Fellows
STAR Fellows
Ashkan F. Ara, MD, MPH
Fourth year STAR fellow – (Rheumatology/Health Policy and Management PhD)
Education:
- Undergrad/MD – IUMS (Tehran, Iran)
- Research fellowship in EBM – IUMS (Tehran, Iran)
- MPH in epidemiology – UC Irvine
- Research fellowship in clinical epidemiology – UC Irvine
- Internal medicine residency – UC Irvine
Career Goals: Academic Medicine – interested in neuro-rheumatology and pharmaco-economics.
Why UCLA? Mainly because of the unique career development opportunity via the STAR program; also, UCLA Rheumatology offers an optimal combination of a large diverse program, excellent case mix at four different settings, training under nationally-recognized attendings with expertise in various sub-fields of rheumatology, proximity to the UCLA main campus with its many perks, unbeatable weather, and proximity to the "Persian Square" aka "Tehrangeles" :D
Hobbies: Walking our fluffy dogs with my incredible wife, triathlon, tennis, and wasting time on Twitter!
Amir Razmjou, MD
Third Year STAR Fellow
Education:
- Undergraduate: UC Irvine
- Medical School: Medical College of Wisconsin
- Residency: UCLA Medical Center
About Me: I was born a raised in Southern California (with a brief stint living in Tehran during elementary school), before moving to Wisconsin for medical school, and finally returning to California for residency and fellowship at UCLA.
Why UCLA? The breadth of clinical exposure at our 4 training sites, incredible research opportunities of the STAR program, friendly and laid-back colleagues, and perks of living in Los Angeles were the main factors which made me decide to stay at UCLA for fellowship. It's a great place to work and learn, with room for physicians of all interests in terms of career opportunities (clinicians, scientists, medical education).
Clinical/Research Interests: I am pursuing clinical/translational research through the STAR program, with an interest in RA pathogenesis/extra-articular manifestations, and ANCA-associated vasculitis. Additionally, I am interested in medical education, and how to increase house-staff training and exposure to rheumatology.
Hobbies: Music (indie rock, Grateful Dead), exploring the various foods of Los Angeles (there are a lot), live shows in small venues, travelling, museums, and going to the local breweries and coffee shops.
Second Year Fellows
Chesca Barrios, MD
Education:
- Medical School - University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
- Internal Medicine Residency - University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
About Me:
Why UCLA?
Clinical/Research Interests:
Hobbies:
Surbhi Gupta, MD
Education:
- Medical School - University of Virginia School of Medicine
- Internal Medicine residency - University of Texas Southwestern
About Me:
Why UCLA?
Clinical/Research Interests:
Hobbies:
Jordan Jacquez, MD
Education:
- Medical School: Washington University in St. Louis
- Residency: Washington University in St. Louis
About Me: I was born and raised in Houston (outside the loop, for those in the know!), shipped off to Duke for college, and then spent the past eight years living in St. Louis for med school, residency, and a year as a hospitalist. The entirety of my immediate family still resides in Texas, from the verdant Gulf Coast to the arid borderland of El Paso, so I frequently return. I'm grateful for the chance to have experienced different parts of the country and am excited for this newest phase out west!
Why UCLA? I think all trainees would agree that, although grueling at times, residency goes by in a flash. The field of rheumatology is so stimulating and ever more complicated that I knew I wanted to pack in as much clinical exposure as possible into two years. The diversity of training sites and patient populations is incredible here, and I feel this will maximize my educational enrichment in a relatively narrow window. The weather, mountains, beaches, food, and cultural firepower the region offers for free time are awesome as well!
Clinical/Research Interests: I'm one of those undifferentiated folks, but I have an interest in SLE, medical education, and addressing disparities in healthcare.
Hobbies: Tennis (strange benefit of the pandemic is I now have three chances to go to Indian Wells!), reading graphic novels / comics, television (first love Dexter, choice for GOAT is The Sopranos), movies, cooking, and perpetually trying to play guitar.
Arissa Young, MD
Second year STAR fellow
Education:
- Medical School - Tufts University School of Medicine
- Internal Medicine Residency – Vanderbilt University
About Me: Arissa is originally from New Jersey. She went to Tufts University where she majored in Biology and met her husband, Alex de Castro-Abeger. After two years living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, she returned to Tufts for medical school (alongside her husband). She and Alex then ventured to Nashville, Tennessee where they completed residency at Vanderbilt. While there, they adopted a cat (Shea) and a dog (Dodger) and welcomed their first child, Adalyn in May 2021!
