Fall 2025 Awardees

Academic Senate Awardees (AS)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Zeinab Kosibaty, PhD
Targeting DNA Polymerase Epsilon (POLE) to Overcome Replication Stress Tolerance in CIC: DUX4 Sarcomas
SOM: Medicine

Pilot for Established Investigators

Judith Ashouri-SInha, MD
Gut-Thymus Crosstalk in Regulating CD4 T Cell Selection and Tolerance Thresholds
SOM: Medicine

Susanne Martin Herz, MD, PhD
Identification of and care pathways for children with sensory impairment in Harare, Zimbabwe: A pilot study.
SOM: Pediatrics

Snehlata Oberoi, DDS*
Enhancing Orthodontic Patient Compliance Through Digital Health and Medical Devices
SOD: Orofacial Sciences
*(Co-funded by Dentistry Research)

Linda Park, PhD, NP, FAAN
The Healthy Heart Program: Development of a Digital Health Secondary Prevention Program for Patients with Cardiovascular Disease
SON: Community Health Systems

Glenn Milo Santos, PhD, MPH
SMART Study: Sweat Monitoring and Antecedents for meth use in Real Time
SON: Community Health Systems

Renuka Sriram, PhD
Development of metabolic imaging biomarkers to detect castration resistance development using fatty acid dysregulation in prostate cancer
SOM: Radiology

Shared Technology Awards

Charles Hart, PhD
Shared Technology for Maintaining UCSF Small Molecule Discovery Library Integrity
SOP: Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Team Science Grant

Paula Braveman, MD, MPH
Improving Maternal and Infant Health Data Collection Methods in Health Surveys
SOM: Family & Community Medicine

Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC)

Alzheimer Disease Research Center (ADRC) Developmental Projects

Shea Andrews, PhD
Validation and Co-design of a Genomic-Exposome Dementia Risk Assessment
SOM: Psychiatry

Matthew Growdon, MD, MPH
Overcoming Siloed Dementia Care at UCSF: A Learning Health System Approach
SOM: Medicine

Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Jennifer Yarger, PhD
Youth-Driven Development of an Intervention to Improve Access to State Family Planning Programs Among Community College Students
SOM: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Cancer Center-Support Grant (CC-CCSG)

Global Cancer Pilot Award

Anya Platt, MD*
Evaluating Outcomes in Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation by Donor Type
SOM: Pediatrics
*(Co-funded by IGHS)

UCSF-Bay Area Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)

Mentored Scientist Award Program in HIV/AIDS

Daniel Lyons, MD, PhD
Predicting phenotype from genotype in HIV capsid and integrase
SOM: Medicine

Judith Namanya, PhD
HIV and Female Genital Fistula: Co-morbidity and Integrated Care Opportunities in East Africa
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology & Medicine (CCMBM)

Pilot for Established Investigators

Alexandra Gersing, MD, PhD
Artificial Intelligence–Enabled Magnetic Resonance Muscle Biomarkers to Improve Selection of Non-Opioid Therapies for Low Back Pain: A Pilot Study in Personalized Pain Medicine
SOM: Radiology

Victor Cheuy, PhD
Unraveling Foot Muscle Pathology in Diabetic Neuropathy and Chronic Kidney Disease to Prevent Amputations
SOM: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science

UCSF School of Dentistry-Research

Pilot for Established Investigators

Snehlata Oberoi, DDS*
Enhancing Orthodontic Patient Compliance Through Digital Health and Medical Devices
SOD: Orofacial Sciences
*(Co-funded by Academic Senate)

Global Cancer Program (GCP-HDFCCC)

Mentored Scientist Award in Global Health Research

Kimberly Badal, PhD*
Enhancing Orthodontic Patient Compliance Through Digital Health and Medical Devices
SOM: Surgery
*(Co-funded by IGHS)

UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS)

Mentored Scientist Award in Global Health Research

Kimberly Badal, PhD*
Enhancing Orthodontic Patient Compliance Through Digital Health and Medical Devices
SOM: Surgery
*(Co-funded by IGHS)

Anya Platt, MD*
Evaluating Outcomes in Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation by Donor Type
SOM: Pediatrics
*(Co-funded by CC-CCSG)

Mentored Scientist Award in Tuberculosis

Mollie Hudson, PhD, NP*
Cost and cost-effectiveness of the Bolsa Familia Program for reducing tuberculosis incidence and mortality
SON: Social & Behavioral Sciences
*(Co-funded by UCSF Ctr. for Tuberculosis)

