Samir Nazarali, MD

Dr. Sayeh Lavasani is a board-certified UCI Health medical oncologist who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment and management of breast cancer. She has more than a decade of experience providing systemic breast cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, endocrine therapy, targeted therapy, monoclonal antibodies and immunotherapy. Lavasani earned her medical degree at Iran University of Medical Sciences in Teheran. She completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Queen's University School of Medicine in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and received additional residency training in medical oncology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Next, she received postdoctoral fellowship training in breast cancer at the University of Toronto in Ontario, where she also earned a master's degree in epidemiology and healthcare research. She comes to UCI Health and UCI School of Medicine from City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., where she served as director of inpatient medical oncology services and was the principle investigator on numerous national and international clinical studies. She is the author of numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals, including a recent phase 2 study on the de-escalation of neoadjuvant treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer, which is her primary research focus. Lavasani, who is also fluent in Farsi, is passionate about preventing breast cancer and has served as vice chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's committee on breast cancer prevention.

Dr. Jason Samarasena is a UCI Health physician who specializes in treating gastrointestinal disorders, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, esophageal disease, pancreatic cysts, biliary tract disorders, gastric intestinal metaplasia and colorectal cancer. His research interests include advanced endoscopic imaging, characterization and treatment of pancreatic cysts, confocal laser endomicroscopy, bowel preparation before colonoscopy, endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic submucosal dissection. Samarasena received his medical degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, where he graduated on the Dean’s List. He completed both general gastroenterology and interventional endoscopy fellowships at UC Irvine. Press Ganey has named Samarasena as one of the top five physicians for patient satisfaction in the ambulatory surgery group at UCI Health. He was named the 2016 Teaching Attending of the Year by the UC Irvine Gastroenterology Fellowship. He is the current president of the Orange County GI Society.

Dr. Joel Gelman is a board-certified UCI Health urologist. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Ohio at Toledo. He completed a residency in urology at the UCLA School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in reconstructive urology from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.