Expert VHL Team

Brian Shuch, MD, Associate Professor of Urology

Dr. Shuch directs the VHL and Kidney Cancer Programs at UCLA. He trained under Dr. Martson Linehan who leads the NCI’s Urologic Oncology Branch and the VHL program and was responsible for the identification of the VHL gene. Dr. Shuch previously led the Yale VHL Program and serves on the VHL Alliance Kidney Cancer Board. He has cared for hundreds of patients with VHL over the past decade between the NCI, Yale, and UCLA.

Michael Gorin, MD, PhD, Harold and Pauline Price Chair in Ophthalmology

Dr. Gorin is the chief of the Retinal Disorders and Ophthalmic Genetics Division at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. He previously ran the VHL eye clinic at the NIH/National Eye Institute and serves on the VHL Alliance Retinal Board.

Isaac Yang, MD, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery

Dr. Yang is a neurosurgeon focusing on the surgical treatment of adult brain and spinal cord tumors. He is the principal investigator of the UCLA Brain Tumor Program. He has special interest in VHL and helps manage pediatric and adult patients with cerebellar and spinal hemangioblastomas as well as coordinates complex care with our Neurotology team for endolymphatic sac tumors.

Timothy Donahue, MD, Professor of Surgery and Chief of Surgical Oncology

Dr. Donahue is one of the world leaders in pancreas surgery performing laparoscopic and open surgery for pancreatic adenocarcinomas and VHL-related pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Quinton Gopen, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Head & Neck Surgery

Dr. Gopen is a neurotologist that specializes in pediatric and adult ear and skull base conditions including endolymphatic sac tumors (ELST).

Christina Han, MD, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Dr. Han helps manage many high-risk women with complex medical conditions and is available to help some of our women with VHL Disease navigate through pregnancy and delivery.

Avital Harari, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery

Dr. Harari is an endocrine surgeon focused on thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal disorders.

Akira Ishyama, MD, Professor of Head and Neck Surgery

Dr. Ishyama is a neurotologist and the Director of the Victor Goodhill Human Temporal Bone Laboratory at UCLA. He focuses on various conditions like Meniere’s disease which is often confused for ELST.

Albert Lai MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology

Dr Lai is a neurologist with special interest in gliomas. He has assisted in the care of challenging VHL patients with complex neurologic involvement.

Gregory Lekovic MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery 

Dr. Lekovic is a neurosurgeon who is international recognized as an expert in skull-based conditions including VHL and Neurofibromatosis. He has contributed to the current VHL Alliance endolymphatic sac tumor (ELST) screening guidelines.

Raman Muthasamy, MD, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Medical Director of Endoscopy

Dr. Muthasamy is an internationally recognized leader in advanced endoscopic procedures with special interest in helping manage pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Mariana S. Niell-Swiller, MS LCGC, Director, Oncology Genetic Counseling 

Mariana runs the UCLA Genetic Counseling services for cancer. She has special interest in finding novel ways of improving access to genetic counseling services. She has had nearly 20 years of experience in the field.

Nilo Nobakht, MD, Associate Professor of Nephrology
Dr. Nobakht has special interest in hereditary disordered impacting the kidney and plays a large role in the Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPCKD) program.

Siddharth Padia, MD, Professor of Radiology

Dr. Padia is an expert in interventional oncology specializing in treatment of liver and renal cancers. He is an expert at radioembolization of liver tumors and is helping adapt this to challenging patients with kidney cancer.

Ram Parvataneni, MD, Associate Professor and Medical Director of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. Parvataneni is a minimally invasive surgeon who has special interest in fibroids. He has expertise in the gynecologic management of some of our hereditary kidney cancer syndromes such as HLRCC and VHL Disease.

Steve Raman, MD, Professor of Radiology

Dr. Raman is an international exert in abdominal imaging. He has led many efforts to characterize renal tumors using MRI and CT characteristics. He has treated many VHL patients with various ablative modalities.

Rashmi Rao, MD, Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. Rao is a maternal fetal medicine expert who takes care of many high-risk pregnancies including women with VHL, many of which she sees prior to pregnancy to discuss options like prenatal genetic screening.

Run Yu, MD, PhD, Endocrinologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine.

Dr. Yu has special interest in pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas and helps manage many of the complex patients with VHL.