Our Leadership | UCLA Med School

Executive Co-Director
Linda L. Demer, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Physiology and Bioengineering
Vice Chair, Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Demer originally conceived the STAR Program in 1991 and initiated it in 1993 together with Dr. Alan M. Fogelman (Professor). She graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with a PhD in biomedical engineering. She completed her clinical residency and fellowship at the Texas Medical Center and joined the UCLA faculty in 1988. She has served as president of national and international organizations.

Executive Co-Director
Tamer Sallam, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine & Physiology
Vice Chair, Department of Medicine
Co-Director UCLA Center for Lipid Management
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Sallam graduated from the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine in 2005. He completed residency and chief residency training in Internal Medicine at Yale, followed by Cardiology fellowship training at UCLA. Dr. Sallam graduated from the STAR program earning a PhD in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology. He joined the UCLA faculty in 2014, where his research investigates the role of novel transcription factor regulatory circuits in cardiometabolic disease.

Associate Director
Olujimi Ajijola, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, UCLA
Cardiac Arrhythmia Center,
Division of Cardiology
Co-Director UCLA-Cal Tech MSTP Program

Dr. Ajijola received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine in 2006, and completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed clinical fellowships in cardiovascular diseases, and cardiac electrophysiology, and he received a PhD in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology at UCLA. He is currently a clinical electrophysiologist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and an investigator in the Neurocardiology Research Center of Excellence at UCLA.

Associate Director
Fola May, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, UCLA
Division of Digestive Diseases

Dr. May graduated from Harvard Medical School and trained in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She completed the UCLA Gastroenterology training program and graduated from the STAR program with a PhD in Health Policy and Management in 2015. She is currently a health equity researcher at UCLA and the West Los Angeles VA and co-director of the UCLA Center for World Health Global Health Education Program. She is also a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Associate Director
Tannaz Moin MD, MBA, MSHS
Associate Professor of Medicine, UCLA
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
David Geffen School of Medicine

Dr. Moin graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a dual MD/MBA degree in 2005. She completed residency and chief residency training in Internal Medicine at Yale, followed by Endocrinology fellowship training at UCLA and a VA Health Services Research Fellowship with a Masters in Health Services Research from UCLA. As an Assistant Professor at UCLA and Core Investigator at the Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy at VA Greater Los Angeles, her research focuses on implementation and comparative effectiveness of health system- and health insurance-partnered interventions for patients with diabetes and prediabetes.

portrait of Dr. Amy Cummings in a black dress

Assistant Director, STAR Program & Co-Director, STAR PSTP
Amy L. Cummings, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Division of Hematology/Oncology
Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Cummings is an assistant professor in the division of hematology/oncology and completed her PhD in bioengineering at UCLA through the STAR program. She received her medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California where she graduated with honors and was elected to the Alpha omega Alpha Honor Society. She completed both her internal medicine residency and her hematology and oncology fellowship at UCLA. During her training, she served as chief fellow for the hematology and oncology fellowship and co-chief of the STAR program as well as received the Olga Levin Inspiration Award in 2016 and a National Young Investigator's Award for lung cancer in 2019. She since has become a director at the NCI-designated Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center focusing on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. She runs trials in early-stage lung cancer and has published extensively on correlative work in non-small cell lung cancer, particularly the interactions among human leukocyte antigen supertypes and mutational landscape.

portrait of Dr. Quen Cheng in a black suit

Assistant Director, STAR Program & Co-Director, STAR PSTP
Quen J. Cheng, MD, PhD
Assistant Clinical Professor
Division of Infectious Diseases
Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dr. Cheng graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA and completed his MD at UC San Diego in 2012. He completed residency in internal medicine and fellowship in infectious diseases at UCLA while obtaining a PhD in molecular biology under the mentorship of Dr. Alexander Hoffmann, supported by the department of medicine STAR program. Dr. Cheng is now assistant clinical professor in medicine / infectious diseases. His research interests are in the molecular regulation of macrophage gene expression, with a focus on how myeloid cells are trained by past exposures.