Spring 2026 Awardees

NOTE: To protect applicant privacy, the eight recipients of the Family Support, Hardship, and Independence Support Award grant mechanisms have not been posted. The Academic Senate supported two Hardship Awards and REAC supported four Hardship and two Independence Support Awards.

Academic Senate Awardees (AS)

Mentored Scientist Award in Global Health Research

Lila Sheira, PhD, MPH* 
Building a Full-Spectrum Sexual Health Service Model: Feasibility of Pharmacy-Based STI Testing for Ugandan Adolescent Girls and Young Women
SON: Institute for Health & Aging
(*Co-funded by Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS))

Pilot for Established Investigators

ShihChuan Chou, MD, MPH 
Advanced Practice Clinicians in Emergency Care – A Pilot Study Examining Medicare Billing Practices
SOM: Emergency Medicine

Alison El Ayadi, ScD
Multi-level Influences on Female Urinary Incontinence Care-Seeking: A Qualitative Study
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Julie Sneddon, PhD
Charting the Developmental Origins and Fate Decisions of Human Pancreatic Endocrine Cells
SOD: Cell & Tissue Biology

Hua Su, MD
Association of extracellular matrix stiffness with the hemorrhage of brain arteriovenous malformation 
SOM: Anesthesia & Perioperative Care

Jenise Wong, MD, PhD
Highlighting Education and Awareness of Cardiovascular Risks with Touchpoints in Type 1 Diabetes (HEART-T1D)- A Pilot Study 
SOM: Pediatrics
 

UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS)

CAPS Research Award: Innovative Pilot Study (non-mentored)

Hannah Leslie, PhD, MPH
Doula PrEP Connect: Piloting a Community-Based Strategy to Expand HIV Prevention for Black Women in Mississippi
SOM: Medicine

CAPS Research Award: Mentored Science Award

Yasaswi Kislovskiy, MD, MSc 
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Strengthen Pharmacy Communication and Close the HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Gap
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science


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

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Beiqun Zhao, MD 
Leveraging Digital Health Solutions to Collect Patient-Reported Outcomes in Rectal Cancer
SOM: Surgery
 

Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine (CCMBM)

Pilot for Established Investigators 

Dennis Black, PhD*
Developing new methods to assess bone density and microstructure in the clinic: photon counting computed tomography in patients with acute hip fractures
SOM: Epidemiology & Biostatistics
(*Co-funded by Research Evaluation & Allocation Committee SOM (REAC))
 

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

Mentored Scientist Award Program in HIV/AIDS

Maria Duarte, MD 
Gut Microbial Determinants of Immune Activation and Liver Disease in Virologically Suppressed HIV
SOM: Medicine

Jennifer Jain, PhD, MPH
Quantifying Cumulative Drug Concentrations in Hair among Women Living with HIV Who Use Drugs in the San Francisco Bay Area
SON: Community Health Systems

Julia Prigann, PhD
Modeling the effect of chronic HIV infection and inflammation on intestinal epithelial regeneration 
SOM: Gladstone Institute of Virology

Lauren Suchman, PhD
Treating Menopause Matters: Investigating music therapy as a tool for menopause symptom management among women living with HIV in San Francisco
SON: Institute for Health & Aging
 

Clinical & Translational Science Institute - CTSI Pilot Awards

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Semil Choksi, PhD 
Selective mRNA translation as a novel mechanism for coordinating multiciliated cell differentiation
SOD: Cell & Tissue Biology

Susan Gutierrez, MD
Bridging the Guideline-to-Practice Gap: Caregiver and Provider Perspectives on CLABSI Prevention in Pediatric Intestinal Failure
SOM: Pediatrics

Carolyn Harris, PhD, RN
Elucidation of the Molecular Mechanisms of Symptom Burden in Patients with Cancer: A Multi-Staged Data-Integrated Multi-Omics Analysis
SON: Physiological Nursing

Kristen Mengwasser, MD, PhD
Defining Antigen-Specific T Cell Clonotypes in Rheumatoid Arthritis Synovial Fluid
SOM: Medicine

An Vu, PhD
Development of mesoscale ADC-fMRI on the NexGen 7T
SOM: Radiology

Danielle Williamson, MD, PhD
Cell-free RNA as a window into the role of platelets as regulators of homeostasis
SOM: Anesthesia & Perioperative Care
 

UCSF School of Dentistry - Research

Team Science Grant

Nisarg Patel, MD, DMD
High-Resolution Quantitative MRI for Algorithm-Guided Detection and Longitudinal Validation of Early TMJ Degeneration
SOD: Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
 

UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences - (IGHS)

Mentored Scientist Award in Global Health Research

Amy Davis, MD, PhD
Maternal immune correlates of protection against congenital cytomegalovirus transmission 
SOM: Pediatrics

Rachel Koch, MD
Scaling up Life-Saving Surgical Care: Transforming Care of Injured Patients in East Africa through Workforce Education, Partnerships, and Local System Development 
SOM: Surgery

