About

The mission of the LASAACI is to provide physicians and allied health professionals with educational programs which promote best practices in the care of patients who have asthma, allergic and immunologic diseases. We also aim to share medical experience and communicate scientific and technical advances.

    Board Officers

    Dean Chiang, MD

    President

    Dean received his undergraduate education from University of California, Berkeley. He earned his medical degree from Tufts University in Boston. He completed his internal medicine residency training at University of California, Irvine Medical Center. He received his allergy/immunology fellowship at Creighton University Medical Center.

    Dr. Chiang is board certified in Allergy & Immunology and Internal Medicine. He is currently in private practice in Torrance.

    Danica Schulte, MD

    Immediate Past President

    Danica is an Assistant Professor at both Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA School of Medicine. She received her bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University, and her MD from Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine. She has completed her residency training and fellowships at both Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA. She has triple board certifications in Allergy & Immunology, Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

    Dr. Schulte has practiced at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center since June 2000 and is in private practice in Encino. She continues to participate in the teaching program and consultative practice at Cedars-Sinai in both Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Allergy and Immunology. She is an acclaimed researcher, securing grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. She has published in several peer-reviewed medical periodicals and has written several textbook chapters.

    Dr. Schulte grew up in Los Angeles, and lives in Sherman Oaks, CA with her husband and two beautiful children.

    Sonal Patel, MD

    Treasurer

    Sonal is the Chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at White Memorial Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. She is Board Certified in Allergy and Clinical Immunology as well as Pediatrics.

    Dr. Patel initially trained in Pediatrics at King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles. She then completed an Allergy and Immunology Fellowship at UCLA. She also completed a Masters of Science degree in Clinical Research from Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

    Dr. Patel has a strong interest in community service. She volunteers for, and is a past Board Member of the American Lung Association of California. She has also participated in many local and international medical missions through organizations such as Rotoplast and the Rotary Club of East Los Angeles.

    Board Members

    Joseph Yusin, MD

    Joseph received his medical degree from the University of Southern California. After completing an internal medicine residency at Tulane University, he went on to complete fellowships in Allergy/Immunology at VA Greater Los Angeles and Rheumatology at UCLA. He spent 13 years at the Phoenix VA Medical Center, where he taught residents and was involved in research projects regarding asthma adherence. He is currently Training Program Director at VA Greater Los Angeles and Assistant Clinical Professor at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

    Sheila M. Bonilla, MD

    Sheila received her medical degree at the University of Texas Houston Medical School.She completed a surgical internship year at Harbor-UCLA prior to her Internal Medicine Residency training at LAC+USC Medical Center, where she also served as Chief Resident. She trained in Allergy and Immunology at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center then returned to join the faculty at USC Keck School of Medicine where she earned her Master’s Degree in Clinical and Biomedical Research. She currently practices at Adult and Child Allergy & Asthma Center in Alhambra and she is very much involved with USC Keck School of Medicine teaching Intro to Clinical Medicine. Dr. Bonilla is a Diplomate of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.

    Caroline Spagnola, MD

    Caroline completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. She received her medical degree and completed her Pediatrics internship and residency at the University of California, Los Angeles. After five years of general pediatrics practice at Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center, she completed an Allergy & Immunology fellowship at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center.

    Dr. Spagnola is currently the Chief of Service of the Department of Allergy & Immunology at Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center. She serves as the chairperson of her departmental Quality Improvement committee and is involved in leadership development at the medical center.

    Dr. Spagnola is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Allergy & Immunology as well as the American Board of Pediatrics.

    Rita Kachru, MD

    Rita graduated from the accelerated medical program at University of Wisconsin and Medical College of Wisconsin. She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Allergy and Immunology at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Albany Medical Center in New York and practiced primary care in internal medicine and pediatrics for 3 years before returning to train in Allergy and Immunology at LAC-USC Medical Center.

