Faculty | Scholar, Faculty Career Development in Advanced Endoscopy
V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, MAS, FACG, FASGE, AGAF
Medical Director of Endoscopy, UCLA Health
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Location: Westwood
Dr. Muthusamy is recognized as a leader in advanced endoscopic procedures. His clinical research interests focus on the evaluation of existing and new endoscopic technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of digestive disorders. They include endoscopic ablative techniques for Barrett's esophagus with dysplasia and early esophageal adenocarcinoma, clinical applications of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with a particular focus on EUS-guided tissue acquisition, assessment of new endolumenal stents, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with a particular interest in cholangioscopy and stent patency, and endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). Dr. Muthusamy also has recently focused on the development of quality metrics in endoscopy and methods to improve the safety and efficiency of endoscopy care with a particular focus on endoscope reprocessing and duodenoscope associated transmission of infections.
Dr. Muthusamy is currently a professor of clinical medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and medical director of endoscopy for UCLA Health. Prior to his recruitment to UCLA in 2011, he was a faculty member at the University of California Irvine Medical Center. In addition to his extensive clinical work in interventional endoscopy there, he also served as the director of the GI Fellowship Program at UC Irvine. He has also previously served as director of endoscopic ultrasound at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Muthusamy completed his undergraduate work at Stanford University and graduated with distinction. He subsequently went to medical school at the University of Washington School of Medicine, where he graduated with honors. His residency was undertaken at Duke University Medical Center where he served as assistant chief resident and traveled abroad to study evidence-based medicine under Dr. David Sackett at Oxford University. He completed his fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of California San Francisco before undertaking his advanced endoscopy fellowship at the University of California Irvine which he completed in 2001.
Dr. Muthusamy is board-certified in gastroenterology and has been recognized by Best Doctors since 2011. He is an editor of the 3rd edition of textbook Clinical Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He is a past-president of the Orange County GI Society and a councilor for the Southern California Society of Gastroenterology. Dr. Muthusamy is a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology (FACG), American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (FASGE) and the American Gastroenterological Association (AGAF). He serves as one of two ACG governors for Southern California and is a former member of the ACG Research and Public Relations committees. He is current an associate editor for the American Journal of Gastroenterology. He previously has served as a co-director of the ASGE’s Improving Quality and Safety in Your Endoscopy Unit course and serves on the ASGE Quality Assurance in Endoscopy committee. He is also a long-standing member and the current chair of the AGA’s Center for GI Innovation and Technology and serves on the AGA’s research award panel.
Danny Issa, MD
Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Locations: Santa Clarita and West Hills
Dr. Issa's clinical practice focuses on using minimally-invasive approaches to diagnose and treat digestive diseases such as pancreas and bile ducts disorders, esophagus and stomach conditions, gastroparesis, colon polyps and early cancer lesions. He has a particular interest in bariatric endoscopy and obesity medicine and is co-leading the endoscopic bariatric program at UCLA. He has obtained additional training at Weill Cornell, New York, for cutting-edge endoscopic weight loss procedures such as endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG), gastric revision following bypass surgery, transoral outlet reduction (TORe), and gastric balloon placement. Gastrointestinal procedures he performs also include colonoscopy, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), tumor ablation, endoluminal stenting, mucosal resection (EMR), endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM).
After earning his medical degree from the University of Damascus, he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Northwestern University, Chicago, and a residency in internal medicine at Cleveland Clinic - Fairview Hospital. He then completed a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Virginia Commonwealth University and an advanced endoscopy fellowship at Weill Cornell Medical College/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he had extensive training on numerous innovative endoscopic procedures. Dr. Issa has published multiple peer-reviewed articles and presented his research at numerous national meetings.
Dr. Issa is board-certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine. He is an active member of the public relation committee of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), and an active member of the Congressional Advocacy Program of the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA), in addition to being a member of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and American College of Physicians (ACP).
Stephen Kim, MD
Director, Faculty Career Development in Advanced Endoscopy
Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Location: Westwood
Dr. Kim’s clinical focus involves the application of advanced endoscopic procedures in the diagnosis, treatment and palliation of various gastrointestinal disorders. He is proficient in diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), ERCP, endoluminal stenting, deep enteroscopy, and endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) of large colon polyps. His research and clinical interests lie in the endoscopic management of pancreatic diseases.
Dr. Kim received his undergraduate education from Harvard University and earned his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania after which he spent an extra year as chief medical resident. He then moved to UCLA for his gastroenterology fellowship and faculty career development in advanced endoscopy. He is board-certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine and is an active member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American College of Gastroenterology and American Gastroenterological Association. He is currently the director of the Faculty Career Development in Advanced Endoscopy at UCLA.