Joshi Hemant, PhD*
Unlocking the Potential of Novel Streptogramins for Tuberculosis Treatment: in vivo efficacy and mechanistic structural investigations
SOM: Medicine
*(Co-funded by UCSF Ctr. for Tuberculosis)

Mount Zion Health Fund (MZHF)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Kara Brodie, MD, MPH
Efficacy of smartphone-based otoacoustic emission testing of preschool children in the community setting
SOM: Otolaryngology

Nicole Jiam, MD
Longitudinal Mapping of Electric-Auditory Integration in Single-Sided Deafness
SOM: Otolaryngology

Sakeen Kashem, MD, PhD
Targeting inhibitory nociceptive pathways to treat skin inflammation.
SOM: Dermatology

Ophelia Yin, MD
Single-cell Transcriptomic Immune Profiling of Preeclampsia in Pregnancy
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Team Science Grant

George Sawaya, MD
Understanding preferences for at-home human papillomavirus (HPV) testing in high-risk patients
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

UCSF Pancreas Center Program

Mentored Scientist Award in Pancreas Cancer

Anil Bidkar, PhD
Development of ALPPL2-Targeted Molecular Imaging and Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer
SOM: Pathology

Soeun Kang, PhD, MPH
Unraveling a novel function for TTYH3 in lysosomal retinol metabolism and PDAC progression
SOM: Anatomy

Nicholas Kuhn, PhD
Identify fibroblast-derived mediators of communication to other members of the tumor microenvironment
SOM: Pathology

Research Evaluation & Allocation Committee SOM (REAC)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Alison Comfort, PhD
Delays in Care-Seeking for Urinary Incontinence: The Influence of Social Networks
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Peng He, PhD
Dissecting Tumor–Bone Communication Driving Neuroendocrine Transdifferentiation in Prostate Cancer Using Dual-Species Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics
SOM: Pathology

Phuong Hoang, MD, PhD
Peripheral immune differences in slow versus fast Parkinson’s Disease progression
SOM: Neurology

Oriana Kreutzfeld, PhD
Deciphering mechanisms of action and resistance for novel 4-aminoquinoline anti-malarials
SOM: Medicine/ZSFG-AIDS

Carson Moseley, MD, PhD
DR4 Supertype HLAs activate pathogenic T cells in MOGAD
SOM: Neurology

Takahide Nejo, MD, PhD
Next-generation single-cell and spatial transcriptomic technologies for monitoring engineered immune cell therapy in glioblastoma.
SOM: Neurological Surgery

Daniel Shapiro, MD, MPH
Comparing approaches to post-discharge follow-up care for children with bronchiolitis
SOM: Emergency Medicine

Shantel Weinsheimer, PhD
Molecular Profiling in Cerebral Cavernous Malformation
SOM: Anesthesia & Perioperative Care

Pilot for Established Investigators

Judith Hahn, PhD
Pilot study to explore patients’ attitudes towards alcohol use screening (ATLAS) by self-report and an alcohol biomarker
SOM: Medicine

Joan Jeung, MD, MPH
Building Child and Family Resilience in Primary Care: A Program Evaluation of the Resilience Clinic
SOM: Pediatrics

Paul Krezanoski, MD
Peri-domestic microclimate and malaria risk in the setting of LLIN use in Uganda
SOM: Medicine

Jennifer Lai, MD, MBA
Feasibility of a Digital Rehabilitation and Nutritional Supplementation Program to Address Frailty in Older Adults with Cirrhosis
SOM: Medicine

Mark Petersen, MD
Neurovascular mechanisms of fetal brain injury in maternal immune activation
SOM: Pediatrics

Team Science Grant

Laura Huppert, MD
Defining immune responses in patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) in combination with chemotherapy or endocrine therapy
SOM: Medicine

UCSF Center for Tuberculosis

Mentored Scientist Award in Tuberculosis

Mollie Hudson, PhD, NP, RN*
Cost and cost-effectiveness of the Bolsa Familia Program for reducing tuberculosis incidence and mortality
SON: Social & Behavioral Sciences
*(Co-funded by IGHS)

Hemant Joshi, PhD*
Unlocking the Potential of Novel Streptogramins for Tuberculosis Treatment: in vivo efficacy and mechanistic structural investigations
SOM: Medicine
*(Co-funded by IGHS)

Ada Kwan, PhD
Variations in Provider Knowledge under California’s Tuberculosis Prevention Policy (KNOW-TB)
SOM: Medicine