Why UCLA? Arissa chose UCLA in large part because of the STAR program. She was involved in immunometabolism research during residency and plans to pursue a career as a physician-scientist. Los Angeles is also home to her husband’s entire family.
Clinical/Research Interests: Immune related adverse events related to immune checkpoint inhibitors, T cell immunology, and cancer/autoimmune overlap.
Hobbies: Trying out new restaurants, traveling, hiking, yoga, cycling.
First Year Fellows
Vincent Tran, MD
About Me: Grew up in Minnesota. My family owned a small Chinese restaurant where I worked at a cook during high school and college. I attended University of Minnesota for college and medical school. Decided to branch out for residency and ended up training at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. I married my wife while in residency who is from Los Angeles and we are beyond ecstatic to be in sunny LA for fellowship training!
Why UCLA? UCLA was my number 1 program on my rank list for many reasons. One of the major strengths is rotating at 4 different hospitals where you see an incredible range of pathology in a county, VA, community, and tertiary care setting. You get to work with many faculty that are leaders in their field. The culture is incredibly collaborative, friendly, and supportive.
Clinical/Research Interests: I am undifferentiated for now but am interested in SLE, RA, crystalline arthropathy, medical education, MSK Ultrasound
Hobbies: Weight lifting, biking, hiking, video games, reading, exploring different ethnic foods in LA.
Victor Tran, MD
Education:
- Undergraduate: University of California, Los Angeles
- Medical School: University of California, Irvine
- Internal Medicine Residency: University of California, Irvine
About Me: Growing up in Orange County, I had aspirations to become a professional basketball player. When I only grew to be 5'7'', I decided it was best to switch career tracks. While at UC Irvine for residency, I developed a curiosity for the complex diseases within rheumatology, and that curiosity was nurtured by many wonderful mentors there. I am excited to become my patient's advocate as their clinician, advisor and supporter.
Why UCLA? UCLA provides very strong clinical training taught by many well-respected and motivated clinician educators. Additionally, there is a wide variety of clinical sites, diverse patient populations, and severe/rare disease that is bountiful at an esteemed tertiary care center like UCLA. Rheumatology fellowship is relatively short, so you want to be exposed to as much as possible! The beaches, street food, fancy restaurants, entertainment, and weather are also well appreciated!
Hobbies: My new obsession is golfing, primarily because it's frustratingly difficult. I'm an amateur home cook and enjoy exploring new restaurants. Love basketball and bigtime Lakers fan. Playing tennis and teaching tennis is a ton of fun. Can't say no to laying on the couch watching the latest movie/TV show.
Travis Welsh, MD
About Me: I am originally from North Carolina but grew up throughout the Southeast (and Iowa) before settling for a while in Georgia for undergraduate and medical school. I headed out to Texas for residency and then spent a little extra time as a hospitalist before starting my time here at UCLA.
Why UCLA? The UCLA Rheum Fellowship allows you to interact with and treat the full spectrum of rheumatologic disease in a demographic that spans the broad diversity of people characteristic of LA. I was drawn to the rigorous clinical exposure coupled with opportunities to work with down-to-earth faculty that are leaders in their field.
Clinical/Research Interests: I have a particular interest in mechanical MSK disorders, preventative health, and care delivery.
Hobbies: I spend most of my free time doing something music-related, whether that is playing guitar, producing music, or catching music shows. I particularly enjoy electronic and R&B music.
Samuel Good, MD
First Year STAR Fellow
About Me: I grew up in the Bay Area and then left and moved back several times throughout my life, first to Ohio, then Japan, then Connecticut, then Wisconsin, then Massachusetts. My extended family is still in California, and I am very happy to be back.
Why UCLA? The program here has a great balance of clinical rigor in a welcoming environment. We have multiple training sites, all of which serve different patient populations, and see a wide variety of disease processes. Most importantly, though, everybody here is extremely friendly. It also doesn't hurt that Los Angeles is a great place to live.
Clinical/Research Interests: I am particularly interested in health disparities research.
Hobbies: Reading, spending time with my family, going to the beach, the Golden State Warriors.
Incoming Fellows
Alana Haussman, MD
Amy Trang, MD
Candice Wang, MD