Spring 2024 Awardees

Academic Senate Awardees (AS)

Pilot for Anti-Racism Research

Kim Rhoads, MD, MPH
Abundant Life HEALS:  Abundant Life Health Equity Action Leaders (HEALERS) in Breast Cancer
SOM: Epidemiology & Biostatistics
+(Co-funded by NCOEWH)

Pilot Award for Pancreas Cancer

Keith Mostov, MD, PhD
Use of polymeric immunoglobulin receptor for delivery of antibodies to the cytoplasm
SOM: Anatomy

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Alexandra Lee, PhD, MSPH
Use of SGLT2 Inhibitors and GLP-1 Receptor Agonists in Nursing Home Residents with Diabetes
SOM: Medicine

Elizabeth “Betsy” Young, MD
Defining the role of cGAS-STING in the osteosarcoma bone microenvironment
SOM: Pediatrics

Pilot for Established Investigators

Liusheng Huang, PhD
Dried blood spot analysis of alkylating agents for neonatal and pediatric pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic research
SOP: Clinical Pharmacy

Sarah Knox, PhD
Long-term functional regeneration of the damaged cornea through a multiple drug-release hydrogel
SOD: Cell & Tissue Biology

Cherry Leung, PhD, RN
The role of cortisol in the relationships between the gut microbiome and adolescent depression SON: Community Health Systems

Saidas Nair, PhD
Determining Genetic Factors Contributing to Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration
SOM: Ophthalmology

Team Science Grant

Rosemary Akhurst, PhD
Mechanistic and therapeutic investigation of integrin b8 interaction with genotoxic therapies in HPV negative squamous cell carcinomas.
SOM: Anatomy

Monika Sarkar, MD, MAS*
Influence of Fatty Liver and PFAS Exposures in Pregnancy on Postpartum Metabolic Health in the Mother-Infant Dyad.
SOM: Medicine
* Diversity Supplement Awardee

Under-represented Faculty in Clinical & Translational Research

Stanley Vance, Jr., MD
Gender Affirmation Among Asian American and Pacific Islander Transgender Youth
SOM: Pediatrics

Cancer Center- Cancer Center Support Grant (CC-CCSG)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Bridget Keenan, MD, PhD
Investigating Virus-Specific T Cell and Myeloid Cell Interactions to Personalize Cancer Immunotherapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma
SOM: Medicine

Clinical & Translational Science Institute – CTSI Team Science Program

Pilot for Anti-Racism Research

April Bell, PhD, MPH
For Us by Us: Black Girls Defining Sexual and Reproductive Well-being
SOM: Family Community Medicine

Tasce Bongiovanni, MD
A Community-Based Approach to Combatting Anti-Asian Racism experienced by Cantonese-speaking Chinese Older Adults After Traumatic Injury
SOM: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Nicholas Rubashkin, MD, PhD
The UCSF Better Birth Options Study: developing an anti-racist intervention for use along the post-cesarean care continuum
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS)

CAPS- Mentored Scientist Award Program in HIV/AIDS

Nicky Mehtani, MD, MPH
Evaluating the Utility of Biomarkers in the Context of Ketamine Therapy for Methamphetamine Use Disorder & HIV Prevention
SOM: Medicine

Pilot for Established Investigators

Ellen Herbst, MD
Tailoring Smoking Cessation Treatment for Veterans Living with HIV: A Mixed Methods Study
SOM: Psychiatry

UCSF - Gladstone Institute of Virology & Immunology Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)

Gilead HIV Cure Mentored Scientist Award

Ifeanyi Ezeonwumelu, PhD
Evaluation of immune-mediated depletion of CD127+ tissue reservoirs as an HIV cure strategy UCSF Affiliate: Gladstone Institutes

International Mentored Scientist Award Program in HIV/AIDS

Maureen Akolo, PhD, MPH
“For Us by Us:” A Peer-led Community-Informed Exploratory Study to Increase HIV-Self Testing and PrEP Uptake Among Men who have Sex with Men in Nairobi, Kenya
UCSF Affiliate: IGHS

Mary Kagujje
“For Us by Us:” A Peer-led Community-Informed Exploratory Study to Increase HIV-Self Testing and PrEP Uptake Among Men who have Sex with Men in Nairobi, Kenya
UCSF Affiliate: IGHS

Judith Amutuhaire Ssemasaazi, MBCHB, MSc
Assessment of chronic kidney disease and its progression among older people living with HIV in Uganda
UCSF Affiliate: UC-Glo Cal Scholar

