Meet Our Team
Principal Investigator
Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil
- Associate Professor of Medicine, Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
- Director, Melvin and Bren Simon Gastroenterology Quality Improvement Program
- Associate Director, UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research Program
- David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- Associate Director, UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity in the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. May graduated cum laude from Yale University with a degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. After college, she attended the University of Cambridge to study epidemiology and international health, earning a master’s of philosophy in epidemiology before returning to the U.S. to attend Harvard Medical School. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and remained at MGH for one year as a hospitalist and clinical educator in the Department of Medicine Academic Medicine Quality Program and as manager of Trainee Affairs for the MGH Multicultural Affairs Office.
Dr. May came to UCLA in 2011 to begin her gastroenterology fellowship and was part of the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) program. During her fellowship, she earned a PhD in health policy and management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her doctoral dissertation addressed Black-White disparities in colorectal cancer incidence, screening and outcomes.
Upon completing her GI fellowship, Dr. May joined the digestive diseases faculty at UCLA with a dual appointment in the Veterans Affairs. She is the director of the May Laboratory, which engages in health services research and quality improvement related to population health, preventive health, and health disparities at UCLA Health, in Federally Qualified Health Centers (community health centers), and in the Veterans Affairs. Research spans several areas from the epidemiology of disease and disease risk factors to implementation science to improve disease outcomes. As director of the Melvin and Bren Simon Gastroenterology Quality Improvement Program, Dr. May also oversees a portfolio of quality improvement projects at UCLA Health to improve the quality of care for UCLA Health patients with gastrointestinal and liver conditions. Dr. May is passionate about improving awareness about preventive health and health equity and is involved in advocacy at the state and national level to develop and encourage policy to improve healthcare delivery. She has received numerous local and national awards for her research, community engagement and advocacy, including recognition from the American Cancer Society, National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, American College of Gastroenterology, and American Gastroenterological Association, and research funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, Broad Stem Cell Research Center, and Stand Up to Cancer.
Dr. May is a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and an associate director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity. She is also an assistant director for the UCLA STAR Program and the director of grants for the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine Global Health Program.
Current Lab Members
Sadie De Silva, MD
Dr. De Silva did her undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California, her master’s in pharmacology at Tulane University School of Medicine and her medical degree at St. George’s University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency at UHS Southern California Medical Education Consortium in Temecula, California.
Jessica Tuan, MPH
Jessica earned a bachelor of science degree in public health at the University of Washington, and continued her education at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health where she earned a master of public health degree. As part of UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, she manages multiple research projects focused on increasing colorectal cancer screening and eliminating health disparities in Federally Qualified Health Centers.
Jayraan Badiee, MPH
Jayraan joins the Vatche & Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases from the trauma service at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, where she was a research epidemiologist with the trauma research team. Her areas of interest included traumatic DVT/PE, DVT prophylaxis, and related injury patterns, multi-center research, and statewide patterns of traumatic injury and surgical intervention. She collaborated closely with general surgery residents to complete research projects.
Vivy Cusumano, MD
Dr. Cusumano graduated from the University of California Los Angeles with a bachelor of science in biology. She then attended medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she pursued global health research to study health care disparities in Ethiopia and recently completed her internal medicine residency at UCLA Medical Center. Her research interests include improving utilization of preventative healthcare services, and specifically increasing rates of colon cancer screening.
Anthony Myint, MD
Dr. Myint earned a bachelor of science in biochemistry at Brown University, continued his education at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California where he earned his medical degree, and recently graduated from the UCLA internal medicine residency program. He also worked under the mentorship of Dr. May as the Melvin and Bren Simon GI Quality Improvement Scholar for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Devin Patel, MD
Dr. Patel graduated magna cum laude from the University of Scranton with a bachelor of science in biochemistry, cell and molecular biology. He attended medical school at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University and completed his internal medicine residency at Cedars-Sinai where he served as a chief resident. His research interests include improving adherence to quality indicators in colonoscopy by leveraging artificial intelligence and EHR in health systems.
Camille Soroudi, MD
Dr. Soroudi graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a bachelor of science in molecular & cellular biology. She earned her medical degree and completed her residency in internal medicine at UCLA. She is currently a fellow in gastroenterology at UCLA and previously worked under Dr. May as the Melvin and Bren Simon GI Quality Improvement Scholar from 2020-2021. She continues her research in quality improvement, with particular interests in machine learning and colon cancer screening.
