Alumni

Mary Catherine Huckaby

Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Sutter Medical Foundation Pediatric Gastroenterology

Hannah Awai, MD

Medical Director Independent County CCS Program Representative, Sacramento

Dr. Hannah Awai is a Medical Director at the Sacramento County California Children’s Services. She earned her medical degree from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and completed her pediatric residency at Connecticut Children’s Hospital affiliated with the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Dr. Awai furthered her education by completing a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

During her fellowship, she worked in the Schwimmer Lab as a Post-Doctoral fellow.  Dr. Awai's research focus was on liver imaging in children with NAFLD. She contributed to early studies on MRI Proton Density Fat Fraction, including the MRI Rosetta Stone Project. In her role as CCS she ensures that children from low-income families with chronic and debilitating diseases receive the highest standards of care, including physician visits with pediatric sub-specialists, nurse case managers, nutritionists, and social workers. Dr. Awai also contributes to policy development by writing and editing policy for the California Department of Health Care Services as it relates to the CCS program.  

Kristen Kistler

Director of Evidence Generation and Value Communications at Xcenda

Dr. Kristen Kistler is a highly experienced epidemiologist who specializes in providing scientific consulting services to pharmaceutical clients. With 20 years of experience, Kristen's main area of expertise is conducting systematic literature reviews. Her research work aims to provide clients with a better understanding of various outcomes such as disease burden, unmet treatment needs, and special populations that may particularly benefit from a given therapy.

Dr. Kistler completed her PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology at UC San Diego and San Diego State University. As a graduated student she completed her dissertation working in the Schwimmer Lab focused on quality of life in patients with NAFLD. She completed multi-center analyses of children and adults. She also investigated the relationships between exercise and disease severity in adults with NAFLD.

Manuel Celedon

Emergency Medicine Professor at UCLA

Manuel A. Celedon, M.D. is an Assistant Chief in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Celedon completed his undergraduate at UCSD, then went to Medical School at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He completed his residency at Harbor-UCLA Emergency Medicine Residency and fellowship at UCLA Medical Education Fellowship, Certificate Program in Innovations in Curriculum Design & Evaluation.

Anne Zepeda

Neonatologist in Whitter, CA

Anne Zepeda is currently a Neonatologist at PIH Health Whittier Hospital, hired through Children’s Hospital of Orange County - Pediatric Subspecialist Faculty (PSF). She is also a Neonatologist at St. Francis Medical Center.

After graduating from UC San Diego School of Medicine, Anne completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at Los Angeles County (LAC) – University of Southern California (USC) Medical Center. She further specialized in Neonatal – Perinatal Medicine by completing her fellowship at LAC + USC Medical Center / Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Currently, Anne is participating in quality improvement at PIH Health Whittier and applying what she learned during her time at the Schwimmer lab while completing her Masters in Advanced Studies – Clinical Research.

During her time at the Schwimmer Lab, she was a study coordinator for a pilot study with a focus on exercise and its effect on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children and adolescents. Anne recruited and consented patients. She also assisted with exercise and activity data collection at study visits. Anne participated in weekly laboratory meetings to review data collected and assisted in writing a manuscript for a retrospective study examining elevated blood pressure and NAFLD.

Emma Shapiro

Graduate student in nutrition at Boston University

Emma Shapiro is currently a master’s student in dietetics at Boston University. She is awaiting her dietetic internship placement in June of 2023. Currently Emma is interning at Walden Behavioral Care Center in their adolescent ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) intensive outpatient program, supporting clients during meals and throughout their daily sessions. She created an educational handout on ARFID treatment for clinicians to give to new clients and their families. She has also interned for the Sargent Choice Center in Boston, MA, working with their sports dietitian.

Emma first interned with the Schwimmer Lab in 2017 in her sophomore year of high school. She learned to write scientific articles at the lab and credits Dr. Schwimmer for providing her with a strong scientific background that has benefited her throughout her time in dietetics and nutrition research.

Emma is also the designer of the Schwimmer Lab logo!