Mentored Scientist Award Program in HIV/AIDS

Fatoumatta Darboe, PhD
Modulating effects of HIV infection and early ART initiation on Immune dysfunction and TB risk
SOM: Medicine

Cristina Espinosa da Silva, PhD, MPH
Exploring the Benefit of Machine Learning to Predict Biomarker-Measured Alcohol Use, Opioid Use, and Co-Use via Routinely Collected Biological Data in the All of Us Research Program
SOM: Medicine

Kristopher Jackson, PhD
HIV and STI prevention practices among in-person and digital male sex workers who have sex with men (MSMSW) in the United States
SOM: Medicine

Gema Méndez-Lagares, PhD
Immunodominance and CD8+ T-cell avidity in mRNA vs. Ad vaccine efficacy and viral evasion
SOM: Microbiology & Immunology

Pilot Award for Investigators New to HIV

Erica Sedlander, DrPH, MPH
Understanding Women Living with HIV’s Perceptions of the Relationship between  HIV, ART, and Fertility
SON: Institute for Health & Aging

Pilot for Established Investigators

Bani Tamraz, PharmD, PhD
A genomic-pharmacometabolomic investigation of tenofovir, a commonly prescribed anti-HIV medication
SOP: Clinical Pharmacy

Clinical & Translational Science Institute-CTSI Pilot Awards

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Valerie Block, PT, DPTSc
Exploring Clinical Utility of Wearables for the Bladder in Pelvic Health Physical Therapy Clinics
SOM: Physical Therapy & Rehab Science

Caterina Mosti, PhD
Measurement of Insomnia-Related Cognitive Dysfunction Using Natural Language Processing:
A Novel Approach

SOM: Psychiatry

Eugene Ozhinsky, PhD
Development of a Combined Structural/Functional MRI Pipeline for Evaluation of Patients with Cervical Spine Degenerative Disorders
SOM: Radiology

Priya Prasad, PhD, MPH
Defining Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) Burden and Identifying Predictors of VT Burden among Hospitalized Patients
SOM: Medicine

Joseph Rohr, MD, PhD
Unbiased Proteomics for Target Discovery in Archival Primary Human Myeloproliferative Malignancies
SOM: Laboratory Medicine

Jet Vonk, PhD
Advancing the Detection of Early Alzheimer’s Disease with Digital Speech Markers
SOM: Neurology

Team Science Grant

Sunita Ho, PhD, MS
Impact of Exogenous Loads on Human Condylar Composition and Morphology, and TMJ Kinematics
SOD: Preventive & Restorative Dental Science

Under-represented Faculty in Clinical & Translational Research

Mauro Caffarelli, MD
Quantitative Electroencephalography (EEG) for Stroke Detection in Pediatric Extracorporeal Life Support
SOM: Neurology

UCSF Clinical Pharmacology Research Laboratory (CPRL)

Pilot Award for Utility of Biomarkers in Substance Abuse Research

Leslie Suen, MD, MAS
Optimizing Comprehensive drug Testing for Overdose Prevention Using Substance use biomarkers (OCTOPUS)
SOM: Medicine

Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine (CCMBM)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Kelly Wentworth, MD
Identifying Therapies for Fibrous Dysplasia of the Bone Using a Drug Repositioning Strategy
SOM: Medicine

Mount Zion Health Fund (MZHF)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Irum Khan, MD, PhD
Describing the Practice of Supraglottic Airway Device Use and Selection in the United States: An MPOG Study.
SOM: Anesthesia & Perioperative Care

Zoe Kopp, MD
Exploring First Person Pronoun Use by Clinicians in the Electronic Medical Record and its Effects on the Perceived Clinician-Patient Relationship
SOM: Medicine

Qihui Lyu, PhD
Treatment verification and dose tracking for prostate cancer patients under High Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy
SOM: Radiation Oncology

Lisa Rotenstein, MD, MBA​*
Disparities in Asynchronous Care Delivery: Characterization and Causes
SOM: Medicine
​* Diversity Supplement Awardee

Pilot for Established Investigators

Jean-Philippe Coppé, PhD    
Kinome-guided precision medicine approach to design novel combination therapies for pediatric diffuse midline glioma
SOM: Laboratory Medicine

Grace Lin, MD, MAS
Towards Personalized Cancer Screening Recommendations in Older Adults
SOM: Medicine

