Lab Alumni
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Parnia Abolhassan Choubdar, MD
Parnia Choubdar, MD, earned her medical degree in Germany, where she also got Board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. She was drawn to Dr. Taub`s innovative approach of exploring interventions in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. She is currently at the University of Kentucky to further explore integrative approaches to cardiovascular medicine and acquire her American medical licensure. -
Elizabeth Epstein, MD
Elizabeth Epstein, MD is a Cardiology Fellow at Scripps Health. Her research interests include prevention of cardiovascular diseases, cardiac rehabilitation, as well as evidence-based, integrative approaches to cardiovascular diseases. She earned her medical degree from UC San Diego School of Medicine.
She is the author of A Beautiful Heart Cookbook, a research-based, heart-healthy cookbook that empowers patients to cook healthy food at home.
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Victoria Green, BS
Victoria graduated from UCLA in 2021 with a B.S. in Cognitive Science and a minor in Global health, joining the Taub Research Group shortly after in the hopes of pursuing a career in health policy or research. During her undergrad, Victoria worked as a research assistant for a perceptual and computational processing lab, focusing primarily on cognitive underpinnings of mathematical learning. She was drawn to cardiology research to study its disproportionate burden on historically underrepresented groups and identify its intersection with the social determinants of health.
Born and raised in the Chicago area, Victoria enjoys relaxing and soaking up the sunshine in southern California. A vocal political advocate, she hopes to increase access to medical education and improve existing health infrastructure to better meet the needs of a rapidly diversifying and aging US population. In her free time, she enjoys reading historical fiction and watching social commentary videos and podcasts!
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Rebecca Ocher, BS
Rebecca worked under Dr. Taub on the Healthy Heroes Study. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Integrative Biology, and is a current medical student at the UC Riverside School of Medicine. She will be applying to internal medicine residency next cycle. -
Cameron Ormiston, BS
Cameron is a recent graduate from UC San Diego with a BS in Global Health. He currently works as an NIH research trainee in the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. He will be applying to medical school in 2022 with the intention of becoming a physician-scientist. He has an interest and passion for exploring creative solutions to health disparities and inequality, and was especially drawn to Dr. Taub's clinical research due to her focus on real-life solutions to improving cardiovascular health through novel therapies and interventions. His favorite part about working in the Taub lab is connecting and interacting directly with our research patients and learning more about their stories. As a member of the lab, Cameron received the Julia Brown Research scholarship and is published on a variety of cardiology topics, including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and cardiovascular biomarkers.
Outside of the lab and school, Cameron loves professional photography, documenting his travels and experiences, and exploring the fields of psychology. When he's not reading research papers for fun, he also loves to de-stress through exercising.
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Ashley Rosander, BS
Ashley Rosander is an incoming first-year medical student at Rocky Vista University in Ivins, UT and graduated from UC San Diego with a B.S. in Human Biology in June 2019. She was originally interested in Dr. Taub's research because of its emphasis on lifestyle interventions for preventative healthcare.
Ashley previously worked in wet lab research concerning drug addiction at the San Diego Biomedical Research Institute, and has now moved on to clinical trials research at UC San Diego. As a student, she participated in youth health education, and now she volunteers at Rady Children's Hospital on the weekends. She is an aspiring pediatric cardiologist. She considers herself very lucky to get to work with such amazing patients and such an inspiring team of people!
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Aryana Pazargadi, BS
Aryana Pazargadi is an incoming first-year Master of Public Health student at UCSD, and a graduate from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.S. in Biopsychology (Neuroscience). Her research background includes time spent with Drosophila species in a wet lab and time spent in the clinic researching verbal cognition patterns in infants with Dr. Rose Scott. She now enjoys investigating the clinical implications of circadian biology in human research trials. In her free time, Aryana is a frequent flyer and globe-trotter. She has a love for different languages and cultures, and has traveled to 22 different countries. -
Adena Zadourian, BS
Adena Zadourian is a second-year medical student at Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM) in Dothan, AL. She is also the President of the Surgical Interest Group at ACOM. Prior to starting medical school, Adena was the Lead Clinical Research Coordinator for Dr. Taub. She's worked very closely with Dr. Taub to initiate and execute several clinical trials including the AHA Statin Study, Amgen POTS Study, DHS Firefighter Study, and the NIH TRE Study. She plans to continue researching as a medical student and earn a physician-scientist position in her career.Adena graduated from UC San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Neuroscience and a minor in Healthcare and Social Issues. In her spare time, Adena enjoys spending time with her family/friends, and also pursuing her interests in writing, photography, dancing salsa, and kickboxing.
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Hannah Lo, BS
Hannah is currently a medical student at Boston University. She has been working with Dr. Taub since 2018 after graduating with her B.S. in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego. After studying spatial cognition in rats for two years, she was excited to make the transition to human clinical trials. Witnessing the positive impact of studies that translate basic science to implementable interventions has confirmed her desire to pursue a career in academic medicine. As a part of Dr. Taub's Research Group she has published on Cardiac Rehabilitation and Time-Restricted Eating.
In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at the San Diego Symphony and with groups that provide free health screenings to San Diego and Tijuana communities.
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Kevin Shah, MD, FACC
Dr. Kevin Shah is a Cardiologist at the University of Utah specializing in Advanced Heart Failure, Transplant Cardiology, and Mechanical Circulatory Support. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, and Echocardiography.
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Erin Higginbothom, MD
Dr. Erin Higginbothom was highly involved in a study here at the Taub Research Group investigating the effects of epicatechin on exercise capacity. She is currently a family medicine resident at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
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Savannah Pipp
Savannah was one of our clinical research assistants who researched the effects of time-restricted eating in patients with Metabolic Syndrome. She is a current undergraduate student at UC Berkeley. -
Arrash Fard, MD
Dr. Arrash Fard examined the biomarker, MR-PROADM, for prognosis in patients with heart failure while with the lab. After graduation from Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney in Australia, Dr. Fard completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiovascular disease at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.
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Alejandro De La Parra, MD
Dr. Alejandro De La Parra investigated the effects of epicatechin on exercise capacity under the direction of Dr. Taub. He is currently specializes in sports medicine for Kaiser Permanente Medical in Fresno, CA.
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Christiana Stark, BS
Christina is a current medical student at Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine. She worked under Dr. Taub studying time-restricted eating in patients with Metabolic Syndrome and the effects of Ivabradine on patients with POTS. -
Navaid Iqbal, MD
Dr. Navaid Iqbal is a current psychiatry fellow at Columbia University. He worked with Dr. Taub examining a biomarker for prognosis in patients with heart failure and collaborated with her on numerous publications. -
Minal Patel, BS
Minal worked with Dr. Taub from 2012-2017 on research investigating the effects of epicatechin on exercise capacity.