Brandon Koretz, MD, MBA, Chair

Dr. Koretz attended the University of California at Berkeley and graduated with high honors and a B. A. in Psychology. He subsequently obtained his M.D. from the University of California at San Francisco. After moving back to Los Angeles, he took a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles. After joining the faculty at UCLA, he completed the California Healthcare Foundation Leadership Training Program through UCSF, the Lean Healthcare certification through the University of Michigan, and an MBA at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Dr. Koretz’s primary clinical interests include comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and consultation as well as serving as the primary care provider for his panel of patients. His educational interests include teaching clinical Geriatrics, communication, customer service, and leadership. His efforts were recognized with the Eby Award for the Art of Teaching/Distinguished Teaching Award in 2012. Dr. Koretz has held a number of administrative positions at UCLA including four terms as the President of the Department of Medicine Professional Group and the Interim CEO/President of the Faculty Practice Group. He currently serves on the Committee on Development and the Legislative Assembly for the UCLA Academic Senate.

Cate Bonesho, PhD, MA

Catherine E. Bonesho is an Assistant Professor in Early Judaism in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA. Her research focuses on locating the history, languages, literature, and culture of Judaism in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods in their imperial contexts. Specifically, she is interested in the ways ancient Jews navigated living under imperial domination through the development of legislation and rhetoric about the Other. She is currently working on her first monograph on the polemic of foreign holidays and festivals in rabbinic literature. Bonesho’s research also concentrates on the Roman Near East and Semitic languages, especially Aramaic, and their use in imperial contexts. In particular, she investigates the material presentation of Aramaic inscriptions found throughout the Roman Empire. She spent the 2017-2018 academic year in Rome as a Rome Prize Fellow in Ancient Studies at the American Academy in Rome (FAAR ‘18). Bonesho earned her PhD in Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies (2018) and her MA in Hebrew and Semitic Studies (2014) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Caryl Carothers BA ’59

Caryl Carothers is a UCLA graduate with a degree in English and the Anderson School of Management Executive Program. As an Executive Coach and Organizational Consultant in the Anderson Executive Education and EMBA Programs, she connects people, ideas and organizations to create new narratives for synergy and growth.

Both at Anderson and in private practice she coaches individual, corporate and non-profit professionals in a wide range of fields, including business, health, arts, communications, and technology and social services. She also works with high school and college students in career planning. She has led the creation, strategic planning, board development and implementation of major university, arts and philanthropic organization advisory boards, addressing recruitment, team-building, program design and development.

Erin Denny B.S. ’09, PhD ‘15

Erin Denny received her B.S. in Biology with a Biotechnology minor from the University of Southern California in 2009 followed by her Ph.D. in Biological and Biomedical Sciences in 2015. She completed her graduate research with City of hope during her time obtaining her Ph.D. She then became the Licensing Senior manager of Oncology Business Development at Amgen. She is also currently the Co-President of the Association for Women in Science, Los Angeles & Ventura County Chapter where she oversees committees including mentoring and outreach, communications, membership, social and networking. In this role she also collaborates with the President and board members to develop annual programming for professional development and network events.

Maylen Perez Diaz B.S. ‘11, PhD ‘17

Maylen Perez Diaz received her B.S. in Biology from UCLA followed by her PhD in Neuroscience from Emory University. During her time at Emory earning her PhD she was a graduate teaching assistant in Neuroscience and then a lab instructor for Biology. Maylen is now a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UCLA Semel Institute.

Cliff Frieden BA 71’, JD 74’

Cliff Frieden received his Bachelors of Arts in Economics in 1971, followed by his Juris Doctor in Law in 1974. Since then Cliff has worked in corporate law and litigation at Rutan & Tucker in Orange County and plans to retire fully in a few short months. He has been a mentor over the years for programs such as Bruin Professionals and loves to see students excel and succeed. He is currently a member of the Orange County chapter of the Chancellors Society.doctoral Research Fellow at UCLA Semel Institute.

Sean Harper, M.D.

Named by Time as one of the 50 most influential people in healthcare in 2018, Harper has helped bring well over a dozen novel therapies to patients during his career. Harper brings a rare breadth of experience to Westlake Village BioPartners. He has experience in both basic research and as a practicing physician. He has led a wide range of clinical research programs, extending from early translational trials to global outcomes studies.

Omid Kohannim, BA ’07, Ph.D. ’12, MD ’14

Omid has been a Bruin since 2003. He graduated summa cum laude with College Honors from UCLA with a major in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and a minor in Mathematics. As an undergraduate student, he was actively involved in research and was awarded the Beckman Scholarship in 2006 for his project in quantitative trait locus mapping and cardiovascular genetics. He also contributed to the UCLA Undergraduate Science Journal as a managing editor and author. Omid subsequently completed UCLA’s Medical Scientist Training Program in 2014 with an MD and a PhD in biomedical engineering. His PhD thesis work involved predicting risk of brain disorders and genetic effects on the brain using machine learning. For his thesis projects, Omid was awarded the National Research Service Award for Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD Fellows (F30), as well as the UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship award. Currently, Omid is completing his medical residency training in diagnostic radiology at UCLA.

