Our Team
Faculty
Dr. Katie Page
Dr. Kathleen “Katie” Page is a physician specializing in diabetes and childhood obesity at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC). She is an Associate Professor and practicing Endocrinologist in the Department of Medicine and Pediatrics at Keck School of Medicine of USC and CHLA. Dr. Page is also the Director of USC’s Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute (DORI) and co-chief of division of Endocrinology and Diabetes.
Dr. Page has an active research program that seeks to understand the causes of obesity and diabetes so that more effective strategies can be developed for reducing the number of people affected by these health conditions. Her research has been recognized by awards from the Endocrine Society, the American Heart Association and the American Federation for Medical Research. She has received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Collaborators
Post-Doctoral Fellows & Graduate STudents
Jasmin Alves, PhD
Dr. Jasmin Alves earned her PhD in Medical Biology from the University of Southern California. Her research interest includes identifying health behaviors that ameliorate child health outcomes. Her specific projects include a pilot project awarded from the MADRES center which investigates the role of prenatal exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus on offspring mental health outcomes and how health behaviors such as physical activity and or sleep may mitigate the negative consequences of prenatal exposure to GDM.
Sandhya Prathap, MS
Sandhya completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Urbana, after which she worked as a research assistant at Stanford University under the direction of Dr. Vinod Menon where she studied the neural basis of mathematical learning in children with Autism. She then completed her Masters in Neuroimaging and Informatics at USC, and is currently a 3rd year PhD Student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. Her research interests include understanding how insulin resistance relates to brain development in children using multimodal neuroimaging techniques.
Staff
Ana Romero, MPH
Ana Romero received both her Bachelors of Science in Health Promotion Disease Prevention (2002) and her Master of Public Health degrees from USC (2004). She is also a licensed nurse (LVN). She is the Program Manager of Gestational Diabetes Offspring and the Brain Response to Sugar Studies, where she plans, organizes and schedules activities to meet project objectives.
Brendan Angelo, MS
Brendan Angelo received his Master of Science from the Neuroimaging and Informatics program through the USC Keck School of Medicine. Since graduating, he has worked as the MRI Technician for the Page Lab imaging studies as well as performing analyses using Freesurfer and FSL on the imaging data collected. For the future, he hopes to return to school to earn a PhD through the Neuroscience Graduate Program at USC.
Ella Morgan, BS
Ella Morgan earned her bachelors of science in Neuroscience and Global Health Policy from Princeton University (2024). Since graduating, she's worked in the lab as a research assistant for study visits, aided in analysis with statistical programming, and been writing up the lab's findings for publication. She hopes to return to school in pursuit of an MD/PhD through the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Enrique Trigo
Enrique Trigo is a Clinical Project Manager at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He earned his medical degree from the Benemerita Universidad de Puebla, Mexico and was a practicing physician in his native country prior to joining the Department of Medicine at USC as a researcher. Enrique performs clinical procedures such as OGTT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test), IVGTT (Intravenous Glucose Tolerance Test), and Glucose Clamp Testing which is used for quantifying insulin secretion and resistance.
Reina T. Maniego, RN
Reina Maniego is the Registered Nurse at USC’s Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute. She assists on the Brainchild and Brain Response to Sugar Study. She received her ADN from Pierce College. She is currently working on her BSN from the University of Texas Arlington. She has over 10 years of research experience working in different clinical trials units.
Past Students & staff
Hilary Dorton, PhD
Esther Jahng, BA
Sabrina Jones, PhD
Jada Hislop, BS
Tamar Reisman, MD
Alexis Defendis, BA
Xochitl Cordova
Kristen Hardy, BS
Martina Erdstein
James Melrose, PhD
MaryAnn Cabrales, BS
Priyanka Dave
Alexandro Smith, BA
Nate Overholtzer, MS
Alexandra Yunker, BA
Brandon Ge
Hangyang (Patrick) Liu
This program is open to all eligible individuals. The BRANCH lab operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.