Haijuan Gao, MD, PhD

PGY-4

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-4

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.

Kapitolina Semenova, MD

PGY-4

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-3

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.

Daniel Nguyen, MD

PGY-3

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-2

Sumayya Aslam, MD

PGY-2

Roksolana Demianets, MD

PGY-2

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-2

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-2

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-2

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.

Shelby (Dre) Barnachea, MD

PGY-1

Dre was born in Long Beach, CA and has lived all over SoCal. Before his journey to medical school, Dre was a singer-songwriter and recording artist for a major record label while at the same time, received a B.S. in Biology with an option in Molecular Cell Biology & Physiology with a minor in Chemistry. While working on a post-baccalaureate in Clinical Laboratory Sciences and interning at the Long Beach VA Pathology Laboratory, he developed a strong interest in pathology. He then went on to earn his MD at Ross University. His academic interests include hematopathology and molecular genetics. Outside of medicine, he enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, and trying out new restaurants and boba spots.

Vincent Lee, DO

PGY-1

I went to medical school at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, but I grew up right here in Orange County and even went to UCI for undergrad, so I’m extremely grateful to be back. I also completed a post-junior fellowship in the pathology department at Stanford Medical Center between my third and fourth year of school. In the future I hope to go into forensic pathology, but I also love everything else in anatomic pathology. In my spare time I enjoy anime, video games, and going to the gym.

Zachary Smolag, MD

PGY-1

Zachary was born in Massachusetts and grew up in New Hampshire. He completed his BS degree at the University of New Hampshire, where he studied medical laboratory science. Following his undergraduate studies, Zachary moved to Krakow, Poland, where he completed his MD degree at the Jagiellonian University. After graduating and while preparing for residency, Zachary had the opportunity to spend time working at Epredia where he was able to work with a diverse team ranging from histotechnologists to engineers in order to help develop new technologies for use in anatomic pathology labs. Outside of pathology, Zachary enjoys spending time outdoors and hopes to continue to have opportunities to travel and explore new cultures in the future. Zachary is pursuing AP/CP training.

Amin Ziaei, MD

PGY-1

Amin was born and raised in Isfahan, a historical city in the center of Iran. His passion for pathology was ignited during his years of studying at his hometown medical school, where he began his journey to become a clinician-scientist. He received his MD degree from the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS). During his medical education, Amin achieved the gold medal, ranking in the nationwide medical students' Olympiad in the field of scientific reasoning. After completing his medical education, Amin was awarded the Singaporean International Graduate Award (SINGA) to pursue his Ph.D. at the National University of Singapore (NUS), one of the world's top universities. After earning his Ph.D. degree, Amin joined the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as a postdoctoral scholar and subsequently received the McDonald fellowship award. Amin is committed to continuing his journey as a pathologist, leveraging his training and experience to make contributions to the field. Beyond his work in pathology, he enjoys traveling, drone photography in nature, playing board games, and listening to historical podcasts.

Jerry Lou, MD

AddL Neuropathology Fellow

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.

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.

Truc Tran, MD

Hematopathology 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 Anatomical and Clinical Pathology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA. She then completed her fellowship in Women’s Health/GYN Surgical Pathology training at UCI Health. She is now a fellow in Hematopathology 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.

Sherehan Zada, MD

Gastrointestinal Pathology Fellow

Sherehan Was born and raised in Syria, she earned her medical degree at the University of Aleppo, followed by a four-year dermatology residency training at the Public Health Program at Aleppo. She moved to the United starts after completing her residency and decided to continue her education at the States. She did several rotations in Pathology and family medicine and decided to continue her journey in the field of Pathology. Sherehan Pursued AP and CP at the University of California, Irvine and currently she is doing gastrointestinal and liver fellowship at UCI. She enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her family.