UCLA Nursing Postdoctoral Fellows conduct a variety of research to improve nursing science, clinical practice, and healthcare. School of Nursing fellows work with distinguished UCLA faculty members on cutting edge projects focusing on cardiovascular health, HIV/AIDS, and more.   

Along with school-wide placements, the School of Nursing is also part of the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program, where early career physicians and post-doctoral nurses participate in an intensive, highly-customized, two-year program placing them in community settings to conduct priority research directly benefiting the health of Southern California residents.

Learn more about our Postdoctoral Fellows below:

 

Sahereh Mirzaei

Sahereh Mirzaei, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN

PhD, University of Ilinois, Chicago

Master of Science in Critical Care Nursing, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran

BSN, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Research Interest: Dr. Mirzaei is interested in exploring the effects of gut microbiome and gut microbiome-derived metabolites on metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease and assessing the influence of sex on symptoms of ischemic heart disease.

 


Zahra Sherifiheris

Zahra Sharifi-Heris, PhD, RN, CNM, MSN, BSN

PhD, Nursing Science: University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA

MSN, Nursing-Midwifery: Iran University of Medical Science, Iran

BSN, Nursing-Midwifery

Research Interest: Dr. Sharifiheris continues her journey to enhance healthcare by integrating implementational and computational science in order to develop efficient and feasible predictive model for the life-threatening complications during pregnancy.

 

UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program logo

 

Charisse Ahmed

Charisse Ahmed, PhD, RN

BSN – University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA  

PhD – University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, Philadelphia, PA 

Research Interests: Dr. Ahmed is interested in exploring culturally sensitive and trauma-informed models of care to improve mental health outcomes among socially and economically disadvantaged adolescents and young adults.


Lilian Bravo

Lilian Bravo, PhD, RN

BSN – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, Chapel Hill, NC 

PhD – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, Chapel Hill, NC 

Research Interests: Dr. Bravo is interested in investigating how to improve adolescent mental healthcare access and delivery, especially as it relates to suicide prevention services for racial-ethnic minorities.


Sarah Zollweg

Sarah Zollweg, MPhil, BSN, RN, PhD(c)

MPhil in Nursing – Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY

PhD in Nursing – Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY

Research Interests: Sarah Zollweg is interested in conducting research on the influence of social and structural determinants of adverse substance use outcomes to advocate for meaningful policy change and reduce health inequities.


 

Theresa Nguyen

My Hanh (Theresa) Nguyen, PhD, PMHNP-BC

MS Nursing, Psychiatry/ Mental Health – Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY

PhD Nursing – University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing & Health Science, San Diego, CA

Research Interests: Dr. Nguyen is interested in investigating health inequities in mental health and substance use during the perinatal period and addressing gaps in data disaggregation in Asian American, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders mental health research.