Faculty Listing
Allan Abbott, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Family Medicine
Associate Dean, Continuing Medical Education, Keck School of Medicine
Dr. Allan Abbot is board certified in family medicine and sports medicine, and currently practices family medicine at USC. In the past, he has provided medical care in international locations such as the Amazon jungle of Peru, Kenya, and Vietnam. Dr. Abbot's research interests include physical exercise in the prevention of heart disease, needlestick injury, exercise counseling and promotion of medical education. Dr. Abbot is currently a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. He received his M.D. from Indiana University.
Raquel Arias, M.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology
Associate Dean for Educational Affairs (Special Projects), Keck School of Medicine
Dr. Raquel Arias earned her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz and completed course work for her M.P.H. at the University of California, Berkeley. She attended medical school at USC and completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital. She served in the National Health Service Corps in Merced, California where she directed the “Sweet Success” Program for the multidisciplinary management of diabetes in pregnancy. She is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and a recipient of the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award. She has received teaching awards from students for teaching in each of the 4 years of medical school as well as multiple awards for teaching from the Ob/Gyn residents. She is a consultant on policy matters at the national, state and local levels in matters that relate to women’s reproductive health, as well as healthy aging. In this capacity she has been recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives, the California Legislature and the County of Los Angeles. Her clinical interests include breast disorders, contraception and menopause. Public health interests include the provision of healthcare for marginalized populations.
Kim Bader, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
A board-certified obstetrician / gynecologist, Dr. Kim Bader is committed to bringing health care and health awareness to women around the world. After graduating from the Keck School of Medicine in 1983, Dr. Bader completed her residency in Obstetrics/Gynecology at Women’s Hospital LAC/USC in 1987. She was in private practice for ten years, during which time she served on multiple executive boards in her department, and eventually served as chairwoman. She also participated in quality management for her hospital and lectured in her community about women’s health. She returned to academic medicine at the Keck School and served on the Board of Directors for the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology for 8 years, where she endeavored to combine quality medical care with fiscal responsibility. She takes an active role in educating medical students and residents and continues to lecture on various topics in women’s health both locally and globally.
Julia Borovay, Dr.P.H
Dr. Borovay's research interests focus on the health and well-being of women, children, and underrepresented immigrant populations. She was the project director for the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Prevention Program for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, and is currently working as a Research Education Analyst and ethnographer observing participants in a parenting research study groups. She is currently teaching the Cultural Competency course at USC, which focuses on developing skills in working with patients from other cultures. Dr. Borovay received her B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology from California State University, Chico. She received her TESOL certification from the University of California, Davis, and her Dr.P.H. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Panayiota Courelli, Ph.D.
Dr. Panayiota Courelli joins USC from California State Polytechnic University. Her current research projects include family integration in covert sensitization of incarcerated youth sexual offenders and identification of incest patterns in multiethnic, multicultural family settings. She is also working to implement the “Successfully Dressed” program, which aims to alter the perceptions of incarcerated youth transitioning to parole by exposing them to grooming, hygiene and professional style of dress. Dr. Courelli is a staff psychologist for the California Youth Authority. In 2007, she received a Congressional Award for Woman of the Year from Congresswoman Grace Napolitano for her work on sexual addiction with adolescents and their families. Dr. Courelli is a licensed clinical psychologist, is a certified addiction specialist (CAS) in the areas of alcohol substances and sexual addictions and is a certified family life educator (CFLE). Dr. Courelli earned her B.S. in Biology and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College, her M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA, and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fuller Graduate School of Psychology.
Robert Larsen, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Dr. Robert Larsen is a professor in Infectious Diseases and is the Chief of Infectious Diseases In-patient and Exotic Diseases Out-patient Services. He has extensively been involved in research with HIV and associated complications. Specifically, his research has been focused on mycologic infections, including coccidiodomycosis and cryptococcal meningitis. He has extended his expertise working collaboratively with researchers in several developing countries such as Uganda, Thailand, and Peru.
