Joaquin Ponce-Zepeda, MD

PGY-4

I am a native of the East Los Angeles area, and I have been passionate about patient care since I was 16. I am an anteater at heart as I was a premed major at UC Irvine for undergrad, and afterward, attended medical school at AUC. In the future, I hope to be an upstanding physician who can give back to my hometown community. I was eager to join the filed of Pathology as there is currently an exciting movement in translational research that is pushing the world of medicine forward. Medicine is the molecular age of diagnosing cancer and other diseases, with an ever-growing array of biomarkers, and I would like to help bridge the gap between the hospital floor and the lab bench. I am especially interested in gastrointestinal pathology and cytopathology, I currently participate in research in both fields. I am very honored to be a part of the UC Irvine family as the institution is constantly on the leading edge of research and innovation. Go Anteaters!  Zot, zot, zot!

Jack Reid, MD

PGY-4

Jack was born and raised in Burma. He attended the University of California, Riverside, where he received a BS in Neuroscience. He then received his MD from Ross University School of Medicine. Jack is pursuing AP/CP training with a special interest in hematopathology and molecular genetic pathology. In his spare time, he enjoys basketball, swimming, surfing, and spending time with his wife and two dogs, Junior and Oreo.

Sherehan Zada, MD

PGY-4

Sherehan was born and raised in Aleppo, Syria. She earned her MD from Aleppo University of Medical Sciences. After obtaining her medical degree, she completed a residency in dermatology. After completing her residency, she moved to the United States and completed several rotations in pathology. Her current academic interests include dermatopathology and gastrointestinal pathology. Sherehan is currently pursuing AP/CP training. Besides medicine Sherehan enjoys reading, cooking, watching movies, traveling and loves spending time with her husband and two kids.

Haijuan Gao, MD, PhD

PGY-3

Haijuan was born in Hebei, China. She completed her MD and residency in gynecology and obstetrics at Xi'an Jiaotong University. She later earned her PhD in Public Health from Purdue University. Prior to joining UC Irvine, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma where she founded and led the women's cancer research lab. Haijuan has published research on cervical cancer prevention, HPV vaccine promotion, and health disparities among marginalized populations. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing and traveling.

Samikshya Neupane, MD

PGY-3

Samikshya 'Sami' Neupane earned her medical degree at Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, followed by a year internship in the hematology-oncology unit at Civil Service Hospital in Nepal. She completed three years of AP/CP training at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and continued working independently as a pathologist before moving to the United States in 2018. She is determined to continue her journey as a pathologist with a special interest in hematopath. Besides pathology, she loves watching movies and traveling with her beloved husband.

Arjun Reddy, MD, MBA

PGY-3

Arjun was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended college at Tufts University. In college, he completed a double major in politcal science and biology and earned a BA degree in 2015. He thereafter attended the University of Southern California (USC) for his medical degree. During medical school, he also enrolled in the dual-degree MD/MBA program jointly with the Marshall School of Business of USC and the Keck School of Medicine of USC and earned his MD and MBA degrees in 2020. Arjun enjoys playing tennis, skiing, traveling, and hiking in his free tie. Arjun is pursuing CP training.

Kapitolina Semenova, MD

PGY-3

Kapitolina (Lina) was born and raised in Tomsk, Russia. She graduated from Siberian State Medical University in 2015. Lina then moved to the USA to work at BEnaroya Research Institute in Seattle, Washington, where she did immunology basic science research devoted to type one diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Outside of medicine, Lina enjoys traveling, paragliding, snowboarding, hiking, horseback riding, and much more. She is pursuing AP/CP training.

Nyein Nyein Htun, MD

PGY-2

Nyein was born and raised in Burma (Myanmar). She finished her medical school, internship and  AP/CP training from University of Medicine 1 Yangon. After her residency, she worked for Pathology Department of University of Medicine 2 Yangon. Then she moved to United States in 2018 and tried to continue her dream of being a well-rounded Pathologist. She loves cooking Myanmar traditional cuisine and watching movies. She is eager to pursue cytopathology training after her residency.