Aileen Bui, MD
Dr. Bui graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor of arts in human biology. She attended medical school at Brown University and is currently a resident in Internal Medicine at UCLA. Her research interests include understanding health care disparities and improving delivery of care in underserved populations with a focus on chronic liver disease.
Shailavi Jain, MD
Dr. Jain graduated magna cum laude from Rice University with a BS in biochemistry & cell biology. She then went to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and graduated with a distinction in quality improvement (QI) & patient safety. She will graduate June 2023 from the UCLA internal medicine residency program and start her GI fellowship at Baylor (BUMC) in July. She continues her research in QI, with an interest in colorectal cancer screening uptake in high-risk populations.
Olivia J. Jordan, MD
Dr. Jordan earned her BA in cognitive psychology from Washington University/St. Louis. After working two years under Dr. Janet McGill in clinical diabetes research, she attended medical school at The University of Chicago. She will complete her internal medicine residency at UCLA in June 2023. Her research interests included improving access to care in underserved communities with a focus on colorectal cancer screening uptake and completion of colonoscopy after positive stool-based testing.
Megan McLeod, MD, MSCR
Dr. McLeod earned her undergraduate degree in biology and Spanish at Kalamazoo College and, after working in Dr. Kathleen Collins’ HIV lab for two years, went on to earn her MD from the University of Michigan. She earned a master of science in clinical research from the University of Michigan’s Rackham graduate school. She will graduate from her internal medicine residency at UCLA in June 2023, and will start her gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA in July 2023.
Jaime O. Yang, MD
Dr. Yang graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelor in science in biology and a minor in biomedical engineering. She attended medical school at University of California Los Angeles and is currently a resident in internal medicine at UCLA. Her research interests include investigating how to leverage technology and artificial intelligence in helping deliver high quality healthcare
Janet Adeola, MS, MPH, MD Candidate
Janet is a second-year medical student at the Charles R. Drew/David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She earned a BS in neurobiology/physiology and behavioral/community health from The University of Maryland College Park. She also completed a post-baccalaureate program at the Johns Hopkins University and earned an MPH from the George Washington University.
Kara Faktor, BS, MD Candidate
Kara is a third-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She earned a bachelor of science in neuroscience, biology, and Spanish from Brandeis University and then spent a year pursuing public health research in Honduras through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The project investigated the alignment of NGO interventions with community health needs as well as the degree to which United States physicians are prepared to work in low-resource settings.
Bethlehem Michael, MD/MPH Candidate
Bethlehem is a fourth-year medical student (Class of 2025) through the dual-degree Program in Medical Education-Leadership and Advocacy (PRIME-LA) at DGSOM. She obtained her bachelor's degree in biochemistry and a minor in global health from UCLA (Class of 2019). She will be pursuing a master's degree in health policy and management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health this upcoming year.
Fiona Obiezu, MS, MD Candidate
Fiona received her BS in health promotion and disease prevention followed by an MS in global medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). Fiona is currently attending the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA as a medical school candidate for 2023. During her time as an undergraduate in USC, Fiona worked as a research assistant in the molecular computational biology field focused on autoimmune disease, Myasthenia Gravis (MG).
Matthew Zhao, BS, MD Candidate
Matthew is a fourth-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He earned a BS in chemistry from New York University. Prior to medical school, he was a study coordinator at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His research interests include understanding healthcare disparities and investigating colorectal cancer screening at Federally Qualified Health Centers.
Former Lab Members (Onward to Pursue Their Dreams)
- Elizabeth (Lizzie) Aby, MD
- Omar Bakr, MD
- Frank Chen, MD
- Edgar Corona, MPH, MD, MSIV
- Mayte Cruz, MPP
- Dean Ehrlich, MD
- Artin Galoosian, MD, MS
- Natalia Garcia Peñaloza, BS, MD Candidate
- Lotte Keikes, MD
- Bao Sean H. Nguyen, MD
- Diana Partida, MD
- Tina Roosta Storage, MD
- Omar Viramontes, MD
- Liu Yang, MD, MPH
- Christina Yu, MD