A Monthly Digest of Noteworthy Activities and Achievements

On January 17, the Department of Medicine held its annual leadership retreat. It was an engaging, productive day spent exploring mentorship opportunities and developing strategies to bolster and nurture faculty, staff, and trainee success across all our sites. Read a summary here.

New Members of the ASCI

Alison Huang and Tien Peng were elected to the American Society for
Clinical Investigation (ASCI).

SOM Medical Education Awards

This year’s recipients of the DOM medical education awards are (pictured left to right):

• Timothy Dyster: Bridges Curriculum Award for Excellence in Small Group Instruction
• Paul Fitzgerald: Bridges Curriculum Award for Outstanding Teacher in Core Clinical Preceptorship
• Binh An Phan: Maxine Papadakis Award for Faculty Professionalism and Respect and Bridges Curriculum Award for Excellence in Innovative Teaching Modalities
• Shelene Stine: Henry J. Kaiser Award for Excellence in Teaching

Other Honors and News

Mehrdad Arjomandi has been appointed to the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Ozone Panel.

Shreya Kapoor received the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Advocacy and Community Service Award.

Jaya Mallidi received the UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award.

Anoop Muniyappa has been named the inaugural DOM Director of AI Innovation and Medical Education.

DOM in the News

Peter Chin-Hong cautioned that
COVID-19 is present in the wastewater and peaks in the winter (BBC, New York Times). He advised washing hands to avoid infections (New York Times). He also warned that pausing federal healthcare communication could promote misinformation (KQED, San Francisco Chronicle).

Stephanie Christenson explained the body’s response to pathogens in wildfire smoke (US News).

Monica Gandhi noted that, while the Surgeon General highlighted the cancer risks from alcohol, the data have been mixed (NBC News).

Eric Goosby critiqued the decrease in congressional support for AIDS relief (NPR).

Judith Hahn observed that, while long-term drinking can have negative consequences, the cancer link isn’t very well understood (CBS News).

Sunny Kishore interviewed former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (US Department of Health and Human Services).

Gregory Marcus recommended against drinking alcohol but acknowledged that light consumption has no meaningful health impact for many (Popular Science).

Rita Redberg underscored the need for an institutional review board when the FDA approves trials (AP News, U.S. News, San Francisco Chronicle).

Gina Solomon described the contamination of drinking water with toxic chemicals that frequently occurs after major wildfires (Los Angeles Times).

Leslie Suen reported that a microdosing trial for fentanyl addiction didn’t reduce withdrawal symptoms (San Francisco Chronicle).

Ethan Weiss advised doctors to focus on the drivers of high BMI rather than solely on patients’ scores (Stat News).

Recent Grants of Note

Andrew Kerkhoff: a grant of $3.8M over three years from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a project entitled, “Investigating a Novel Targeted ROllout strategy for adult and adolescent TB Vaccines for mAXimum impact: INTRO-TB-VAX Study.”

Suneil Koliwad and Peter Hunt: a grant of $3.8M over five years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for a project entitled, “Assessing the interrelationship between adipose tissue thermogenesis and fibrosis in the metabolic health of people living with HIV.”

Gregory Marcus: a grant of $2.6M over five years from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for a project entitled, “Digital interventions to study and influence the alcohol-atrial fibrillation connection.”

Recent Publications of Note

Arce MM, Umhoefer JM, Arang N... Carnevale J... Marson A. Central control of dynamic gene circuits governs T cell rest and activation. Nature. 2025 Jan;637:930-939. >> PubMed Citation

Auerbach AD, Schnipper JL. Creating diagnostic tests for diagnostic errors. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Feb 1;185:151-152. >> PubMed Citation

Bicki AC, Grimes B, McCulloch CE, Copeland TP, Ku E. Dialysis facility staffing ratios and kidney transplant access among adolescents and young adults. JAMA. 2024 Dec 17;332:2003-2013. >> PubMed Citation

Dufault SM, Davies GR, Svensson EM... Phillips PPJ. Analysis of time-to-positivity data in tuberculosis treatment studies: Identifying a new limit of quantification. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2025 Feb;65:107404. >> PubMed Citation

Garcia ME, Ochoa-Frongia L, Neuhaus J... Feldman MD... Appelle N, Karliner LS. Depression treatment after a positive depression screen result. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Feb 1;185:221-229. >> PubMed Citation

Hargrave AS, Garcia CM, Birkmeyer JA, DeGaetano A, Kushel M. Experience of violence during homelessness. JAMA Intern Med. 2024 Dec 1;184:1474-1477. >> PubMed Citation

Koshkin VS, Danchaivijitr P, Bae WK... Pembrolizumab retreatment in patients with advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma who responded to first-course pembrolizumab-based therapy. Eur Urol. 2024 Dec 20. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Lydon EC, Phan HV, Mick E, Spottiswoode N, Calfee CS... Langelier CR. Pulmonary FABP4 is an inverse biomarker of pneumonia in critically ill children and adults. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2024 Dec 15;210:1480-1483. >> PubMed Citation

Lyu A, Fan Z, Clark M... Fong L. Evolution of myeloid-mediated immunotherapy resistance in prostate cancer. Nature. 2025 Jan;637:1207-1217. >> PubMed Citation

Rugo HS, Lerebours F, Ciruelos E... Alpelisib plus fulvestrant in PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor-positive advanced breast cancer after a CDK4/6 inhibitor (BYLieve): one cohort of a phase 2, multicentre, open-label, non-comparative study. Lancet Oncol. 2024 Dec;25:e629-e638. >> PubMed Citation

Santoyo-Olsson J, Li L, Harrison KL. Optimizing care planning for older adults in primary care. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Feb 1;185:171-172. >> PubMed Citation

Tsao T, Buck AM, Grimbert L... Fehrman EA, Dalhuisen T, Hsue PY, Kelly JD... Deeks SG, Hunt PW, Peluso MJ... Henrich TJ. Long COVID is associated with lower percentages of mature, cytotoxic NK cell phenotypes. J Clin Invest. 2024 Dec 17. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

See all 204 DOM-authored publications from last month.

Featured Events

Celebrate Black History Month
Honor and uplift Black narratives and celebrate a rich cultural heritage that has profound societal impacts.
Various events at various dates.
Click here for more information.

Do I Need This? Film Screening
This documentary about consumerism follows one family’s emotional journey as aging parents downsize into assisted living amid illness.
Thursday, February 13 | 4:00-6:00 pm
Click here to reserve a spot.

State of the Department
DOM Chair Bob Wachter’s annual address will be delivered in a hybrid format and recorded for later viewing.
Tuesday, March 18 | 12:00-1:00 pm
In-person at S-214 (Parnassus) or join via Zoom.

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