Meet Our Team

Yalda Afshar, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor In-Residence
UCLA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine 
Dr. Afshar is a physician-scientist with clinical and research interests that intersect and include high-risk pregnancy, prenatal ultrasound, genetic testing, and congenital heart disease, either affecting the mother or fetus. Dr. Afshar is a recipient of a National Institute of Health Reproductive Scientist Development Award. Her research is focused on congenital heart disease and placentation, among other translational pregnancy related topics.

Marie Altendahl
Marie Altendahl is a medical student (DGSOM, Class of 2023) and aspiring obstetrician-gynecologist. She grew up in Minnesota, majored in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, and worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center prior to starting medical school. Marie is passionate about maternal-fetal health and works on the PRIORITY study, investigating the effects of COVID-19 in pregnancy. Marie spends most of her free time at Philz coffee.

Lauren Bass
While monitoring some of our current ongoing experiments, which include placenta accreta spectrum, endothelial cell response to flow in patients congenital heart, and dd-cfDNA in Pregnant Kidney Transplant Recipients, I note any differences when conducting experiments that involve, but are not limited to, the following protocols: IF, IHC, blood specimen processing, umbilical cord isolation, cell culture, and western blots. My main duties include preparing lab equipment for upcoming research experiments, preparing test samples, keeping lab records, along with gathering data and documenting findings.  Last, but not least, collaboration plays a big role at Afshar Lab as it allows us to solve problems, complete tasks, engage in higher-level thinking and learn new concepts - all while pushing the boundaries to to improve health outcomes for women and their babies. When not in the lab, I enjoy spending any free time challenging my creativity, playing backgammon, photographing, skiing in the winter months, and spending time with my family!

Nicole Charland
Nicole Charland is a second-year medical student at DGSOM interested in the intersection of transplant and obstetric care. With the Afshar Lab, Nicole works on a variety of projects aiming to better characterize outcomes in high-risk pregnancies ranging from maternal CHD to former transplant recipients. Outside of medicine, Nicole is an avid backpacker and loves to explore lesser-known corners of the world. 

Dr. Angela Desmond
Angela is a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellow at UCLA. She grew up outside of Boston and attended medical school in Albany, NY before moving to Los Angeles for her pediatrics residency. Her research interests include prenatal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and investigating metabolomic derangements in pregnancies affected by congenital heart disease. She hopes her research endeavors contribute to improving the care of infants born with congenital heart disease. When she is not in the ICU or in the lab, you can find Angela running, hiking, drinking tea, spending time with family, and exploring the west coast.

Jasmine Gonzalez
My name is Jasmine Gonzalez and I am a third year undergraduate student majoring in Human Biology and Society with a minor in Chicanx and Central American Studies. As an undergrad, I serve as a board director for Latinx/Chicanx for Community Medicine, as well as External Director for the Black and Latinx AIDS Project. Im also peer and career mentor with The Aspire. Learn. Mentor. Achieve. (ALMA) Science Academy to predominantly underserved youth in the Santa Ana community. Within lab, I have worked on the fetal congenital heart disease project, and I am currently working on a health disparities research paper for pregnant patients with cardiomyopathy. My dream as a first generation college student is to become a physician leader to advocate for women’s / LGBTQ+ health and reproductive justice in my community. In my free time, I enjoy weight lifting and cooking new recipes. 

Helia Imany-Shakibai
Helia Imany is a recent graduate from George Washington University and is originally from Northern Virginia. She recently moved to Los Angeles to join the David Geffen School of Medicine Class of 2023. Her research interests are in congenital heart disease and genetics, with a clinical interest in pediatric cardiology. She will be joining the lab in the Summer of 2020.

