Arghavan Salles is a Clinical Associate Professor and Special Advisor for Culture and Community Building at the University of California Medical Research Institute. He is originally from Iran, from where he emigrated with his mother in 1985 when he was five years old, during the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The emigration was motivated by a combination of factors, including the desire to obtain a doctorate and leave the political regime. After emigrating, both made it to the state of Iowa. Salles is dedicated to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in healthcare and medical research. His work focuses on the relationship between the perception of stereotypes and the view of the value of diversity in the medical environment.