Fatemeh Momen Heravi, DDS, MPH, PhD
Professor
Orofacial Sciences
School of Dentistry

Earl Robinson Distinguished Professor of Periodontology and Division Chief of Periodontology at Department of Orofacial Sciences, she leads pioneering research into the immune system’s interactions with the tumor microenvironment and inflammatory diseases, including oral and periodontal disease.

Dr. Momen-Heravi’s multidisciplinary research program integrates experimental, computational, and translational approaches to uncover disease mechanisms, identify biomarkers, and develop targeted therapeutics. Her laboratory is advancing knowledge in cancer immunology, extracellular vesicles, inflammatory signaling, and precision therapeutics, with ongoing projects in exosome biology, host-pathogen interactions, and genome engineering using CRISPR/Cas.

With a strong background in translational science, Dr. Momen-Heravi previously founded and led the Head and Neck Cancer Research Group at Columbia University Medical Center before joining UCSF in 2024. She has trained extensively at Harvard Medical School, UMASS Medical School, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and has authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications. Her research is supported by multiple NIH and foundation grants, including R35, R01, and U01 awards, and she has been honored with numerous prestigious awards, such as the AACR-The Mark Foundation ‘Science of the Patient’ Award, the NIH Maximizing Investigators Research Award, and the IADR Young Investigator Award.

Dr. Momen-Heravi is passionate about mentorship, scientific innovation, and bridging health disparities in cancer and periodontal disease. Her lab welcomes motivated postdoctoral fellows, PhD candidates, and dental students interested in cutting-edge research at the intersection of oral and systemic health, immunology, and precision medicine. Dr. Momen-Heravi takes pride in providing full scope of periodontal and implants surgery to patients and manage medically compromised patients and patients with history of cancer.

• Artificial intelligence-based epigenomic, transcriptomic and histologic signatures of tobacco use in oral squamous cell carcinoma.
  NPJ precision oncology 2024 Viet CT, Asam KR, Yu G, Dyer EC, Kochanny S, Thomas CM, Callahan NF, Morlandt AB, Cheng AC, Patel AA, Roden DF, Young S, Melville J, Shum J, Walker PC, Nguyen KK, Kidd SN, Lee SC, Folk GS, Viet DT, …
• Long non-coding RNAs: roles in cellular stress responses and epigenetic mechanisms regulating chromatin.
  Nucleus (Austin, Tex.) 2024 Nickerson JA, Momen-Heravi F
• Modeling epithelial homeostasis and perturbation in three-dimensional human esophageal organoids.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2024 Shimonosono M, Morimoto M, Hirose W, Tomita Y, Matsuura N, Flashner S, Ebadi MS, Okayasu EH, Lee CY, Britton WR, Martin C, Wuertz BR, Parikh AS, Sachdeva UM, Ondrey FG, Atigadda VR, Elmets CA, Abrams …
• Racial and ethnic disparities in basal cell carcinoma treated by Mohs micrographic surgery: the Columbia experience.
  Archives of dermatological research 2024 Donelian A, Liu Z, Trager MH, Momen-Heravi F, Samie FH
• Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs)-based gene delivery platform for cell-specific CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing.
  Theranostics 2024 Dubey S, Chen Z, Jiang YJ, Talis A, Molotkov A, Ali A, Mintz A, Momen-Heravi F
• HSP90 inhibition suppresses tumor glycolytic flux to potentiate the therapeutic efficacy of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.
  Science advances 2024 Chen F, Tang C, Yang F, Ekpenyong A, Qin R, Xie J, Momen-Heravi F, Saba NF, Teng Y
• Efficacy of Horizontal Alveolar Ridge Expansion Through the Alveolar Ridge Split Procedure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
  The International journal of oral & maxillofacial implants 2023 Al Haydar B, Kang P, Momen-Heravi F
• A comprehensive multiparameter flow cytometry panel for immune profiling and functional studies of frozen tissue, bone marrow, and spleen.
  Journal of immunological methods 2023 Wu YC, Kissner M, Momen-Heravi F
• Molecular Subtypes of Head and Neck Cancer in Patients of African Ancestry.
  Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research 2023 Mezghani N, Yao A, Vasilyeva D, Kaplan N, Shackelford A, Yoon A, Phillipone E, Dubey S, Schwartz GK, Taylor AM, Momen-Heravi F
• Patient-derived three-dimensional culture techniques model tumor heterogeneity in head and neck cancer.
