Bertholet to identify novel transport mechanisms for the mitochondrial H+ leak responsible for mitochondrial heat production and metabolic regulation of energy expenditure. Bertholet Lab 

Associate Professor in Residence
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases 
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Cai received her PhD from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she studied endocytic membrane trafficking. She then joined Dr. Ira Tabas’s lab at Columbia University Irving Medical Center as a postdoctoral research scientist, focusing on translational research with an emphasis on macrophage biology in cardiometabolic diseases. In 2020, Dr. Cai joined the Liver Division in the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as an assistant professor to begin her independent research career. She has now joined the Vatche & Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases in the Department of Medicine at UCLA as an associate professor to continue pursuing her research and academic goals. Dr. Cai’s current research centers on endocytic membrane trafficking in metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and MASH-related cardiometabolic diseases. Her work has been supported by multiple NIH and foundation grants. Cai Lab

Assistant Professor, Radiological Sciences
Interventional Radiology Section
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

Dr. Chiang received his bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering with a minor in mathematics from Johns Hopkins University. After college, he was awarded a Fulbright Grant to conduct research in Hannover, Germany. He then entered the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Wisconsin - Madison where he obtained his MD and PhD (in biomedical engineering) degree, with a certificate in Clinical Investigations. He did his internship at Gundersen Hospital Systems in Lacrosse, WI, and returned to Los Angeles to complete his diagnostic and interventional radiology residency training. After residency, he accepted an interventional radiology faculty position at UCLA.

His clinical focus is on the diagnostic imaging and treatment of solid tumors with minimally-invasive techniques. He divides his time between vascular/interventional procedures and cross-sectional interventional procedures, with a focus on interventional oncology, vascular disease and liver interventions. He also runs an active NIH-funded translational research laboratory focused on bringing the latest cutting edge technology to his clinical patient population. Chiang Lab

Associate Director, Transplant Hepatology Fellowship Program
Health Sciences Associate Professor of Medicine and Surgery
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases 
Pfleger Liver Institute
Dumont-UCLA Liver Transplant Center
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Choi specializes in general and transplant hepatology. She focuses on treating patients with the complications of cirrhosis and manages their evaluation and care before and after liver transplant. She is well versed in the newest approaches to treat viral hepatitis and fatty liver. She is part of a multi-disciplinary team employing the latest treatments for liver cancer. She is particularly interested in autoimmune liver disease, including autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis, and in caring for women with liver disease, including in pregnancy.

Dr. Choi graduated from Stanford University and subsequently spent one year in Korea as a Fulbright Scholar. She speaks both English and Korean. She earned her medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and completed her internal medicine residency at New York University (NYU). This was followed by a gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA. Dr. Choi then pursued an additional year of advanced training in transplant hepatology at the University of Pennsylvania. She has received numerous teaching awards and is recognized as a Southern California Rising Star since 2016. Dr. Choi is board certified in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. Dr. Choi Profile

Assistant Professor
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
UCLA College of Life Sciences

Dr. Covarrubias is a macrophage biologist with expertise in immuno-metabolism, and how inflammation and metabolism are integrated to regulate metabolic health and disease states including aging, NAFLD, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Covarrubias is a first-generation college graduate from Los Angeles, CA. He received his BS in biochemistry from UCLA, a PhD from Harvard University, and trained during his post-doc at UCSF/Gladstone Institute/ and the Buck Institute of Aging. Dr. Covarrubias identified the nutrient-sensing Akt-mTORC1 pathway as a critical regulator of macrophage polarization. He also showed that activation of the Akt target ACLY  catalyzes the increase in macrophage cytosolic/nuclear pools of acetyl-CoA. These findings suggest how nutrient and metabolic status can fine-tune macrophage function via nutrient sensing pathways. Dr. Covarrubias’ recent work is focused on how diet and aging-related inflammation impacts the aging process. In a recent manuscript he showed that the decline of NAD+ during aging is driven by the activation of tissue resident macrophages via senescent cells. As senescent cells progressively accumulate in aging tissues, these results highlight a new causal link between visceral tissue senescence, NAD+, and immuno-metabolic dysregulation during aging, an active area of investigation in the Covarrubias Lab at UCLA.

