MEMBERS

As a pediatric gastroenterologist, I am interested in the regulatory role of bile acids in health and disease. My work leverages in vivo and molecular approaches to understand how changes in bile acid homeostasis shape intestinal lipid absorption and systemic metabolism. Prior to joining the lab in 2020, I earned my B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley; M.P.H. from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and M.D. from the University of California, Irvine, where I was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society. I then completed my pediatric residency and gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA. With support from the UCLA Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program, I pursued a Ph.D. in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology during fellowship, investigating the selectivity of bile acids in driving fatty acid absorption. Outside of work, I enjoy running and spending time with my wife (also a pediatrician and runner) and our two kids.

Emily graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2017 with a degree in Biology. As an undergraduate researcher, she studied small molecule signaling in the bacterial pathogen, Clostridium difficile. She then went on to complete a two year fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. There she studied the kinetics of spore formation in the model organism, Bacillus subtilis (Peluso et al., PNAS. 2019). She began graduate school at the University of California Los Angeles in 2020. In the Tarling-Vallim lab, Emily’s thesis work focuses on understanding how cells within the liver adapt and respond during healthy and diseased states. Specifically, Emily’s work has provided novel insights into how peroxisomes, an important organelle in lipid metabolism, maintain biogenesis and control protein import. Following graduation, Emily aims to work in Biotechnology to continue moving science forward in a meaningful way. In her free time, Emily enjoys spending time with her daughter, husband, and dog. Some of her favorite things to do are running through the mountains, reading a good book by the pool, and sharing a meal with family and friends.

I am a Southern California native and graduated from Boston College in 2020 with a BS in Biochemistry before joining the Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Doctoral Program here at UCLA. I officially joined the Tarling-Vallim lab for my thesis work in July 2021 and am interested in the epigenetic factors regulating lipid metabolism in the liver. As a Latina woman, I am very passionate about improving the accessibility and inclusivity of higher academia for underrepresented groups to address the disparities we see in STEM fields. Outside the lab, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, exploring Los Angeles, lifting weights, and snuggling up with a good book beside my pets.

After receiving my B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics and working as a staff research associate for two years at UCLA (Go Bruins!), I joined the lab in the summer of 2024 as a PhD student in the Molecular Biology Interdepartmental Program (MBIDP) under Dr. Elizabeth Tarling. Broadly, I am interested in how lipid dysregulation modulates pulmonary immunology and fibrosis with a special interest in alveolar macrophages. Though a long-time serial hobbyist, I love to run, climb, cook, and homebrew mead and hard cider in my free time.

I am a registered dietitian (RD) by training, but am fascinated by nutrition & metabolism basic science. I received my undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley in 2017 and completed my master’s degree & dietetic internship at USC in 2019. Then, I worked at Stanford Medicine Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital as a clinical RD, specializing in liver & intestine transplant. In 2022, I started the Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology PhD program at UCLA and joined the ETV lab in April 2023. In my spare time, I like to try new recipes and explore new places to eat.