Meet Our Physicians

Christopher Giza graduated from Dartmouth College, received his M.D. from West Virginia University and completed his internship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Giza then trained in Adult and Pediatric Neurology at UCLA, after which he worked on the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team.  In 1998, he returned to UCLA and joined the Brain Injury Research Center.  

Dr. Maya Ayoub, MD, Ed.M., is an Assistant Professor in Child Neurology and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities at UCLA Children's Hospital. She is also faculty at the UCLA Tarjan UCEDD Center and for the Disability Studies Department at UCLA, where she teaches a course on community engaged learning in autism and neurodiversity. Dr. Ayoub completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Harvard University, and her medical degree at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Meeryo Choe grew up in the Los Angeles area, traveled east to attend Amherst College, and then returned to L.A. to attend medical school at USC. She came to UCLA in 2004 for her child neurology residency. After completing training, she decided to combine her personal interest in sports and professional interest in the developing brain together as a Neurotrauma/Sports Neurology Fellow with Dr. Christopher Giza.

Dr. Shaun Hussain is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and he is the director of the UCLA Infantile Spasms Program. His clinical efforts are devoted to treatment of severe early-life epilepsy, and his research efforts are focused on development and evaluation of new treatment approaches for treatment of Infantile Spasms.

Dr. Shafali Jeste is Professor and Mattel Executive Endowed Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Executive Medical Director of Pediatrics in the UCLA Health System, and Executive Director of the UCLA Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute. Dr. Jeste completed her undergraduate studies at Yale University, medical degree at Harvard Medical School, residency and fellowship in child and behavioral neurology at Boston Children's Hospital.

Harley Kornblum, MD, PhD, is currently a Professor of Psychiatry, Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is a Pediatric Neurologist, and is the Founding Director of the UCLA Neural Stem Cell Research Center.

Joyce Matsumoto graduated from Pacific Union College in northern California, and received her MD from Loma Linda University School of Medicine, where she also completed her medical internship. She completed her Neurology residency at UCLA, then Epilepsy fellowship at UC San Francisco before returning to UCLA to work in the pediatric neurology division. 

Dr. Nariai is currently Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Neurology at UCLA. He specializes in pediatric epilepsy, with specific focus on drug-resistant epilepsy and epilepsy surgery evaluation. Dr. Nariai is board-certified in pediatric neurology and clinical neurophysiology.

Dr. Nariai is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and American Epilepsy Society (AES).

Dr. Rajsekar “Raj” Rajaraman is an Assistant Professor in Pediatric Neurology at the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. He completed his Pediatric Neurology residency, Clinical Neurophysiology fellowship, and Epilepsy fellowship training here at UCLA.

Lekha Rao grew up in the Bay Area but left sunny California to study Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduation, she stayed at Johns Hopkins for a year working in pediatric movement disorder research. She then went on to attend medical school at Drexel University in Philadelphia, finally returning to California for pediatric residency, child neurology, and pediatric epilepsy fellowship at UCLA.

Raman Sankar is a graduate of the University of Bombay, India and obtained a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle. After several years as a faculty member, he decided to study Medicine and attended Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. Dr. Sankar founded the Developmental Research Laboratory in the Division of Pediatric Neurology, which is now directed by his collaborator, Dr. Andrey Mazarati.

Pantea Sharifi-Hannauer was a former college student at UCLA and received a degree in Biology. She attended the Finch University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School and also received a Master's degree in Physiology. She then returned to California for her residency training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology at UCLA.

Dr. Waldron went to medical school at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She completed a categorical pediatric neurology residency (two years of pediatric residency and three years pediatric neurology fellowship) at UCLA. After residency, Dr. Waldron did a year-long fellowship in neurodevelopmental disorders at UCLA. Dr. Waldron received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Rujuta B. Wilson is a behavioral child neurologist specializing in autism spectrum disorders and related neurodevelopmental disorders. She is an Assistant Professor in Pediatric Neurology and Psychiatry at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART). Dr. Wilson leads the motor phenotyping core at UCLA CART.