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UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

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UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

Meet our Expert Team

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Meet our Expert Team

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Directors

Zhaoping Li, MD - Division Chief, UCLA Clinical Nutrition. Director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition.

Zhaoping Li, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Chair in Human Nutrition
Director, Center for Human Nutrition
Chief, Division of Clinical Nutrition

Zhaoping Li, MD,PhD is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Clinical Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Li completed her MD and PhD in Physiology at Bejing University. Her residency training was completed at the UCLA-VA Internal Medicine program in 1996 where she also served as Chief Medical resident. Dr. Li has been a faculty member at UCLA and VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System since 1997. Dr. Li is board certified in Internal Medicine, and Physician Nutrition Specialist. More »


David Heber, MD, PhD - Founding Director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

David Heber, MD, PhD
Founding Director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition
Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Public Health

David Heber MD, PhD, FACP, FACN is the Founding Director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, Division of Clinical Nutrition, a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine and a Professor of Public Health in the Department of Community Health Sciences at UCLA. Dr. Heber completed received his MD from Harvard University, and a PhD in Physiology from UCLA. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Nutrition. More »

Faculty

Catherine Carpenter, MD - UCLA Center for Human Nutrition.

Catherine Carpenter, PhD
Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health

Catherine Carpenter, PhD, MPH, is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health. Dr. Carpenter received her bachelors and masters training in Zoology, Epidemiology and Biostatistics from UC Berkeley and her doctoral training from UCLA in Epidemiology. Dr. Carpenter completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Preventive Medicine from Keck School of Medicine at USC.

Cay Lian W. Go, MD, PhD - UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

Dr. Vay Liang W. Go, MD
Professor of Medicine

Vay Liang W. Go  is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine and former Executive Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine-funded UCLA Center for Excellence in Pancreatic Diseases. Dr. Go received his medical degree from the University of Santo Tomas in 1963. He received his internal medicine and gastroenterology training at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and became a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. He co-established and directed the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Serum Immunodiagnostic Bank Program at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Go was Executive Chair, Department of Medicine, at UCLA, providing academic leadership and stewardship of the Medicine Program in Research, Education, and Practice at eight academic medical centers. In 1993, he became Associate Director of the NCI-funded Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, Director of the UCLA Nutrition Education Program, and Co-Principal Investigator of the Nutrition Curriculum Development grants and the Cancer Prevention Curriculum program at UCLA. In 1996, Dr. Go cofounded the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. Since 2003, Dr. Go has been Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hirshberg Foundation. He was appointed by the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory committee. In 2007, Dr. Go became the Director of the UCLA Center for Excellence in Pancreatic Diseases.

Susanne Henning, PhD, RD - UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

Susanne Henning, PhD, RD
Adjunct Professor

Susanne Henning, PhD completed her training in biochemical nutrition at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. She completed her post-doctoral training in the School of Public Health at UCLA. She joined the faculty in the Division of Clinical Nutrition in 1995 and is an adjunct Professor and the Director of the Nutritional Biomarker Laboratory. Her research is focused on cancer prevention using dietary interventions including natural compounds from green tea, fruits and vegetables, berries, herbs, fish oil and low fat diets and their effect on oxidation, inflammation and angiogenesis. Among other interests Dr. Henning is investigating the prevention of postprandial lipid peroxidation, inflammation and vasoconstriction of a high fat/carbohydrate (Western) diet.

