Farzad Sadigh Sharif, MBA,

is a mental health advocate with more than 15 years of experience successfully developing and launching various initiatives and outreach programs, especially in mental health. He has a broad background and expertise in designing systems to implement and maintain psychiatry healthcare practice successfully.
Farzad has worked on the SAMHSA NCTSI Category III clinical initiative at Olive View UCLA Medical Center for “Trauma-informed Evaluation and Management of Adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” in North Los Angeles County since 2024. He is pivotal to this Olive View UCLA Medical Center clinical initiative. Farzad has been working closely with Dr. Ahmadi in the development and maintenance of the outreach program and consultation program to satellite programs to enhance public awareness and acceptance for early identification and management of at-risk youth through griefenhanced trauma-informed evaluation and management, providing resources and offering services to at-risk youth and their families in our catchment areas.

SeyedIman “Iman” Ataeipour, PhD,

is a lead computational psychiatry specialist at the Stress Resilience and Computational Psychiatry Lab at Semel UCLA, under the supervision of Dr. Ahmadi. He has a broad background and expertise in computer science, systems analysis, and mental health to design, develop, and implement technology solutions specifically tailored to psychiatric healthcare practice.

Iman has worked on the SAMHSA NCTSI Category III clinical initiative at Olive View UCLA Medical Center for “Trauma-informed Evaluation and Management of Adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” in North Los Angeles County since 2024. He is a pivotal member of this Olive View UCLA Medical Center clinical initiative. Iman has been working closely with Dr. Ahmadi in the development and maintenance of this website for our clinical initiative to: a) awareness and public education on grief-enhanced trauma-informed evaluation and management, b) preventive traumatic psychiatry resources and outreach to our catchment communities, and c) offering digital grief-enhanced trauma-informed services to youth with mild trauma stress symptoms and their caregivers through digital patient portal receiving services in our program.

mMa’ayan EpsteinMa’ayan EpsteinMa’ayan Epstein

UCLA Executive Masters of Public Health student passionate about developing sustainable, novel mental health solutions. With a Bachelors degree in Human Biology and Society, and a background in psychoneuroimmunology research, Maayan is passionate about holistic mental health care that aligns molecular biology and epi-genetics with a comprehensive social, behavioral, and psychological approach.
Maayan has worked on the SAMHSA clinical initiative on clinical evaluation and management of youth at risk for traumatic stress in North Los Angeles County since the grant’s conception in October 2021. She is a key member of this clinical initiative at Olive View UCLA Medical Center. Maayan leads the universal screening for Bereavement and Traumatic Stress or youth receiving services in Pediatric clinics, including the Hub clinic, Primary Care, and Specialty Clinics. Ma’ayan encourages you to reach out to us or other members of the mental health team if you need assistance to improve your well-being or struggle with traumatic stress symptoms.

Luis Ruiz
A first-generation college graduate who attended Whitman College and earned a Bachelor’s with honors and distinction in Psychology. He has been a part of various research teams and labs, including Whitman College’s Cognition and Neuroscience Lab, the University of Washington’s Emergency Medicine
Department, and now UCLA’s Stress Resilience and Computational Psychiatry Lab. He has a strong passion for serving and working with underserved and underrepresented communities to improve their access and quality of care. Luis embraces his multidisciplinary background and approaches well-being
and health in a holistic and integrated way that highlights the importance and connection between physical and mental health.
Luis has worked on the SAMHSA NCTSI Category III clinical initiative at Olive View UCLA Medical Center for “Trauma-informed Evaluation and Management of Adolescents with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” in North Los Angeles County since 2023. He is a pivotal member of this Olive View
UCLA Medical Center clinical initiative, facilitating youth and caregiver engagement, helping run and manage various aspects of this initiative, including the Psychiatric Emergency Room and Satellite Programs, and leading recruitment and enrollment for suicide prevention studies. Luis is a native
Spanish/English speaker whose bicultural identity and bilingual skills foster inclusivity and trust, breaking down language and cultural barriers for Latino/Hispanic communities, especially those that are Spanish-speaking. He aims to improve the mental health of youth who are underprivileged and/or at risk
and encourages those who want help to reach out to our team.