Alireza Sedarat, MD
Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Location: Santa Monica and Westwood
Dr. Sedarat joined UCLA in 2013 as a member of the interventional endoscopy within the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases. His clinical interests encompass the development and application of advanced endoscopic techniques and interventions to diagnose, stage, treat and palliate a range of benign and malignant gastrointestinal disorders. He is proficient in the application of advanced endoscopic techniques including therapeutic ERCP, EUS with fine needle aspiration and biopsy, ERCP in surgically altered anatomy, interventional EUS (such as biliary drainage or rendezvous procedures, pancreas pseudocyst drainage, pancreas necrosectomy, fiducial placement and abscess drainage), pancreatic and biliary endotherapy, endoluminal stenting, endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), complex polypectomy, tumor ablation, deep (device assisted) enteroscopy, endoscopic fistula and leak closure, complex stricture dilation and endotherapy, endoscopic treatment of Barrett’s esophagus with mucosal resection and radiofrequency ablation, endoscopic antireflux procedures, Zenkers’ diverticulum myotomy, endoscopic management of surgical complications, and chromoendoscopy. Dr. Sedarat also performs bariatric endoscopy, including primary endoscopic therapies for obesity, endoscopic treatment of weight regain following bariatric surgery, and treatment of post-surgical complications.
He started the program at UCLA to offer the POEM procedure (peroral endoscopic myotomy) as treatment option for patients with achalasia and spastic disorders of the esophagus. His research interests include endoscopic device development and application as well as evaluation of existing and emerging endoscopic technologies with a focus on improving patient outcomes. He is interested in the application of the emerging fields of submucosal and transluminal endoscopy, including endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for early tumor resection, POEM, and application of devices and techniques to treat gastrointestinal disorders that traditionally were managed surgically.
Dr. Sedarat completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his fellowship in gastroenterology here at UCLA and returned to UPenn to complete an advanced endoscopy fellowship. He is board-certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine and is a member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American College of Gastroenterology and American Gastroenterological Association.
Adarsh M. Thaker, MD
Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Location: Burbank, Santa Monica and Westwood
Dr. Thaker is an advanced endoscopist with particular interest in minimally invasive endoscopic procedures which help fill the gap between medical management and traditional surgery. He is spearheading the growth of the bariatric endoscopy program at UCLA, coordinating with a multidisciplinary team in the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition and the Center for Obesity and METabolic Health (COMET). He performs endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) for weight loss as well as gastric revision procedures, such as transoral outlet reduction (TORe), for patients who have regained weight after prior gastric surgery. He also performs the transoral incisionless fundoplication (TIF) procedure, which is a minimally invasive alternative to surgery for the treatment of acid reflux.
In addition, Dr. Thaker has specialized training in other advanced therapies, including including endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) of large polyps; radiofrequency ablation for Barrett's esophagus and early esophageal cancer; stricture dilation; endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP); cholangioscopy; endoluminal stent placement; deep enteroscopy/balloon enteroscopy; endoscopic suturing, fistula and leak closure; and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) for cancer staging, fine needle aspiration and biopsy and other interventions.
Dr. Thaker is board certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine. Dr. Thaker's research has focused on eliminating endoscope-related infections to improve patient safety, helping to develop and implement the use of the world's first available disposable duodenoscope. He has published several research studies, literature reviews, editorials, and a textbook chapter related to the endoscopic management of complex gastrointestinal diseases, anesthesia safety during endoscopy, and preventing infections related to endoscopic instruments.
Dr. Thaker serves on the national committee for the American Gastroenterological Association's (AGA) Center for GI Innovation and Technology (CGIT), which supports innovation and the development of new technologies for use in gastroenterology, hepatology, nutrition and obesity management. He is a member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), the Association for Bariatric Endoscopy (ABE), and the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG). He completed his undergraduate training in chemical engineering at UCLA before attending medical school at New York Medical College. He completed his internal medicine residency training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston, followed by gastroenterology fellowship and advanced endoscopy fellowship training at UCLA. In additional to performing procedures at UCLA Health campuses in Westwood and Santa Monica, Dr. Thaker performs advanced procedures in other Southern California locations.
Jennifer Phan, MD
Health Sciences Clinical Instructor of Medicine
Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Dr. Phan completed her undergraduate training in biochemistry with a minor in art history and science at Occidental College. She then attended medical school at University of California, Los Angeles where she was inducted into the AOA society and received the Barbara and Martin Pops Award for excellence in academics and leadership. She completed her medical training in both internal medicine residency and general gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA.
Dr. Phan's research interests include improvements in diagnostic techniques and overall management of incidental pancreatic cysts. She is also interested in bariatric endoscopy, including the application of techniques such as sleeve gastroplasty or stomal repairs in the management of obesity. Dr. Phan is passionate about local and national political advocacy evidenced by her acceptance into the Youth Physicians Leadership Scholars Program by the American College of Gastroenterology. Dr. Phan also has a passion for teaching and is committed to continuing her involvement in medical student and resident education.
Board certified in internal medicine, Dr. Phan is an active member of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American College of Gastroenterology and American Gastroenterological Association.