Melanie Lampa

Melanie Lampa is Manager of the Center for Pathology Research Services at UCLA Health. She manages all business, regulatory and operational activities of Pathology research services, located within the David Geffen School of Medicine. Melanie earned her B.S. in Neurobiology and Biopsychology. Before her time at UCLA Health, she worked with City of Hope as a research associate, website editor, and laboratory manager.

Arye Lipman ’08

Arye Lipman is CTO of BioBuilt and GP at MarsBio. He invests in and mentors synthetic biology and biomanufacturing companies. Arye was previously science director at InVentiv Health, and was a founding member of ImaginAb, a UCLA spinout focused on antibody-based imaging agents for oncology therapy management. He currently serves as a board member and advisor for various bioscience startups and accelerator programs in Southern California, including LabLaunch, LARTA, Biocom, and The L4b. He holds degrees in Molecular and Cellular Biology from UCLA.

Francia Lopez ’17 BS, MIMG

Francia is a graduate of UCLA with a B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics. While studying as an undergraduate Francia participated in a number of programs offered by the Undergraduate Research Centers – Sciences, including PEERS, BISEP, and the Undergraduate Research Fellows. After graduating from UCLA Francia went on to become a Quality Control Microbiology Tech at Kite Pharma.

Muriel McClendon, PhD

Professor McClendon is an Associate Professor who teaches and writes about the social history of the English Reformation. She has served as Vice Chair for Graduate Affairs in the History Department, Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the UCLA College’s Division of Social Sciences, was formerly the Chair of the European Studies IDP, and has served on a number of campus committees.

Vishal Medatia

Vishal is a former east coaster having grown up in PA. He graduated from Drexel University earning a double major in Biology and Nutrition. Vishal started his career in the healthcare industry with Maxim Healthcare Services managing nursing staff to provide 1:1 care for a wide variety of clients from public schools, senior living facilities and in-home patient care. He then entered the pharmaceutical industry with GlaxoSmithKline. Vishal served physicians and patients in a variety of sales and leadership roles. Vishal earned his MBA from University of Southern CA (2009) and shortly thereafter entered the biotech space as a marketer with Genentech focusing on market development in Rheumatology. Recently, he transitioned to a Regional Marketing role for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, an east coast based biotech company targeting Type 2 inflammation. Vishal is a proud husband and father of 2 boys who enjoys playing basketball and doing charity runs and walks with his family. He enjoys giving back by coaching basketball and has volunteered in youth programs and served on the coaching staff at the local high school.

Craig Merlic, PhD

Professor Merlic obtained his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis in 1982. As a Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, Madison he earned his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry in 1988. He was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University in the Department of Chemistry. He joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA in 1989. He served as Vice Chair for the Department from 1997 to 2000 and 2004 to 2008. At UCLA, he has received a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in addition to several teaching awards.

Deidre Murphy

Deidre is an elementary school teacher for the Westside Union School District. She is married to Bob; they have a son and daughter, both Bruins. Deidre and Bob were co-chairs of the UCLA Parents’ Council until 2017. In this role, they also served on the executive committee of the UCLA Fund. They are Alumni Association gold level members. They along with Bob’s father, John, established the Murphy Family Scholarship in Undergraduate Education.

Keith Norris, MD

Keith Norris is a professor of Medicine, UCLA Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research. Keith is an internationally recognized clinician scientist and health policy leader and has been instrumental in shaping national health policy and clinical practice guidelines in the area of kidney disease. He is a member of CTSI where he is also Co-Director of Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP). Keith attended Cornell University and received his M.D. from Howard University.

Teresa Seeman, PhD

Teresa Seeman is Professor of Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health and Medicine in the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Trained as an epidemiologist, with post-doctoral training in neuroendocrinology, her research interests are interdisciplinary, focusing on a role of social and psychological factors in health and aging. She received her M.S. in Public Health and B.A. in French Literature from UCLA and her PhD in Epidemiology from University of California, Berkeley.

Kenneth Subotnik, PhD

Kenneth Subotnik received his PhD from the UCLA Department of Psychology in 1990. He is an adjunct professor and project scientist in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences. He is the Associate Director of the Aftercare Research Program in the UCLA Semel Institute. Dr. Subotnik is also the Director of the Aftercare Research Program practicum/externship program for the clinical training of psychology doctoral students. In his role as investigator on longitudinal studies of the early course of schizophrenia he has been involved in the research mentoring of a number of UCLA undergraduates participating in the UCLA Student Research Program.