  Oral oncology 2023 Parikh AS, Yu VX, Flashner S, Okolo OB, Lu C, Henick BS, Momen-Heravi F, Puram SV, Teknos T, Pan Q, Nakagawa H
• Efficacy of Er,Cr:YSGG Laser Application in Nonsurgical Treatment of Peri-implantitis: A Human Randomized Controlled Trial.
  The International journal of periodontics & restorative dentistry 2023 Kang P, Sanz-Miralles E, Li J, Linden E, Momen-Heravi F
• Modeling Oral-Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in 3D Organoids.
  Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE 2022 Flashner S, Martin C, Matsuura N, Shimonosono M, Tomita Y, Morimoto M, Okolo O, Yu VX, Parikh AS, Klein-Szanto AJP, Yan K, Gabre JT, Lu C, Momen-Heravi F, Rustgi AK, Nakagawa H
• SP140 inhibits STAT1 signaling, induces IFN-γ in tumor-associated macrophages, and is a predictive biomarker of immunotherapy response.
  Journal for immunotherapy of cancer 2022 Tanagala KKK, Morin-Baxter J, Carvajal R, Cheema M, Dubey S, Nakagawa H, Yoon A, Cheng YL, Taylor A, Nickerson J, Mintz A, Momen-Heravi F
• Evaluating the Combined Anticancer Response of Checkpoint Inhibitor Immunotherapy and FAP-Targeted Molecular Radiotherapy in Murine Models of Melanoma and Lung Cancer.
  Cancers 2022 Capaccione KM, Doubrovin M, Braumuller B, Leibowitz D, Bhatt N, Momen-Heravi F, Molotkov A, Kissner M, Goldner K, Soffing M, Ali A, Mintz A
• Mechanism of METTL14 and m6A modification of lncRNA MALAT1 in the proliferation of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells.
  Oral diseases 2022 Li J, Momen-Heravi F, Wu X, He K
• Decoding the role of macrophages in periodontitis and type 2 diabetes using single-cell RNA-sequencing.
  FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 2022 Agrafioti P, Morin-Baxter J, Tanagala KKK, Dubey S, Sims P, Lalla E, Momen-Heravi F
• Alcohol Metabolism Enriches Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cancer Stem Cells That Survive Oxidative Stress via Autophagy.
  Biomolecules 2021 Shimonosono M, Tanaka K, Flashner S, Takada S, Matsuura N, Tomita Y, Sachdeva UM, Noguchi E, Sangwan V, Ferri L, Momen-Heravi F, Yoon AJ, Klein-Szanto AJ, Diehl JA, Nakagawa H
• Differential DNA methylation and mRNA transcription in gingival tissues in periodontal health and disease.
  Journal of clinical periodontology 2021 Kim H, Momen-Heravi F, Chen S, Hoffmann P, Kebschull M, Papapanou PN
• Protective effect of LNA-anti-miR-132 therapy on liver fibrosis in mice.
  Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids 2021 Momen-Heravi F, Catalano D, Talis A, Szabo G, Bala S
• Down-regulation of the tumor suppressor miR-34a contributes to head and neck cancer by up-regulating the MET oncogene and modulating tumor immune evasion.
  Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR 2021 Wu X, Cheng YL, Matthen M, Yoon A, Schwartz GK, Bala S, Taylor AM, Momen-Heravi F
• MicroRNA-Based Cancer Mortality Risk Scoring System and hTERT Expression in Early-Stage Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
  Journal of oncology 2021 Yoon AJ, Santella RM, Wang S, Kutler DI, Carvajal RD, Philipone E, Wang T, Peters SM, Stewart CR, Momen-Heravi F, Troob S, Levin M, AkhavanAghdam Z, Shackelford AJ, Canterbury CR, Shimonosono M, …
• Cell Type-Specific Decomposition of Gingival Tissue Transcriptomes.
  Journal of dental research 2021 Momen-Heravi F, Friedman RA, Albeshri S, Sawle A, Kebschull M, Kuhn A, Papapanou PN
• Extracellular Vesicles as Biomarkers in Cancer Immunotherapy.
  Cancers 2020 Mathew M, Zade M, Mezghani N, Patel R, Wang Y, Momen-Heravi F
• Disruption of Monocyte and Macrophage Homeostasis in Periodontitis.
  Frontiers in immunology 2020 Almubarak A, Tanagala KKK, Papapanou PN, Lalla E, Momen-Heravi F
• MicroRNA-based risk scoring system to identify early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma patients at high-risk for cancer-specific mortality.
