Faculty and Research

Biography

 

Dr. Raheleh Ahangari is an Associate Professor of Medicine (teaching position) in Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at UCF College of Medicine and is teaching Human Physiology, Clinical Embryology and Clinical Endocrinology.

She received her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree from Carol Davilla Medical University, Bucharest, Romania (1987- 1993) and took several graduate neuroscience courses in the department of Cell Biology and Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine in University of Salamanca to receive “Sufficient Investigator” status in her graduate studies (1997- 1999) where she carried out research in trigeminal neuralgia and headache under supervision of Dr. Rafael Covenas. She then moved to Germany for a post-doc position in Wuerzburg, Germany in 2000. Her studies focused on immunology, looking for signal transduction mechanisms in apoptosis and T-cell proliferation in department of immunology-virology (supervisor: Dr. U. Bommhardt) of Wuerzburg University (2000). She continued her post-doc studies on Macro-patch-clamp recording of the hemi-diaphragm, to characterize the receptors involved in neurotransmission including pre- and post- synaptic molecules involved in the pathogenesis of Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS) and Miller Fischer syndrome in 2001-2002 (Supervisors: Dr. B. Buchwald and Dr. C.V. Toyka, head of the neurology university hospital).

In 2003, she received an Assistant Professor position in Anatomy in Saba university school of medicine, Saba, Netherlands-Antilles, and moved to the United States in Aug. 2004. She joined UCF as a teaching faculty in fall 2005 and got involved in research in Dr. H. Daniell’s lab, looking for therapeutic effects of oral delivery of pro-insulin conjugated to cholera toxin-B subunit produced in tobacco and lettuce fed to diabetic mice (2005- 2006). Dr. Ahangari co-developed clinical embryology and congenital malformations as well as clinical endocrinology courses in UCF in 2006 and teaching them since then.

Dr. Ahangari is a graduate faculty scholar and has directed several independent studies in endocrine and metabolic disorders and was involved in a number of honors in major thesis works. Her research/scholarly activities are focused on trigeminal neuralgias and headache as well as inflammation. She is a Co-PI of a SBIR research with Dr. P. Mangos from Adaptive Immersion Technologies,  working on the development of a Holographic Health Avatar for Predictive and Preventative Medicine (2016-2017).

 

PUBLICATIONS

  1. Moini J,  Ahangari R, Miller C and Samsam M, Global Health Complications of Obesity, Elsevier, April 2020, ISBN: 978-0-12-819751-6.
  2. Samsam M, Ahangari R. Neuromodulation in the treatment of migraine: Progress in nerve stimulation. Neuro Open J. 2017; 3(1): 9-22. doi:10.17140/NOJ-3-122.
  3. Samsam M., Ahangari R., Naser SA.: Pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorders: Revisiting gastrointestinal involvement and immune imbalance. World J Gastroenterol. 2014 Aug 7;20 (29):9942-9951.
  4. Samsam M., Coveñas R., Ahangari R., Yajeya J.: Neuropeptides and other chemical mediators, and the role of anti-inflammatory drugs in primary headaches, AIAA-MC, 2010, 3: 170- 188.
  5. Samsam M., Coveñas R., Ahangari R., Yajeya J.: Major neuroanatomical and neurochemical substrates involved in primary headaches. In: Neuroanatomy Research Advances; chapter 1; Editors: CE Flynn and BR Callaghan; Nova Science Publishers; New York; 2009; pp1- 58; ISBN: 978-60741-610-4.
  6. Samsam M., Coveñas R., Ahangari R., Yajeya J. and Narváez JA.: Role of neuropeptides in migraine headaches, experimental and clinical data, Focus on Neuropeptide Research, chapter 11; Editor: R. Covenas; Transworld Research Network; India, released in 2008; ISBN: 978-81-7895-291-8.
  7. Samsam M., Coveñas R., Ahangari R., Yajeya J. and Narváez JA: Role of neuropeptides in migraine; where do they stand in the latest expert recommendations in migraine treatment? Drug Development Research, 2007, 68: 298- 314.
  8. Ruhlman T., Ahangari R., Devine A., Samsam M. and Daniell H.: Expression of cholera toxin B-proinsulin fusion protein in lettuce and tobacco chloroplasts – oral administration protects against development of insulitis in non-obese diabetic mice, Plant Biotechnol J., 2007, 5: 495- 510.  *Shared first authorship
  9. Buchwald B., Ahangari R., Weishaupt A. and Toyka C.V.: Presynaptic effects of immunoglobulin G from patients with Lambert Eaton Myasthenic syndrome: their neutralization by intravenous immunoglobulins, Muscle Nerve, 2005, 31: 487-94.
  10. Samsam M., Coveñas R, Ahangari R., Yajeya J, Narváez J.A., Montes C. and González-Barón S.: Implications of somatostatin, neurotensin and methionin-enkephalin in an experimental model of headache. Neurol.,  2002, 34: 724- 729.
  11. Buchwald B., Ahangari R., Weishaupt A. and Toyka KV.: Intravenous immunoglobulins neutralize blocking antibodies in Guillain-Barré syndrom, Ann. , 2002, 51: 673- 680.
  12. Buchwald B., Ahangari R. and Toyka KV.: Differential blocking effects of the monoclonal anti-GQ1b IgM antibody and alpha-latrotoxin in the absence of complement at the mouse neuromuscular junction, Neurosci. Let., 2002, 334: 25- 28.
  13. Samsam M., Coveñas R, Csillik B., Ahangari R., Yajeya J, Riquelme R., Narváez J.A. and Tramu G.: Depletion of substance P, neurokinin A and calcitonin geme-related peptide from the contralateral caudal trigeminal nucleus following a unilateral electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion; the functional neuroanatomy underlying the clinical manifestaion of generalized migraine headaches. Chem. Neuroanatomy, 2001, 21: 161- 169.
  14. Samsam M., Coveñas R., Ahangari R., Yajeya J., Narváez J.A., Tramu G.: Simultaneous depletion of neurokinin A, substance P and calcitonin gene related peptide immunoreactivities in the caudal trigeminal nucleus of the rat following electrical stimulation of the Gasserian ganglion: a possible co-release of neuropeptides. PAIN, 2000, 84: 389- 395.
  15. Samsam M., Coveñas R., Ahangari R., Yajeya J., Riquelme R. and Narváez J.A.: Changes in neuropeptide distribution in the caudal trigeminal nucleus following electrical stimulation of the trigeminal ganglion: an experimental migraine model. MAPFRE MEDICINA ESPANA, 2000, 11/2: 111- 118.
  16. Samsam M., Coveñas R., Ahangari R., Yajeya J., Narváez J.A., Tramu G.: Neurokinin A and Substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactivities in the rat caudal trigeminal ganglion. Neurosci. Let.,1999, 261: 1-4.

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