Our Team

 

 
 

Jason Nagata, MD, MSc
Principal Investigator

Dr. Nagata is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of California San Francisco and affiliated faculty with the Institute for Global Health Sciences. He researches health consequences of adolescent and young adult behaviors and is an expert in body image and eating disorders in males. He has published over 100 articles in academic journals including The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Pediatrics. He is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the International Association for Adolescent Health Young Professionals Network. He serves on the International Advisory Board of The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Adolescent Health. In 2019, he was the recipient of the American Academy of Pediatrics Emerging Leader in Adolescent Health Award, the Society for Pediatric Research Fellow’s Clinical Research Award, and the Grumbach Award for Excellence in Research at UCSF. He completed a BA in Health and Societies from the University of Pennsylvania, MSc in Medical Anthropology from the University of Oxford, MD and Adolescent Medicine Fellowship from UCSF, and Pediatrics Residency at Stanford University.  

Kyle Ganson, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor

Dr. Ganson is an Assistant Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. His research interests include men's health, male eating disorders, and performance-enhancing substances. 

Deepika Parmar, MD, MPH
Fellow Physician

Dr. Parmar is a clinical fellow in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Parmar earned her medical degree from the University of Missouri and completed her pediatric residency training at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center. She completed her Masters at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP) and a member of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM). She has a passion for serving sexual and gender minority youth and this has become her area of focus for research.

 

Kirk Fergus, MD, MAS
Resident Physician

Dr. Fergus is a surgery resident at the University of California San Francisco, where he completed medical school and a masters degree in clinical research. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in social studies. He studies young adult risk behaviors in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.

Chloe Cattle, BS
Medical Student

Chloe is a medical student at the University of California San Francisco. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Psychobiology. Her research examines eating disorders and muscle dysmorphia in sexual and gender minority populations in The PRIDE Study.

 

Jonathan Chu, BA
Medical Student

Jonathan is a medical student at the University of California San Francisco. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology. His research examines weight control behaviors and body mass index trajectories in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.

Anthony Nguyen, BS
Medical Student

Anthony is a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a degree in Biological Sciences and additionally dived deep into the joys of research through the American Chemical Society and biochemistry laboratories at the University of the Pacific. Today, he holds paramount interest in utilizing the skills he's learned in pursuit of clinical research that can improve human health. His research examines gender differences in medical complications of eating disorders among adolescents and young adults.

 

Paola Bojorquez-Ramirez, BS
Graduate Student

Paola is a second-year Master of Public Health student at the Yale School of Public Health in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. Her overarching goal is to carry out epidemiological research to improve the health of women, infants, children, and adolescents. Her research examines gender differences in medical complications of eating disorders among adolescents and young adults.

 

Catherine Cortez, BS
Graduate Student

Catherine is a second-year Master of Public Health student at the University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Epidemiology. She graduated from University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. Her research examines adolescent screen time, physical activity, and mental health in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.

 

Samuel Benabou
Undergraduate Student

Sam is an undergraduate student at Stanford University studying Human Biology. His research examines concussions in adolescents and young adults and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young adults. 

 

Lab Alumni

Lynhea Anicete, MS
Graduate Student

Lynhea is a recent graduate of the masters in global health sciences program at the University of California, San Francisco. She studies household composition and mental health among HIV-affected households in the Shamba Maisha study.