  Head & neck 2020 Yoon AJ, Wang S, Kutler DI, Carvajal RD, Philipone E, Wang T, Peters SM, LaRoche D, Hernandez BY, McDowell BD, Stewart CR, Momen-Heravi F, Santella RM
• The clinical and radiographic outcomes of Schneiderian membrane perforation without repair in sinus elevation surgery.
  Clinical implant dentistry and related research 2019 Park WB, Han JY, Kang P, Momen-Heravi F
• Isolation of Extracellular Vesicles for Cancer Diagnosis and Functional Studies.
  Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) 2019 Brenner AW, Su GH, Momen-Heravi F
• Extracellular vesicles in oral squamous carcinoma carry oncogenic miRNA profile and reprogram monocytes via NF-κB pathway.
  Oncotarget 2018 Momen-Heravi F, Bala S
• Extracellular vesicles and their nucleic acids for biomarker discovery.
  Pharmacology & therapeutics 2018 Momen-Heravi F, Getting SJ, Moschos SA
• Acellular Dermal Matrix as a Barrier for Guided Bone Regeneration of Dehiscence Defects Around Dental Implants: A Clinical and Histological Report.
  Implant dentistry 2018 Momen-Heravi F, Peters SM, Garfinkle L, Kang P
• miRNA regulation of innate immunity.
  Journal of leukocyte biology 2018 Momen-Heravi F, Bala S
• Extracellular vesicles from mice with alcoholic liver disease carry a distinct protein cargo and induce macrophage activation through heat shock protein 90.
  Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) 2018 Saha B, Momen-Heravi F, Furi I, Kodys K, Catalano D, Gangopadhyay A, Haraszti R, Satishchandran A, Iracheta-Vellve A, Adejumo A, Shaffer SA, Szabo G
• Treatment of Localized Aggressive Periodontitis With Guided Tissue Regeneration Technique and Enamel Matrix Derivative.
  Clinical advances in periodontics 2017 Momen-Heravi F, Kang P
• Emerging role of non-coding RNA in oral cancer.
  Cellular signalling 2017 Momen-Heravi F, Bala S
• Tumor expression of calcium sensing receptor and colorectal cancer survival: Results from the nurses' health study and health professionals follow-up study.
  International journal of cancer 2017 Momen-Heravi F, Masugi Y, Qian ZR, Nishihara R, Liu L, Smith-Warner SA, Keum N, Zhang L, Tchrakian N, Nowak JA, Yang W, Ma Y, Bowden M, da Silva A, Wang M, Fuchs CS, Meyerhardt JA, Ng K, Wu K, …
• Calcium intake and risk of colorectal cancer according to expression status of calcium-sensing receptor (CASR).
  Gut 2017 Yang W, Liu L, Masugi Y, Qian ZR, Nishihara R, Keum N, Wu K, Smith-Warner S, Ma Y, Nowak JA, Momen-Heravi F, Zhang L, Bowden M, Morikawa T, Silva AD, Wang M, Chan AT, Fuchs CS, Meyerhardt JA, Ng K, …
• Extracellular vesicles in liver disease and potential as biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
  Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology 2017 Szabo G, Momen-Heravi F
• Extracellular vesicle isolation: present and future.
  Annals of translational medicine 2017 Furi I, Momen-Heravi F, Szabo G
• Assessment of arterial stiffness in periodontitis using a novel pulse wave imaging methodology.
  Journal of clinical periodontology 2017 Sanz-Miralles EC, Li R, Momen-Heravi F, Mendieta C, Konofagou EE, Papapanou PN
• Isolation of Extracellular Vesicles by Ultracentrifugation.
  Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) 2017 Momen-Heravi F
• Periodontal disease, tooth loss and colorectal cancer risk: Results from the Nurses' Health Study.
  International journal of cancer 2016 Momen-Heravi F, Babic A, Tworoger SS, Zhang L, Wu K, Smith-Warner SA, Ogino S, Chan AT, Meyerhardt J, Giovannucci E, Fuchs C, Cho E, Michaud DS, Stampfer MJ, Yu YH, Kim D, Zhang X
• Management of cannabis-induced periodontitis via resective surgical therapy: A clinical report.
  Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) 2016 Momen-Heravi F, Kang P
• Letter to the Editor: Re: Comparative Analysis of Calcium-Binding Myeloid-Related Protein-8/14 in Saliva and Serum of Patients With Periodontitis and Healthy Individuals.