Anhyo Jeong
Anhyo is a UCLA MMIG graduate and a staff research associate in the Afshar Lab from Santa Barbara. He was born in South Korea but raised in the U.S., and some of his favorite hobbies include playing soccer and piano. His current focus of research is on the altered endothelial cell response to flow in congenital heart disease patients as well as placenta accreta spectrum, but also loves learning about other areas of research like kidney cancer. Anhyo hopes to attend medical school and eventually set up a lab in the future in order to continue biomedical research. 

Guadalupe Martinez
Guadalupe Martinez, a first-generation student, graduated from UCLA in 2021 with a Physiological Science Major and a Global Health Minor. She formally joined the Afshar Lab as a Staff Research Associate in Summer 2022. She is currently working on a few projects including Social Determinants of Health in pregnant women with cardiovascular disease and understanding the underlying mechanism of Placenta Accreta Spectrum. In addition to being an SRA, she is also greatly involved in community and global health work both in Los Angeles and Tijuana, Mexico. In the future, she plans to apply to medical school and hopes to become a physician who works in underserved communities and advocates for health and equity for all. When she is not in the lab she enjoys painting and dancing in a ballet folklorico group where she is able to stay connected to her Oaxacan roots. 

Joanne Sarsam
Joanne is a second-year MIMG major at UCLA. She started in the Afshar lab this past fall and will be working on a project to improve fetal cardiac MR imaging for the purpose of improving pre-natal diagnoses of coarctation of aorta. In her free time, Joanne enjoys crocheting and learning guitar. She’s passionate about women’s health and is excited to get involved with the lab!

Olivia Scott
Olivia Scott grew up in Los Angeles, CA, and she is currently a second-year medical student at UCLA. In the lab, she is working on a project about cord blood signatures and risk stratification of prenatal congenital heart disease. Olivia is very interested in women's health broadly, and specifically in working to improve maternal health outcomes for Black women.

Sarah Tabatabaei
Sarah is a fourth-year undergraduate at UCLA majoring in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. After graduating, she hopes to continue her education to become a physician while pursuing a passion for biomedical research. She is currently working on the placenta accreta project to characterize differential expression at sites of invasion versus non-invasive sites with RNAscope, IF, and IHC. In addition to exploring her interest in maternal-fetal medicine, Sarah is an intern at the Iris-Cantor UCLA Women’s Health Center and a member of UCLA’s Stroke Team and Persian Medical Association. In her free time she enjoys creative writing and reading!

Alumni

Irina Gontschar, MD, PhD, CCRP
Irina Gontschar graduated from the Belarusian State Medical University with an MD degree. She completed a residency in neurology and physiotherapy and has trained throughout Europe in diverse academic centers -- Utrecht (Netherlands), Berlin, Weimar, and Erlangen (Germany). She comes to the Afshar lab with a background in research related to pregnancy and neurological disease and has worked to understand EEG and evoked potentials in pregnancy associated stroke and preeclampsia. Her work in the lab is focused on fetal-maternal translational projects.

Jenny Mei, MD
Jenny Mei is currently a maternal-fetal medicine fellow at UCLA . She is greatly interested in research involving high-risk pregnancies and is currently working on twin vaginal delivery outcomes with associated cost-effectiveness, as well as pregnancy outcomes in transplant patients. She hopes to pursue these passions further in fellowship and beyond and is excited for what lies ahead!

Allison Woods
Sarah is a third-year medical student at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Throughout medical school, she has been involved in several projects exploring maternal hemodynamics and the association with various fetal parameters. I am hoping to pursue an anesthesiology residency after medical school. In the future, she would love to practice in the field of obstetric anesthesiology. 

Ophelia Yin, MD
Ophelia Yin is originally from Southern California and did her undergraduate studies at Princeton University, majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology completing an epidemiology thesis on co-infection of macro and microparasites. She attended medical school at Johns Hopkins and researched mechanical signaling and activation of primordial follicles of the ovary. She is currently an OBGYN resident at UCLA with an interest in maternal fetal medicine, with current projects aimed at increasing specificity of diagnostic modalities for preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and placenta accreta spectrum.