Jie Li, Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
Dr. Li is the Microbiology and Immunology discipline coordinator for the Year I and Year II medical school curriculum at the Keck School of Medicine. She also oversees graduate courses offered by the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. Now a dedicated medical educator, her past research interests include: gene regulation of Hem expression in bacteria, high yield expression of proteinous drugs in bacterial vectors, hepatitis viruses and liver cancer, breast cancer metastasis, cultural influence on people's group and non-group behaviors, and the priming effects of cognitive processes. Dr. Li received her B.S. in Biochemistry and her M.S. in Molecular Biology from Nanjing University in China. She completed her Ph.D. degree in Virology at the University of Southern California, and performed postdoctoral work at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Li also attended a post-baccalaureate psychology program at Columbia University before joining the faculty of USC.
Joseph Miller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Research, Department of Cell and Neurobiology
Dr. Joseph Miller's research interests are in the biological mechanisms of drug abuse and dependency, the neuropharmacology of sleep and circadian rhythms, circadian disruption in Alzheimer’s disease, stem cell approaches to Parkinson’s disease and exobiology. He has served as the project director for a space shuttle project in primate circadian rhythms at the University of Southern California, and as the director for Neurochemistry at Stanford University. Currently Dr. Miller is reanalyzing data from the Viking Mars mission from a circadian perspective under the hypothesis that circadian rhythmicity in life detection experiments is an adequate biosignature. Dr. Miller received his B.S. in Microbiology from Yale University and his Ph.D. in Phisiological Psychology from the University of Texas, Austin.
John Dennis Mull, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Clinical Family Medicine
Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs, Department of Family Medicine
Dr. John Dennis Mull has taught at the University of California, Irvine, and at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan. He also lived and worked in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. In 1987, he founded the Summer Institute of Medical Spanish in Ensenada, Mexico, and continues to work as the organization coordinator. In 2002, Dr. Mull received a $500,000 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Diversity grant and recently won the Humanism in Medicine Award from the Health Care Foundation of New Jersey. He has published over 50 pieces and works as a reviewer for six professional journals. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the International Health Medical Education Consortium and the Nhan Hoa Community Health Care Center in Garden Grove, CA. He is presently a partner in the Sota village clinic in rural Tanzania in East Africa; and he also serves as president in the Shirati Health Education and Development Foundation, U.S. branch, a support foundation for the clinic. He was appointed to the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission in 2002, and continues to provide medical services at the South Central Family Health Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Mull received his A.B from Harvard University, his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health, and his M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia.
Elahe Nezami, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine
Associate Dean, Office of Undergraduate, Masters and Professional Degree Programs, Keck School of Medicine
Dr. Elahe Nezami has focused her research on the behavioral risk factors for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. Her research projects include examinations on personality characteristics in relation to cardiovascular disease, the psychological predictors of smoking, and the role of culture and acculturation in predicting behavior. Currently, Dr. Nezami is principal investigator of the USC Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC) pilot program, Psychosocial Predictors of Smoking Across Cultures. She received her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California.
Arshia Noori, M.D.
Currently practicing at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Arshia Noori is board certified in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiovascular Disease as well as Internal Medicine. Dr. Noori has served on the faculty of the University of Vermont and has instructed medical school courses such as Cardiovascular Convergence, Basics of Cardiac Arrhythmia Pathophysiology, and Ethics and End of Life Care.
Dr. Noori received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School. He completed his post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado and went on to complete his sub-specialty training in Cardiovascular Disease followed by Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Vermont.
As a medical student, Dr. Noori was involved in the Chicago Medical School’s Health Care Project where he provided health care services to inner-city communities in Chicago’s South Side. He has also worked at the county hospital’s infectious disease ward in Tehran, Iran, where he was involved in providing care to patients with tuberculosis, HIV, and other infectious diseases.
Alejandro Sanchez, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine
Director, Office of Global Health, Keck School of Medicine
Dr. Alejandro Sanchez's research interests are pathogenesis and treatment and prevention of HIV-related complications, specifically how these complications disapproriately impact minority and vulnerable populations. Dr. Sanchez also serves as assistant medical director of the Rand Schrader HIV Clinic and is chair of the Quality Assurance Committee for the clinic. In addition, he also spends part of the year on international medical missions to impoverished countries in Africa and Latin America. Dr. Sanchez earned his B.S. in Microbiology and B.A. in visual arts from the University of California, San Diego, and his M.D. from the University of Southern California.