  Journal of periodontology 2016 Momen-Heravi F
• Facial Anthropometric Norms of the Young Iranian Population.
  Journal of maxillofacial and oral surgery 2016 Bayat M, Shariati M, Rajaeirad F, Yekaninejad MS, Momen-Heravi F, Davoudmanesh Z
• MicroRNA Cargo of Extracellular Vesicles from Alcohol-exposed Monocytes Signals Naive Monocytes to Differentiate into M2 Macrophages.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2015 Saha B, Momen-Heravi F, Kodys K, Szabo G
• Bone Reconstruction following Application of Bone Matrix Gelatin to Alveolar Defects: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
  International journal of organ transplantation medicine 2015 Bayat M, Momen Heravi F, Mahmoudi M, Bahrami N
• Increased number of circulating exosomes and their microRNA cargos are potential novel biomarkers in alcoholic hepatitis.
  Journal of translational medicine 2015 Momen-Heravi F, Saha B, Kodys K, Catalano D, Satishchandran A, Szabo G
• Selection bias.
  Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) 2015 Momen-Heravi F
• Biodistribution and function of extracellular miRNA-155 in mice.
  Scientific reports 2015 Bala S, Csak T, Momen-Heravi F, Lippai D, Kodys K, Catalano D, Satishchandran A, Ambros V, Szabo G
• Exosomes derived from alcohol-treated hepatocytes horizontally transfer liver specific miRNA-122 and sensitize monocytes to LPS.
  Scientific reports 2015 Momen-Heravi F, Bala S, Kodys K, Szabo G
• Exosomes from hepatitis C infected patients transmit HCV infection and contain replication competent viral RNA in complex with Ago2-miR122-HSP90.
  PLoS pathogens 2014 Bukong TN, Momen-Heravi F, Kodys K, Bala S, Szabo G
• In vitro and ex vivo antimicrobial efficacy of nano-MgO in the elimination of endodontic pathogens.
  Clinical oral investigations 2014 Monzavi A, Eshraghi S, Hashemian R, Momen-Heravi F
• Genomewide Study of Salivary MicroRNAs for Detection of Oral Cancer.
  Journal of dental research 2014 Momen-Heravi F, Trachtenberg AJ, Kuo WP, Cheng YS
• Exosome-mediated delivery of functionally active miRNA-155 inhibitor to macrophages.
  Nanomedicine : nanotechnology, biology, and medicine 2014 Momen-Heravi F, Bala S, Bukong T, Szabo G
• Emerging technologies in extracellular vesicle-based molecular diagnostics.
  Expert review of molecular diagnostics 2014 Jia S, Zocco D, Samuels ML, Chou MF, Chammas R, Skog J, Zarovni N, Momen-Heravi F, Kuo WP
• Current methods for the isolation of extracellular vesicles.
  Biological chemistry 2013 Momen-Heravi F, Balaj L, Alian S, Mantel PY, Halleck AE, Trachtenberg AJ, Soria CE, Oquin S, Bonebreak CM, Saracoglu E, Skog J, Kuo WP
• A comparison of viscoelastic properties of three root canal sealers.
  Journal of dentistry (Tehran, Iran) 2013 Khedmat S, Momen-Heravi F, Pishvaei M
• Alternative methods for characterization of extracellular vesicles.
  Frontiers in physiology 2012 Momen-Heravi F, Balaj L, Alian S, Tigges J, Toxavidis V, Ericsson M, Distel RJ, Ivanov AR, Skog J, Kuo WP
• Impact of biofluid viscosity on size and sedimentation efficiency of the isolated microvesicles.
  Frontiers in physiology 2012 Momen-Heravi F, Balaj L, Alian S, Trachtenberg AJ, Hochberg FH, Skog J, Kuo WP
• Ultrasound-guided simultaneous irrigation and drainage of facial abscess.
  The Journal of craniofacial surgery 2012 Abbasi M, Bayat M, Beshkar M, Momen-Heravi F
• Comparison of aloe vera mouthwash with triamcinolone acetonide 0.1% on oral lichen planus: a randomized double-blinded clinical trial.
  The American journal of the medical sciences 2011 Mansourian A, Momen-Heravi F, Saheb-Jamee M, Esfehani M, Khalilzadeh O, Momen-Beitollahi J
• Protracted wound healing due to pro-inflammatory condition: an instance of antagonistic pleiotropy theory.