    She is on faculty at UCLA Medical Center where she is actively involved in the fellowship program, clinical research in food allergy and is a primary investigator in the Food Allergy Research Education (FARE) Clinical Care Network.

    She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.

    Edward Hu, MD

    Edward completed his undergraduate degree at Duke University and his medical degree at Boston University School of Medicine.  He then completed his pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Allergy and Immunology fellowship at LAC + USC.  He works at Kaiser Panorama City in the Department of Allergy and Immunology.

    Dr. Hu is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.  He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Allergy & Immunology as well as the American Board of Pediatrics.

     

    Andrew K. Wong, MD

    Andrew is a graduate of the University of Southern California combined Baccalaureate-MD program. After studying Computer Science and Biological Sciences as an undergraduate student, he completed his medical school training at the USC Keck School of Medicine. He spent the next three years as a resident studying Internal Medicine at the LAC+USC Medical Center, where he was honored as Senior Resident of the Year during his final year. After residency, Dr. Wong stayed at LAC+USC for his fellowship training in Allergy and Immunology.

    Dr. Wong is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine as well as the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. He is currently engaged in private practice in Manhattan Beach.

    Jonathan Corren, MD

    Dr. Corren completed a fellowship in Allergy and immunology at the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine in 1990, where he also served as a faculty member and clinical investigator for 2 years. He subsequently joined the faculty at the UCLA School of Medicine and served as Director of Clinical Allergy Services at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences, the Nasal and Sinus Disease Center, and the Fellowship Training Program in Clinical Immunology and Allergy,. He is currently a faculty member in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics at UCLA and has a private practice where he performs clinical consultations and conducts clinical trials and transitional research primarily related to the role of cytokine inhibition in allergic diseases, new methods of allergy immunotherapy and

    Past Presidents

    Marc Meth, MD, Richard Barbers, MD, William Crawford, MD, Joseph Dizon, MD, LanAnh Do, MD, Robert Eitches, MD, Ronald Ferdman, MD, Catherine Fuller, MD, Gary Gibbon, MD, Bruce Goldberg, MD, Margaret Goldenhersh, MD, Jean Hanley-Lopez, MD, Craig Jones, MD, Michael Kaplan, MD, Roger Katz, MD, Margaret Kurohara, MD, Marilyn Li, MD, Steven Meltzer, MD, Jacob Offenberger, MD, Chad Oh, MD, Howard Schanker, MD, Joseph Shapiro, MD, Sheldon Siegel, MD, Margaret Soderberg-Warner, MD, Charles Song, MD, Sheldon Spector, MD, Anne Staveren, MD, Alan Szeftel, MD, Ricardo Tan, MD, and Stephen Wong, MD. Please notify us if you note an error in reporting.