Dr. Finn currently splits his time between patient care and directing the Translational Research Laboratory in the Division of Hematology Oncology. His research interests are focused in the development of targeted therapeutics for solid tumors across histologies to support the larger efforts of the department. His personal interests lie in the development of these targeted agents in hepato-biliary and breast cancers. He has two-half days dedicated to patient care, one of which is as a leader in the multi-disciplinary hepato-biliary cancer program at UCLA where he is involved with clinical studies aimed at bringing novel therapeutics into the treatment of patients with these malignancies. Provider profile

Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Research Scientist, UCLA Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research Member, UCLA-Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity and UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

Dr. Flores obtained a master’s in public health degree from the UCLA Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM) and has a PhD in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Flores’ research focuses on the prevention of chronic diseases, including liver disease, and the reduction of health disparities among underserved populations. Her research aims to integrate expertise in epidemiology, genetics, and disparities research to develop more precise, personalized approaches to identify which patients with fatty liver disease will progress to cirrhosis and improve liver cancer risk stratification. Additionally, she has an appointment as a researcher at the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), where she has led numerous bi-national projects since 2000. Dr. Flores Profile

Philip L. Palumbo Chair in Clinical Hepatology
Program Director, Transplant Hepatology Fellowship
Director, Hepatology Clinical Research Center
Director, UCLA Asian Liver Center
Pfleger Liver Institute
Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Medicine & Surgery
Vatche & Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
Division of Liver and Pancreas Transplantation
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Han received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and then attended medical school at Albany Medical College in Albany, New York where he received his MD degree. Following a residency in internal medicine at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and Stanford University, Dr. Han completed a clinical fellowship in hepatology at the University of Southern California under the guidance of Dr. Telfer B. Reynolds. He then trained at the University of California, Los Angeles where he completed a clinical fellowship in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. Since then, Dr. Han has remained at UCLA, where he is now professor of medicine and surgery in the Division of Digestive Diseases and the Division of Liver and Pancreas Transplantation. In addition to his patient care responsibilities in hepatology and liver transplantation, Dr. Han plays an active role in the clinical training of medical students, medical residents, and subspecialty fellows and is the current program director of the Advanced Transplant Hepatology Fellowship at UCLA. Dr. Han's research interests have focused on the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis B and C, the prevention of recurrent viral hepatitis after liver transplantation, and the prevention and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. He is the principal investigator of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Hepatitis B Clinical Research Network in Los Angeles, co-principal investigator of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Translational Liver Cancer Consortium, and multiple clinical studies involving treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C. Dr. Han also serves on the editorial boards of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and is a guest associate editor for Gastroenterology and Digestive Diseases and Science. He has published many articles in the area of viral hepatitis, liver transplantation, and liver cancer and is an active speaker, lecturing on these subjects both nationally and internationally. He has been recognized by Best Doctors every year since 2003.  He is a past president of the Southern California Society of Gastroenterology and an ongoing council member. Dr. Han Profile

Professor of Medicine
Sidney Roberts and Clara Szego Roberts Chair in Molecular Endocrinology
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center

Dr. Hevener’s laboratory studies the transcriptional regulation of metabolism and insulin action with a specific focus on the biological actions of hormone responsive nuclear receptors in metabolic tissues. Dr. Hevener is the associate director for research of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center and the director of the NIH-sponsored UCSD-UCLA Diabetes Research Center Metabolic and Molecular Physiology Core. Dr. Hevener’s laboratory is supported UCLA Department of Medicine, the STOP CANCER Foundation I.C.O.N. Award, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the UCLA CTSI, and the Iris Cantor Women’s Health Executive Advisory Board. In addition to ongoing National Institutes of Health R01 funding, Dr. Hevener is currently the principal investigator of Project 3 of an NIH U54 Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) studying sex differences and women’s health related to metabolism and the lead investigator of an NIH Director’s Common Fund award to study the molecular transducers of physical activity as part of the MoTrPAC consortium. The overarching goal of the Hevener laboratory is to identify therapeutic opportunities to improve the metabolic health of women and reduce chronic disease risk and burden.

