Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Tamer Sallam M.D., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Sallam is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a clinical cardiologist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He is a member of the Atherosclerosis Research Unit, Molecular Biology Institute (MBI), Molecular, cellular and Integrative Physiology Program (MCIP), and Cardiovascular Theme Initiative at UCLA. Dr. Sallam graduated from the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. 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 at UCLA earning a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology in the HHMI Lab of Peter Tontonoz. He joined the UCLA faculty after fellowship, where his research investigates the role of novel transcription factor regulatory circuits in cardiometabolic disease. In 2015, Dr. Sallam has been awarded the Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Cardiovascular Discovery Fund investigatorship at UCLA. Dr. Sallam is the recipient of an multiple independent NIH grants, American College of Cardiology Presidential Career Development Award, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists, and American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Investigator Award. Dr. Sallam currently serves as co-director of the UCLA center for Cholesterol Management and Assistant Director of the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program.
Zhengyi Zhang, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
My research focuses on investigating the novel regulatory circuits controlling metabolic homeostasis and atherosclerosis. I am currently characterizing molecular and physiological functions of lipid metabolism genes, with an emphasis on RNA binding protein Raly and lncRNA LeXis.
Dan Wang
Post-Doctoral Fellow
My research focuses on understanding the role of a scavenger receptor in cholesterol homeostasis and utilizes cutting-edge CRISPR tools to study noncoding RNAs.
Lijing Cheng, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
My research focuses on working on new pathways in atherosclerosis and the contributions epigenetic mechanisms and regulatory RNAs in cardiometabolic diseases. Specifically, studying transcripton factor regulatory circuits and their influence in common metabolic disorders such as dyslipidemia, obesity, and atherosclerosis.
Vivien Su
Undergraduate Student
Ania Baghoomian
Undergraduate Student