Oscar Chavez, MD, MPH Candidate

Dr. Chavez is a board-certified psychiatrist trained in Mexico, with an in-depth understanding of the US and Mexico healthcare systems. He has been a key member of the Stress Resilience and Computational Psychiatry Lab at Semel UCLA, working under the supervision of Dr. Ahmadi. He is dedicated to advancing mental health equity through culturally and developmentally appropriate diagnoses and resilience-based interventions. Currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at UCLA, Oscar integrates clinical expertise with public health strategies to develop scalable, culturally responsive mental health services, addressing mental health disparities in Latino communities by incorporating positive psychiatry, self-regulation, and trauma-informed care into public health frameworks. Oscar actively seeks opportunities to collaborate on initiatives at the intersection of mental health, resilience science, and public health policy, fostering innovative, evidence-based solutions to enhance well-being across communities.
With a strong background in biological psychiatry, he is working on evidence-based mental health interventions into real-world applications. He has been facilitating the grief-enhanced trauma-informed interventions provided by Child Psychiatrists at Olive View Medical Center in the SAMHSA NCTSI Category III clinical initiative titled “Trauma-informed Evaluation and Management of Adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)” since 2023. Oscar has contributed to further developing innovative mental health initiatives, generating new ideas and ensuring culturally appropriate translations and adaptations to enhance accessibility and impact.

Dr. Brent Matsunaga

is a board-certified child, an adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. He is a Health Science Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. He has savvy child psychiatrist at Olive View UCLA Psychiatry Emergency Room.

Dr Matsunaga is a key member of the SAMHSA NCTSI Category III clinical initiative at Olive View UCLA Medical Center for “Trauma-informed Evaluation and Management of Adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” He has been compassionately providing a tiered-level culturally/linguistically well-documented grief-enhanced trauma- informed services to youth with potentially traumatic events and their caregivers based on the severity of traumatic stress symptoms, functional level, and positive biopsychosocial profile in various clinical settings since 2021.

Dr. Naser Ahmadi

is a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. He is a Health Science Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the Stress Resilience and Computational Psychiatry Lab director at Semel UCLA. He has a broad background in neuroscience, neurodevelopmental disorders, child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry, positive psychiatry, epidemiology, and computational psychiatry, with specific training and expertise in psychoneuroimmunology and preventive psychiatry. Dr. Ahmadi has been working closely with The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), and the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative (NCTSI) category II to address an enormous need in North Los Angeles County (N-LAC) to trauma-informed screening and treatment for adolescents at risk for traumatic stress disorder and their families.

He is a project director of the SAMHSA NCTSI Category III clinical initiative at Olive View UCLA Medical Center for “Trauma-informed Evaluation and Management of Adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” His team has been providing a grief-enhanced trauma-informed care process model to adolescents at risk in N-LAC. They also give a tiered-level culturally/linguistically well-documented grief-enhanced trauma-informed services to youth with potentially traumatic events and their caregivers based on the severity of traumatic stress symptoms, functional level, and positive biopsychosocial profile in various clinical settings (i.e., Pediatric HUB clinic, pediatric primary care clinic, pediatric specialty clinic, psychiatry emergency room, Juvenile Justice, VA/military families, and schools) since 2021.

Michael Couse, DO,

is board-certified in both General and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He is an attending psychiatrist in the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center psychiatric emergency room and a Health Sciences Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He received his medical degree from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, followed by completing his general psychiatry residency at Olive View-UCLA and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Harbor-UCLA. His clinical interests include neurodevelopmental disorders, trauma-related disorders in youth, pediatric catatonia and increasing access to mental health care.

Dr Couse is a pivotal member of the SAMHSA NCTSI Category III clinical initiative at Olive View UCLA Medical Center for “Trauma-informed Evaluation and Management of Adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” He has been compassionately providing a tiered-level culturally/linguistically well-documented grief-enhanced trauma-informed services to youth with potentially traumatic events and their caregivers based on the severity of traumatic stress symptoms, functional level, and positive biopsychosocial profile in various clinical settings since 2023.