Distinguished Professor, Department of Surgery, Pathology and Experimental Medicine 
The Inaugural Paul I. Terasaki Endowed Chair in Surgery
Director, Dumont-UCLA Transplantation Research Laboratories, Department of Surgery
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Kupiec-Weglinski received his medical degree from Warsaw Medical Academy, Poland, and a PhD in transplantation immunology from Polish Academy of Sciences. Then, he spent 18 years working in experimental organ transplantation at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard University. Since being recruited to UCLA in 1997, he has been leading basic and translational research at the Dumont-UCLA Transplantation Center, one of the largest liver transplantation programs in the country. The Kupiec-Weglinski Lab has been at the forefront of cutting-edge research and several advancements in transplantation that have contributed to its current level of success. His contributions to the field fall into three principal categories: 1/ the discovery of key biological pathways responsible for organ innate immune-driven peritransplant stress and alloimmune mediated rejection response; 2/ the development of novel therapies that control these pathways; and 3/ solving one of the most vexing problems in transplantation, i.e., how to improve the quality and number of organs available for life-saving surgery. In search for refined personalized treatment, his Lab has also pioneered translational research on the role of microbiota and bacteriophage therapy in liver transplantation, as well as vascularized composite allografts. Dr. Kupiec-Weglinski published over 250 peer-reviewed original papers, 70 reviews, 40 chapters, and one book. His research for the past 35 years has been continuously funded by NIH. He was a Member, Board of Directors, American Society of Transplantation; a Standing Member, Transplantation-Tolerance-Tumor Immunology (TTT) NIH Study Section; and a frequent Ad-hoc reviewer for NIH and DoD. He is the recipient of American Society of Transplantation/Astellas Established Investigator Award; Awards from the International Transplantation Society for Outstanding Achievements in Basic Science; and Mentorship/ Education and Training; and holds Honorary Doctorate (“Honoris Causa”) from his alma mater in Warsaw, Poland. Dr. Kupiec-Weglinski is the founding editor in chief of Frontiers in Transplantation and serves as associate editor to Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation. Dr. Kupiec-Weglinski Profile

Goldwyn Chair
Professor, Department of Surgery
Professor, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Vice Chair, Research, Department of Surgery
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Lipshutz received his medical degree from the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine and completed his postgraduate training at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. Dr. Lipshutz is a professor within the Department of Surgery and the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. He is also a member of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Institute at UCLA along with the Broad Center; he presently holds the Goldwyn Chair clinically. Within the David Geffen School of Medicine, he was previously the Chair of the Academic Medicine College. His clinical specialty and interests include solid organ transplantation. His laboratory focuses on developing and gene and cell therapies for single gene metabolic disorders of the liver. These conditions typically cause brain injury with intellectual disability and he has developed several mouse models and preclinical therapies to treat these disorders primarily focusing primarily on specific urea cycle and creatine deficiency disorders. He serves as an editorial board member of Gene Therapy, Molecular Therapy, and Molecular Therapy-Methods and Clinical Development. Dr. Lipshutz has been an invited participant in multiple NIH conferences and has served as a grant reviewer for both the Wellcome Trust and the US National Institutes of Health where he served as a standing member of the GDD and DBTD study sections. Lipshutz Hepatic Regenerative Medicine Lab

Professor, Microbiology, Human Genetics and Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Lusis’ lab studies naturally occurring genetic variations in mice and in humans to help understand interactions underlying complex cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. A major focus of the lab has been integrate clinical traits with “intermediate" phenotypes obtained using high throughput technologies such as RNA sequencing, metabolomics, or proteomics, an approach known as "systems genetics" (Seldin et al. 2019 Nature Metab. 1:1038-1050). To facilitate this approach, they have developed a reference resource termed the Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel (HMDP) that can be used to carry out whole-genome association mapping and analyze complex genetic interactions (Norheim et al. 2019 Cell Metab. 29; 1-18). Current research projects include atherosclerosis, heart failure, fatty liver disease and obesity. Lusis Lab