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Medical Students, Residents, Fellows and Visiting Scholars

Numerous students, residents, and fellows have worked with Dr. Loomba since 2007 on many papers and research projects. Dr. Loomba has many ongoing clinical research projects spanning a variety of areas including epidemiology, genetics, imaging, and patient-oriented research in the field of metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease. This spectrum of research allows trainees ample opportunities to explore and choose a particular area that fits their level of training and research interests.

Please see below to learn more about some of the students, residents, and fellows who have worked with Dr. Loomba. Dr. Loomba is also a faculty advisor for selected undergraduate students and volunteers.

Daniel Huang (2021-2023)

Dr. Daniel Q. Huang is an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore and a transplant hepatologist at the National University Hospital, Singapore. Presently, he is a visiting scholar at the MASLD Research Center at UC San Diego.

Dr. Huang's research interest is in the early detection and prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma in the setting of metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease and viral hepatitis. Dr. Huang is working on non-invasive strategies to risk stratify and detect chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma by leveraging advanced imaging-, RNA-, and microbiome-based approaches.

Charlie Park

Charlie is a medical student at UC San Diego pursuing a combined MD/MAS degree (class of 2018). Under the mentorship of Dr. Loomba, he has pursued clinical research on metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), noninvasive imaging modalities, and liver fibrosis.

Charlie is the lead author of a recent publication in Gastroenterology that assessed the comparative efficacy of MRE and Transient Elastography for the noninvasive diagnosis of steatosis and fibrosis in MASLD patients. He is keenly interested in applying his clinical and translational research skills and utilizing evidence-based medicine to improve patient outcomes in clinical practice.

Michael Chang

Michael started his GI fellowship at UCSD in 2013 and had the opportunity to work with Dr. Loomba. He completed his internal medicine training at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in 2012. He then spent a year working as a hospitalist at UCLA in the Department of Internal Medicine from 2012 to 2013, where he was involved in medical student and resident teaching and was nominated for an Excellence in Teaching award.

Iliana Doycheva

Illiana completed an Internal Medicine residency at the University of Florida and did a Hepatology Fellowship at the University of Miami. In collaboration with Dr. Loomba, she designed a prospective study investigating the association between MASLD and coronary heart disease in type 2 diabetes patients. She published a review article entitled "Prognostic implication of liver histology in patients with metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease in diabetes" in the Journal of Diabetes. She was a co-author of an original research paper investigating the role of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase on mortality.

Mazen Noureddin

Mazen completed his residency at the University of Southern California and hepatology fellowship at the Liver Diseases Branch at the National Institutes of Health before arriving at UC San Diego. Mazen joined Dr. Loomba's group due to the high quality and productivity of the fatty liver disease research center at UC San Diego. He has a few areas of research that he focuses on including the role of MRI and non-invasive biomarkers in the diagnosis of MASLD, studying the heritability of fatty liver disease using a twins cohort, and a new randomized control trial for the treatment of MASH.

Niraj Patel

Niraj Patel is currently a 3rd-year gastroenterology fellow at UC San Diego. As a member of Dr. Loomba's research team, he is involved in analyzing pancreatic fat and its relationship to the progression of MASLD. He additionally assisted on other projects reviewing liver biopsies of patients with MASH and worked on a review of liver histology in diabetic patients with MASLD. Niraj has several publications in collaboration with Dr. Loomba and other faculty members at UC San Diego.

Thuy Anh Le

Thuy Anh Le started working in Dr. Loomba's MASLD Research Center in July 2011. She was involved in many of the patient-oriented research projects including the Database 2 and FLINT study, and helped initiate a genetic study of fatty liver disease.

Sung Won Lee, MD, PhD (2022-2023)

Dr. Sung Won Lee is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea. His major research interests so far include viral hepatitis, anti-fibrotic treatment, and liver cancer. Dr. Lee joined Dr. Loomba and the MASLD Research Center team in July 2022 to focus on research related to MASLD. Dr. Lee is currently the associate editor of Clinical and Molecular Hepatology and an editorial board member of Hepatoma Research. Dr. Lee has actively played various roles in the Asian-Pacific and the Korean Hepatology Society as the vice secretary general of the Korean Liver Cancer Association from 2020 to 2022, vice secretary general of the organizing committee of the APASL 2022, and vice secretary general of the Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert annual meeting 2023.

Undergraduate Students/Volunteers

As a faculty advisor, Dr. Loomba accepts applicants for undergraduate students under FPMU-199 Research whose focus is in public health. These selective applicants develop a research plan and work with Dr. Loomba and his team.