    Members

    Barbara Ariue, MD
    Jennifer Baik, MD
    Saad Bakhaya,MD
    Lori Banka, DO
    Tyler Basin, MD
    Marc Baskin, MD
    Maxine Baum, MD
    Saraleen Benouni, MD
    Madhu Berman, MD
    Sheila Bonilla, MD
    Varaz Bozoghlanian, MD
    Melinda Braskett, MD
    Edward Buchsbaum, MD
    Amber Burnette, MD
    Reyneiro Castro, MD
    John Chase, MD
    Dean Chiang, MD
    Soo Hyun Choi, MD
    Preeti Chopra, MD
    Joseph Church , MD
    Jonathan Corren, MD
    Angelina Crans-Yoon, MD
     William Crawford, MD
    Erica Cua, MD
    Chong-Wei Cui, MD
    Maricar Cutillar-Garcia, MD
    Joshua Davidson, MD, MPH
    Marine Demirjian, MD
    Joseph Dizon, MD
    LanAnh Do, MD
    Ashmi Doshi, MD
    Chittur Easwaran, MD, PhD
    Robert Eitches, MD
    Stuart Epstein, MD
    Arfa Faiz, MD
    Housang Farhadian, MD
    Kevin Farnam, MD
    Ronald Ferdman, MD
    Catherine Fuller, MD
    Martha Galvan, MD
    Bernard Geller, MD, PhD
    Samantha Gendelman, MD
    Mary Elise Gianos, MD
    Gary Gibbon, MD
    Bruce Goldberg, MD
    Margaret Goldenhersh, MD
    Alan Green, MD
    Syeda Hamadani, MD
    Sherwin Hariri, MD
    Richard Harris, MD
    Thomas Hartman, MD
    Anthony Hirsch, MD
    Frederick Ho, MD
    Yvonne Hsieh, MD
    Edward Hu, MD
    Faith Huang, MD
    Melissa Itsara, MD
    Tiffany Jean, MD
    Fonda Jiang, MD
    Marion Johnson, MD
    Rita Kachru, MD
    Lewis Kanter, MD
    Michael Kaplan, MD
    Roger Katz, MD
    Eugene Kenigsberg, MD
    Alan Khadavi, MD
    Tania Kimia, MD
    Roger Kobayashi, MD
    Kumar Kulkarni, MD
    Caroline Kuo, MD
    Margaret Kurohara, MD
    Kenny Kwong, MD
    Christin Lawler Deal, MD
    Christina H. Lee, MD
    Christine Lee-Kim, DO
    Marilyn Li, MD
    Emily Liang, MD
    Myron Liebhaber, MD
    Cornelia Licona, MD
    Cheri Lin, MD
    Connie Lin, MD
    Erina Lin, MD
    Henry K. Lin, MD
    Maria Lloret-Garcia, MD
    Krikor Manoukian, MD
    Katie Marks, MD
    Steve Meltzer, MD
    Marc Meth, MD
    Robert Meth, MD
    Lawrence Mihalas, MD
    Stuart Min, MD
    Helen Moynihan, MD
    Von Ta Nguyen, MD
    Harold Ochsner, MD
    Jacob Offenberger, MD
    Jay Patel, MD
    Sonal Patel, MD
    Tammy Peng, MD
    Sarah Pham, MD
    Ami Phillip, MD
    Cristina Porch-Curren, MD
    Marvin Portner, MD
    Deena Pourang, MD
    Jorge Quel, MD
    Gary Rachelefsky, MD
    Asif Rafi, MD
    Krithika Ramadas, MD
    Inderpal Randhawa, MD
    Nasser Redjal, MD
    Michael Roberts, MD
    Robert Roberts, MD, PhD
    Larry Robinson, MD
    Harold Rosengren, MD
    Monika Saeedian, MD
    Shefali Samant, MD
    Joyce Schoettler, MD
    Danica Schulte, MD
    Lyne Scott, MD
    Nisha Shah, MD
    Joseph Shapiro, MD
    Trisha Sharma, MD
    Javed Sheikh, MD
    Lee Sheinkopf, MD
    Lawrence Sher, MD
    Seymour Silverberg, MD
    Claire Smigiel, MD
    Margaret Soderberg-Warner, MD
    Charles Song, MD
    Caroline Spagnola, MD
    Anne Staveren, MD
    Richard Stiehm, MD
    Samantha Swain, MD
    Alan Szeftel, MD
    Raffi Tachdjian, MD, MPH
    Scott Takahashi, PharmD
    Jonathan Tam, MD
    Marc Tamaroff, MD
    Douglas Tamkin, MD
    Ricardo Tan, MD
    Salima Thobani, MD
    Divyang Trivedi, MD
    Flora Abrahamian Vardanian, MD
    Prashant Verma, MD
    Vivian Wang, MD
    Ray Williams, MD
    Andrew Wong, MD
    Stephen Wong, MD
    Cindy Xi, MD
    Michelle Yasharpour, MD
    Eric Yen, MD
    Denis Yoshii, DO
    Joseph Yusin, MD
    Karine Zakarian, MD