Evans Whitaker, M.D., M.L.I.S.
Dr. Evans Whitaker practiced Family Medicine in Aptos, CA for 20 years prior to attending library school and beginning work at Norris Medical Library at USC. His background combines the art and science of medicine with the information skills needed to practice biomedicine in the “information age”. He provides information resource instruction to students, residents, and faculty on the USC Health Sciences Campus. In addition, he teaches a course in the Master of Science in Global Medicine program in which students create review articles utilizing topics from Global Health Modules: Maternal and Child Health.
David Baron, MSEd, DO
David Baron, MSEd, DO is Professor and Vice-Chair of the Dept. of Psychiatry, Asst Dean of International Relations, Chief of Psychiatry at Keck Hospital at USC, and Director of the Center for Exercise, Psychiatry and Sport at USC. Prof. Baron is the former Deputy Clinical Director of the NIMH and Chaired the Dept. of Psychiatry at Temple Univ. School of Medicine from 1998-2010. He is the former President of the American College of Neuropsychiatry and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and is currently on the Board of Directors of the American College of Psychiatrists and Section Chief for the World Psychiatric Association. Dr. Baron has a faculty appointment and is a consultant to Australian National University, Koceili University, and Ain Shams University in Cairo. He has over 100 publications, including 3 books and 15 book chapter. He developed and holds the copyright on the BDSA, a depression screener for athletes, which is currently in use in 5 countries. Dr. Baron has won numerous teaching and research awards, including the Kennedy Humanitarian Award and Distinguished Service Award from HHS.
Claudia Emami, MD
Cladia Emami, MD, MPH received her education and training in genetics and molecular biology and Spanish literature at UCLA in 1998. Dr. Emami has worked at Dr Henri Ford’s research laboratory at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles studying the role of pathogens and their interaction with the immune system in development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) for the past 3 years and has participated in multiple scientific publications and presentations; as well as surgical scientific conferences all around the world. Dr. Emami also holdsa Masters in Public Health in healthcare management from UCLA’s School of Public Health. Her goal is to assess the field of healthcare as a whole and the role of policy and management in resolving some of the funding and coverage issues. With this background in public and global health, she has been involved with a non-profit organization called ThinkTankThuto (www.Thinktankthuto.org) which aims to build boarding schools in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Botswana.
Paul D. Holtom, MD
Paul D. Holtom, MD is a long-time member of the faculty of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and maintains a number of integral roles in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Holtom is the Program Director for the Infectious Diseases Clinical Fellowship Training Program. Dr. Holtom serves as the Hospital Epidemiologist for LAC+USC Medical Center, Chair of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee for the Hospital, and Director of the Jeanette Wilkins Memorial Microbiology Laboratory, both at LAC+USC Medical Center. In conjunction with the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at USC, Dr. Holtom has accumulated extensive clinical and investigative background in the evaluation and management of bone and joint infections. Generated from this, Dr. Holtom has produced substantial body of publications in both the Orthopaedic and Infectious Diseases literature. In this process, he has emerged as a leading authority on the subject and served recently as the President of the Musculoskeletal Infection Society. Finally, as a product of his clinical experience serving the residents of Saipan in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands during his service in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), Dr. Holtom maintains interest and certification in Tropical Medicine.
David Zarazúa, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Spanish, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Director of the Medical Spanish Program, Keck School of Medicine
David Zarazúa is an Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Spanish in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Director of the Medical Spanish Program at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Professor Zarazúa teaches a variety of Spanish courses at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese; and medical Spanish courses at the Keck School of Medicine for the M.D. and the M.S. in Global Medicine programs. He is the advisor of the USC student organizations Global Medical Brigades and Public Health Brigades and is the vice-president of the Southern California Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. His main areas of interest are the use of technology in the language classroom and the use of Spanish in patient-health provider interactions. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in English at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico; his Master of Arts in Spanish at New Mexico State University; and his Ph.D. in Spanish at USC.