  Journal of tissue viability 2011 Momen-Heravi F
• Molecular imaging for stem cell transplantation in neuroregenerative medicine.
  Neuro-degenerative diseases 2011 Sandu N, Momen-Heravi F, Sadr-Eshkevari P, Schaller B
• Full mouth implant rehabilitation of a patient with ectodermal dysplasia after orthognathic surgery, sinus and ridge augmentation: a clinical report.
  The journal of advanced prosthodontics 2011 Bayat M, Khobyari MM, Dalband M, Momen-Heravi F
• Informed consent: dissimilar linguistic barriers in different societies.
  Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery : official journal of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 2011 Momen-Heravi F, Khalilzadeh O, Dorriz H
• Transverse displacement and angulation of the proximal segment after mandibular setback by means of bilateral intraoral vertico-sagittal ramus osteotomy.
  Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery : official journal of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 2010 Bayat M, Badri A, Momen-Heravi F, Garajei A, Asgarian A
• Genetic susceptibility to Graves' ophthalmopathy: The role of polymorphisms in anti-inflammatory cytokine genes.
  Ophthalmic genetics 2010 Khalilzadeh O, Anvari M, Esteghamati A, Momen-Heravi F, Rashidi A, Amiri HM, Tahvildari M, Mahmoudi M, Amirzargar A
• Trigeminal cardiac reflex: another all-or-none law?
  Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery : official journal of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 2010 Bohluli B, Schaller B, Sadr-Eshkevari P, Momen-Heravi F
• Assessment of salivary and serum antioxidant status in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis.
  Medicina oral, patologia oral y cirugia bucal 2010 Momen-Beitollahi J, Mansourian A, Momen-Heravi F, Amanlou M, Obradov S, Sahebjamee M
• Sandwich bone graft covered with buccal fat pad in severely atrophied edentulous maxilla: a clinical report.
  The Journal of oral implantology 2010 Khojasteh A, Mohajerani H, Momen-Heravi F, Kazemi M, Alikhasi M
• Three-dimensional accuracy of implant and abutment level impression techniques: effect on marginal discrepancy.
  The Journal of oral implantology 2010 Alikhasi M, Siadat H, Monzavi A, Momen-Heravi F
• Comparison of colchicine versus prednisolone in recurrent aphthous stomatitis: A double-blind randomized clinical trial.
  Clinical and investigative medicine. Medecine clinique et experimentale 2010 Pakfetrat A, Mansourian A, Momen-Heravi F, Delavarian Z, Momen-Beitollahi J, Khalilzadeh O, Basir-Shabestari S
• The interleukin-1 family gene polymorphisms and Graves' disease.
  Annales d'endocrinologie 2010 Khalilzadeh O, Anvari M, Esteghamati A, Momen-Heravi F, Mahmoudi M, Rashidi A, Amiri HM, Ranjbar M, Tabataba-Vakili S, Amirzargar A
• Graves' disease and gene polymorphism of TNF-α, IL-2, IL-6, IL-12, and IFN-γ.
  Endocrine 2010 Anvari M, Khalilzadeh O, Esteghamati A, Momen-Heravi F, Mahmoudi M, Esfahani SA, Rashidi A, Amirzargar A
• Comparison of conchal cartilage graft with nasal septal cartilage graft for reconstruction of orbital floor blowout fractures.
  The British journal of oral & maxillofacial surgery 2009 Bayat M, Momen-Heravi F, Khalilzadeh O, Mirhosseni Z, Sadeghi-Tari A
• A comparison of bone reconstruction following application of bone matrix gelatin and autogenous bone grafts to alveolar defects: an animal study.
  Journal of cranio-maxillo-facial surgery : official publication of the European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery 2009 Bayat M, Momen-Heravi F, Marjani M, Motahhary P
• Gene polymorphisms of interleukin-4, interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-beta in Graves' disease.
  Clinical and experimental medicine 2009 Khalilzadeh O, Anvari M, Momen-Heravi F, Esteghamati A, Rashidi A, Mahmoudi M, Nikbin B, Amirzargar A
• Methodological consideration may influence results of some HIV-related articles to be more precise and applicable in practice.
  Clinical oral investigations 2009 Ahmadi A, Momen-Heravi F
• The efficacy of a paste containing Myrtus communis (Myrtle) in the management of recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a randomized controlled trial.
  Clinical oral investigations 2009 Babaee N, Mansourian A, Momen-Heravi F, Moghadamnia A, Momen-Beitollahi J