Denise Muñoz, PhD 
Novel role of ThPOK/ZBTB7B, a CD4+ cell lineage commitment factor, as a guardian of epithelial states in mammary carcinoma cells
SOM: Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Tiffany Scharschmidt, MD
Defining the role of recent thymic emigrant naïve CD4+ T cells in early life peripheral immune tolerance
SOM: Dermatology

Under-represented Faculty in Clinical and Translational Research Awards
Paola Betancur, PhD
Profiling the CD47 immuno therapeutic target across tumor immune subtypes: A novel approach for predicting efficacy of cancer therapies
SOM: Radiation Oncology

National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health (NCOEWH)

Pilot for Anti-Racism Research

Kim Rhoads, MD, MPH
Abundant Life HEALS:  Abundant Life Health Equity Action Leaders (HEALERS) in Breast Cancer
SOM: Epidemiology & Biostatistics
+(Co-funded by Academic Senate)

Pilot for Established Investigators

Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH
Telehealth for Medication Abortion in the U.S.
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Research Evaluation & Allocation Committee SOM (REAC)

Independence Support Award

Joseph Sabatino Jr., MD, PhD
A humanized model of myelin-specific CD8+ T cells in multiple sclerosis
SOM: Neurology

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Judith Ashouri-SInha, MD
Endogenous retroviruses shape the autoimmune response in a mouse model for autoimmune arthritis
SOM: Medicine

Michael Waterfield, MD, PhD
Runx1 control of Thymic Epithelial Lung Mimetic Cells and Immune Tolerance
SOM: Pediatrics

Pilot for Established Investigators

Lauren Haack, PhD​*
Empowering newcomer VOICES by implementing and evaluating a trauma-informed and gender- responsive group intervention in school and school based health center sites (VOCES-LITE)
SOM: Psychiatry
* Diversity Supplement Awardee

Galen Joseph, PhD
Prenatal Genetic Counseling and Medical Documentation in the Post-Roe Era
SOM: Anthropology, History & Social Medicine

Katrina Kimport, PhD
Examining the Impact of Dobbs on Later Abortion Demand and Patient Characteristics through a Case Study of a Large Abortion Fund
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Xuhui Liu, MD
Fibro/adipogenic progenitor (FAP) in neuro-muscular junction health with ALS
SOM: Orthopaedic Surgery

Rita Mukhtar, MD
B-BRITE Study: Bariatric Breast Results in Testing Experience
SOM: Surgery

Mercedes Paredes, MD, PhD*
Resolving signatures of astrocyte dysfunction and somatic mosaicism at the single-cell level in drug-resistant epilepsy using spatial transcriptomics
SOM: Neurology
* Diversity Supplement Awardee

Laura Plantinga, PhD
Inclusion of the Patient Care Technician in Interdisciplinary Hemodialysis Care Conferences
SOM: Medicine

James Rubenstein, MD, PhD
Determination of the Efficacy of TLR 7/8 Agonists in Preclinical Models of Brain Tumors
SOM: Medicine

Anne Schafer, MD
Effects of GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Therapy on Bone Remodeling in Humans
SOM: Medicine

Jenise Wong, MD, PhD
Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes Virtual Peer Group Pilot Study (Virtual-T1DTOC): Feasibility and Acceptability in a Transitions of Care Model
SOM: Pediatrics

Team Science Grant

Matthew Growdon, MD
Potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults with chronic kidney disease: examining outcomes across the spectrum of kidney function
SOM: Medicine

Jeffrey Whitman, MD
Improving Antituberculosis Drug Monitoring for Personalized Medicine
SOM: Laboratory Medicine
+ (Co-funded by UCSF Center for Tuberculosis)

UCSF Center for Tuberculosis

Mentored Scientist Award in Tuberculosis

Christopher Rae, PhD
Testing the role of newly discovered components of an M. tuberculosis multiprotein efflux pump in virulence and antibiotic susceptibility
UCSF Affiliate: UC Berkeley – Molecular & Cell Biology

Mentored Under-represented Scientist Award in Tuberculosis

Martineau Louine, MD
Host Response to Tuberculous Meningitis and Correlation with Clinical Outcomes
SOM: Neurology

Paul Ogongo, PhD
T cell responses induced by two-dose BCG vaccination in BCG-naïve healthy adults in the United States
SOM: Medicine

Team Science Grant

Jeffrey Whitman, MD
Improving Antituberculosis Drug Monitoring for Personalized Medicine
SOM: Laboratory Medicine
(Co-funded by Research Evaluation & Allocation Committee SOM (REAC))