Jerry Lou, MD

PGY-2

Jerry grew up in the Los Angeles area and stayed in the area for undergraduate studies at UCLA majoring in neuroscience. His passion for neuropathology was sparked by his undergraduate publications on IDH1 mutant gliomas with the Dr. Albert Lai and brain tumor banking with Dr. William Yong. He remained in LA to receive his MD degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Jerry is excited to grow as a pathologist in the nurturing environment of the UCI pathology residency. His research interests include neuropathology especially neurodegenerative disorders and artificial intelligence in pathology. He is currently working with convolutional neural networks under Dr. Peter Chang, the co-director of the UCI Center for Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Medicine. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, golf, skiing, and traveling. He plans to pursue AP/NP training.

Daniel Nguyen, MD

PGY-2

Daniel was born in Vietnam. He moved to San Diego, California, and received a BS in Microbiology at UC San Diego. He completed his MD at University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. Daniel enjoys playing soccer, and hiking in his spare time. He is pursuing AP/CP training

Namratha Adiyeri Kandiyil, MD

PGY-1

Sumayya Aslam, MD

PGY-1

Roksolana Demianets, MD

PGY-1

Roksolana grew up in Ukraine where she completed her medical degree. She then moved to Chicago and was exploring healthcare system while working in the surgical field. After becoming ECFMG certified, she was honored to join UCI. Roksolana is pursuing AP/CP training with interests in hematopathology, cytopathology, and clinical chemistry. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling with her family.

Chenchen Niu, MD

PGY-1

Chenchen was born in Taiyuan, China. She received her MD from Soochow University Medical College and later earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Hong Kong. Then she moved to the United States to complete her Postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Diego, where her research focused on the molecular basis of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 7 (SCA7) and developed an antisense oligonucleotide knockdown therapy for this neurodegenerative disease. Besides medicine, Chenchen enjoys hiking, biking, cooking, watching movies, and spending time with her family. She is pursuing AP/CP training.

Dong Ren, MD

PGY-1

Dong was born and raised in Xi'an, China. He graduated from the Fourth Military Medical University in 2010 and earned his PhD at the Sun Yat-sen University in 2016. After completing his postdoc training in 2018, he led a research team as an associate principal investigator at Sun Yat-sen University working on the field of prostate cancer bone metastasis. Besides medicine, Dong enjoys playing soccer and running, as well as traveling with his wife and two kids. He is pursuing AP/CP training.

Kamran Urgun, MD

PGY-1

Kamran was born Diyarbakir, Turkey. He graduated from Marmara University School of Medicine in Istanbul and did his neurosurgery residency in the same institution. He moved to the US with his family and completed several clinical fellowships. He then decided to continue his voyage of discovery in the field of pathology. He loves music, enjoys walking, getting lost in history books and traveling with his wife.

Tahmineh Haidary, MD

Cytopathology Fellow

Tahmineh Haidary earned her MD degree from Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Ahvaz, Iran. She practiced as an ER physician in Iran before she immigrated to USA and joined a research program in Howard University Hospital in Washington, DC. Tahmineh collaborated with several research projects there, many of which resulted in publications or poster presentations. Tahmineh then went on to complete her training in Anatomical and Clinical Pathology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY from 2017 to 2021. She is now honored to be a fellow in Women’s Health/Selective Surgical Pathology training program at UC Irvine. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.

Ashley Gamayo, MD

Hematopathology Fellow

Jamie Nakagiri, MD

Neuropathology Fellow

Jamie was born in Thousand Oaks, California. She received her BA in Psychology, with a concentration in Neuroscience, at Boston College, where she also minored in music. She earned her MD at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. In her spare time, Jamie enjoys going to theme parks and is a self-proclaimed Disney fanatic. She is pursuing AP/CP training.

Gabriel Gianni, MD

Women's Health / Selective Surgical Pathology Fellow

Truc Tran, MD

Women's Health / Selective Surgical Pathology Fellow

Truc was born in Vietnam and moved to the States with her family during high school years. She went to UCI for undergraduate studies and earned her medical degree from Pennsylvania State University COM in PA. Truc then went on to complete her training in Anatomical and Clinical Pathology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA. She is now a fellow in Women's Health/GYN Surgical Pathology training program at UCI Health. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, playing with her cat (Clark), reading, traveling, and crafting.

Ali Afsarim, MD

GI Pathology Fellow