Jenny Kim, MD, PhD - Dermatology. UCLA Clinical Nutrition

Jenny Kim, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Dermatology/Clinical Nutrition

Jenny Kim, MD is an Associate Professor of Dermatology/Clinical Nutrition at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Chief of Dermatology at the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Veterans Affairs. Dr. Kim received her M.D. and Ph.D. in Immunology from UCLA and also completed her Dermatology residency and Mohs Micrographic Surgery fellowship there.  She has been a UCLA faculty member since 2000 where she serves as referral source for patients requiring rejuvenation for aging skin and also for patients with skin cancers. In her laboratory at the Center for Health Sciences, Dr. Kim studies the immune response in skin and is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Kim is studying innate immunity in skin diseases in collaboration with the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. More »

Qing-Yi Lu, PhD - UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

Qing-Yi Lu, PhD
Adjunct Professor

Qing-Yi Lu, PhD, is an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Nutrition.  Dr. Lu graduated from East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, China with a BS degree in 1982. She completed her PhD degree at New York University in 1995 and Post-Doctoral training at the Rockefeller University in 1996.  Dr. Lu has been a faculty member in the Division of Clinical Nutrition in the Department of Medicine since 1998.

Vijaya Surampudi

Vijaya Surampudi, MD, MS
Assistant Clinical Professor

Vijaya Surampudi, MD, MS is a UCLA faculty in the Department of Medicine. Dr. Surampudi is board certified in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology. She completed her Endocrinology Fellowship at Harbor UCLA and did an additional Clinical Nutrition Research Fellowship at The Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA. More »

Lauren Lemieux

Lauren Lemieux, MD
Internist and Clinical Instructor

Lauren Lemieux, MD is an internist and clinical instructor in the Division of Clinical Nutrition at UCLA. She received her medical degree from UC Irvine School of Medicine in 2015 and completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at UCLA in 2018. Afterwards, she completed a one-year fellowship program in Clinical Nutrition at UCLA in 2019. Dr. Lemieux is board certified in Internal Medicine and as a Physician Nutrition Specialist at The Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA.  More »

Michael Garcia

Michael Garcia, MD
Clinical Instructor

Michael Garcia, MD is a Clinical Instructor in the Division of Clinical Nutrition and Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA.  He received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed residency training in internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he also served as Chief Medical Resident and hospitalist. He then completed a fellowship in Clinical Nutrition at UCLA. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and as a Physician Nutrition Specialist.  More »

Jieping Yang

Jieping Yang , PhD
Assistant Project Scientist

Jieping Yang, PhD completed her Ph.D. degree in Anatomy and Cell Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2002. She then completed her post-doctoral trainings at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA. She joined the Division of Clinical Nutrition in 2011 and her research is focused on dietary intervention and intestinal microbiota. She is also interested in studying the connection between intestinal microbiota and distant organs.

Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD - UCLA Center for Human Nutrition

Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology/Clinical Nutrition

Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD is a Professor of Epidemiology, Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Environment Genomics, Director of Molecular Epidemiology Training Program, and Scientific Director of UCLA Central Tumor Registry. Dr. Zhang received a Medical Degree in Preventive Medicine from Shanghai Medical University in 1983 and completed his post-doctoral training at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), World Health Organization, Lyon, France from 1987-1988. Dr. Zhang advanced to full Professor of Epidemiology in 1999.  Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang's research focuses on the molecular epidemiology of cancers of the bladder, prostate, esophagus, stomach, head and neck and cervix. Other research interests include nutrition and cancer, epidemiology of second primary cancer; methodological issues in the use of tumor markers in cancer epidemiology; and progression and survival of cancer.

Dina Ben-Nissan

Dina Ben-Nissan, MS, RDN
Registered Dietitian

Dina Ben-Nissan, MS, RDN is a Registered Dietitian in the Division of Clinical Nutrition and Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA. Dina received her bachelor's degree in Anthropology from UCLA, and her master's degree in Nutrition, Healthspan, and Longevity from USC. Dina's primary area of practice involves both prevention and treatment of obesity related diseases. She has great interest in utilizing lifestyle modifications to improve health outcomes.  More »

Lydia Chau

Lydia Chau, MS, RDN
Registered Dietitian

Lydia Chau, MS, RDN is a Registered Dietitian in the Division of Clinical Nutrition and Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA. Lydia received her bachelor’s degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from CSULB and continued her education, getting a Master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Lydia’s primary interest involves using medical nutrition therapy to help individuals manage their disease conditions as well as promote preventative care and research.  More »

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