Faculty

Dr. Volk is the Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Medical Director of Liver Transplantation at Loma Linda University.  He is triple board certified in Transplant Hepatology, Gastroenterology, and Internal Medicine, and has been frequently selected by Best Doctors as among the top Hepatologists in the country.

Prior to moving to Loma Linda, Dr. Volk was Director of the Liver Tumor Program at the University of Michigan.  He is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, with a longstanding funded research program that focuses on management of cirrhosis and organ allocation for liver transplantation.  He has published >100 research articles, reviews and book chapters, and serves on the Practice Metrics Committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Since moving to Loma Linda in 2015, Dr. Volk has quadrupled the size of the liver transplant program, from 25/year to >100/year.  He has grown the GI division from 8 faculty to 17, and established numerous satellite clinical locations including an academic-private partnership in an ambulatory surgery center.  He has introduced numerous new clinical services and established a multidisciplinary Digestive Disease Center.  His research program remains active, with >$300K/year in current funding.

Dr. Che has been on faculty at Loma Linda University since 2012 where he has worked as an interventional gastroenterologist at Loma Linda University Health. His passion is providing cutting edge endoscopic procedures to treat patients in the least invasive method possible, reducing morbidity and mortality.

Dr. Wright has been on faculty at Loma Linda University since 2017 where he has worked in general gastroenterology at both Loma Linda University Medical Center and Riverside University Health System.  His passions are practicing evidence-based medicine, working directly with first year fellows in their outpatient continuity clinics, training all levels of fellows in endoscopy, and teaching medical students.  He has served as longitudinal small group mentor for 1^st-3^rd year medical students since 2018 and became the clerkship director for Internal Medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 2020.

In his free time Dr. Wright enjoys spending time with his two young children, home improvement projects, and travelling.

Dr. Kim has been on faculty at Loma Linda University since 2010 and also completed methods training in Master of Science in Clinical, Biomedical and Translational Investigations at the University of Southern California in 2011. From 2013-2019, he relocated to China and collaborated in clinical research with Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital Zhejiang University. On return, he has served as the GI Laboratory Director at Riverside University Health System with clinical focus in interventional endoscopy including ESD. His research focuses on endoscopic management of acute cholangitis, early GI neoplasms, and upper GI bleeding.

In his free time Dr. Kim enjoys spending time with his two young children, participating in the local church, and international travels

After finishing her transplant hepatology fellowship, Mina Rakoski was faculty at University of Michigan for three years before moving back to Southern California. She has been with the GI Division at Loma Linda since 2015. Via a partial appointment with the Division of Palliative Medicine, she has created a Hepatology Palliative Care Clinic to provide symptom management and advance care planning for patients with advanced liver disease.

In her free time Dr. Rakoski enjoys hiking and camping with her family, playing ice hockey, and sleeping.

Dr. Cai has been on faculty in the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the VA Loma Linda Healthcare System and Loma Linda University since 2012. Her primary practice site is based at the VA Loma Linda where she implements the evidence-based medicine in the care of individual patients. She oversees the liver transplant program at the VA Loma Linda. Over the years, she has been involved in teaching fellows, residents and medical students both in general gastroenterology/hepatology and hospital medicine. Dr. Cai also has a strong interest in research where fellows, medical residents and students can participate.

In her spare time, she enjoys family time, outdoor activities, and traveling

Dr. Chao was inspired by his experiences during his residency and fellowship to pursue a career serving Veterans. He feels fortunate to be at VA Loma Linda where his interests in viral hepatitis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and cirrhosis management can be fostered and readily applied. Dr. Chao has benefited from the wisdom of numerous mentors, past and present, and he is passionate about maintaining high quality medical education at every level.

In his free time, Dr. Chao enjoys reading comics and playing with his goldendoodle, Pudding.

Dr. Imbertson is faculty at VA Loma Linda, LLU, Riverside University Health System and UC Riverside school of Medicine. While, he enjoys all aspects of gastroenterology, his true passion lies in therapeutic endoscopy. His goal is to educate and inform patients in order to allow the patient to participate in their care. He provides the most up to date and comprehensive care for his patients.  When feasible, he can offer endoscopic alternatives to surgical procedures. My goal is to provide comprehensive, compassionate and technologically up-to-date treatments for my patients with gastrointestinal problems.

In his free time Dr. Imbertson enjoys spending time with his wife and four young children, running, playing sports and travelling.

Dr. Hammami is a gastroenterologist who specializes in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He has particular experience caring for IBD as it relates to pregnancy, and on managing patients with complex Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. He also has a special clinical interest in immune (check-point inhibitor) mediated colitis and enteritis.

Dr. Hammami earned his medical degree from the University of Damascus, Faculty of Medicine. He completed residency in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology at Saint Louis University, where he also served as president of the Saint Louis University Residency Association. He completed a fellowship in IBD at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Strong’s interests are in clinical GI, IBD, functional disorders, SIBO, Diverticular diseases, SB bleeding, SBP, Veteran’s Diarrhea, GI diseases and Vitamin D, to name just a few. Dr. Strong is actively involved in clinical and research training of the gastroenterology fellows.  He and his wife (Donna Strong, who has a doctorate in molecular biology) also assist those doing research with proposals and manuscript review. He has a varied background including time at LLUMC as GI research faculty, private practice, and the VA health system. He enjoys teaching fellows, residents in both the outpatient and inpatient settings.

Dr. Shah is a recent graduate of the Loma Linda Gastroenterology fellowship program, and is excited to begin her journey as junior faculty at the Loma Linda Veteran Affairs starting August 2020. She is eager to begin her career in academic medicine and looks forward to the opportunity to mentor fellows in any/all capacities.

In her free time, Dr. Shah is busy chasing her 2yr old toddler around and enjoys spending time with her husband and 2 dogs—usually outdoors near a body of water.