Lila Sheira, PhD, MPH*
Building a Full-Spectrum Sexual Health Service Model: Feasibility of Pharmacy-Based STI Testing for Ugandan Adolescent Girls and Young Women
SON: Institute for Health & Aging
(*Co-funded by Academic Senate)

Mentored Scientist Award in Tuberculosis

Mark Warden, PhD, MPH*
The RS ratio as a novel treatment response biomarker in pediatric pulmonary tuberculosis in Kampala, Uganda
SOM: Institute for Global Health Sciences
(*Co-funded by Tuberculosis Center)


Mount Zion Health Fund (MZHF)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Rachel Waldemer-Streyer, MD, PhD
Rasgrp1 in skin stem cell fitness and fate 
SOM: Dermatology

Pilot for Established Investigators

Maria Garcia, MD, MPH 
Toward Antidepressant Stewardship in Primary Care: Prescribing Patterns and Deprescribing Determinants After Universal Depression Screening
SOM: Medicine

Jennifer James, PhD
Linking Culture, Structure and Care: Navigating Biomedical and Integrative Perinatal Care among Asian Americans
SON: Institute for Health & Aging


UCSF Pancreas Center Program 

Mentored Scientist Award in Diseases of the Pancreas

Jie Liu, PhD
Helicase-enabled covalent RNA inhibitors for pancreatic cancer drug discovery
SOM: Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology

Pilot Award for Diseases of the Pancreas

Elena Portacolone, PhD
Bridging research and policy to support older adults living alone with pancreatic cancer
SON: Institute for Health & Aging
 

Research Evaluation & Allocation Committee SOM (REAC)

Pilot for Early Career Investigators

Serine Avagyan, MD, PhD
Perinatal inflammation as a risk factor for neonatal pre-leukemic clonal hematopoiesis
SOM: Pediatrics

Joline Fan, MD
Intrinsic Sleep Instability as a Driver of Network Excitability in Focal Epilepsy
SOM: Neurology

Margaret (Waru) Gichane, PhD
Economic Empowerment and Mental Health Among Emerging Adults
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Xiaodan Liu, MD
Exploring association between water/fluid flow dynamics disturbance and amyloid-related imaging abnormalities in Alzheimer’s disease using deuterated water labeled MRI
SOM: Radiology

Guangyi Wang, PhD
The End of Pandemic-Era Free School Meals and Children’s Diet Quality: A Natural Experiment
SOM: Institute for Health Policy Studies

Pilot for Established Investigators

Dennis Black, PhD*
Developing new methods to assess bone density and microstructure in the clinic: photon counting computed tomography in patients with acute hip fractures
SOM: Epidemiology & Biostatistics
(*Co-funded by Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology & Medicine (CCMBM))

Joel Ernst, MD
Bidirectional communication between T cells and macrophages in tuberculosis
SOM: Medicine

Heather Huddleston, MD
Investigating Implications of Long-term Levonorgestrel Intrauterine Device Use on Reproductive Outcomes and Endometrial Health
SOM: Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Science

Anil Makam, MD, MPH
Effect of Medicaid Formulary Coverage on Access to Cardioprotective Diabetes Medications
SOM: Medicine

Todd Nystul, PhD
The role of intracellular pH dynamics in the regulation of granulosa cell development by FoxL2
SOM: Anatomy

Kartika Palar, PhD
Housing Precarity and Food is Medicine: A Qualitative Implementation Science Study to Inform Equitable Program Adaptation
SOM: Medicine

Anne Richards, MD, MPH
A Pilot Study of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Trauma Nightmares: Studying Plasticity and it Benefits through the Window of Sleep
SOM: Psychiatry

Isabel Rodriguez Barraquer, MD, PhD
Quantifying the impact of R21/Matrix-M vaccination in areas of varied malaria transmission in Uganda
SOM: Medicine

Ralph Wang, MD
Feasibility and Timing Analysis of Naloxone in Opioid-Associated Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest 
SOM: Emergency Medicine

Team Science Grant

Peder Larson, PhD
Precision Imaging of Cardiotoxicity: Metabolic MR Biomarkers for Pathophysiology, Early Detection, and Cardio protection effect monitoring
SOM: Radiology


Research Resource Program (CORE-RRP)

Core Award for Research and Development (CARD)

Rosemary Akhurst, PhD 
Improving and expanding preclinical ultrasonography service at UCSF
SOM: Anatomy

Darren Dumlao, PhD 
Development of a Comprehensive Mass Spectral Library to Enhance Exploratory and Quantitative Metabolomics
SOM: Medicine
 

UCSF Center for Tuberculosis

Mentored Scientist Award in Tuberculosis

Christian Canice, PhD
Designing climate adaptive strategies to mitigate the impact of extreme weather events on tuberculosis treatment and prevention in Zimbabwe
SOM: Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Josephine Reijneveld, PhD
High-throughput CRISPR knockout screen in human primary myeloid cells to uncover novel host directed therapy targets for Tuberculosis treatment
SOM: Medicine

Mark Warden, PhD, MPH*
The RS ratio as a novel treatment response biomarker in pediatric pulmonary tuberculosis in Kampala, Uganda
SOM: Institute for Global Health Sciences
(*Co-funded by Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS))