A Monthly Digest of Noteworthy Activities and Achievements

In 2025, the DOM remained among the nation's top research departments, ranking #2 in NIH funding – a reflection of both the quality of our science and our commitment to sustaining our research enterprise despite the challenging policy environment. Read more in this year’s DOM Research Metrics Report.

Honors and News

Mark Anderson has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Jake Hawksworth has
been appointed manager
of the Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health.

Chancellor Awards

Carina Marquez (left) and Robert W. Williams (center) each received the UCSF Chancellor Award for Public Service, and Maria Novelero (right) received the UCSF Chancellor Award for Exceptional University Management.

SPIRIT of DOM Awards

The Spirit of DOM Award celebrates exceptional DOM staff members for their dedication, service, and lasting impact on our community. The Spring 2026 awardees are Nneka Emenyonu (left; HIV, Infectious Diseases & Global Medicine, ZSFG) and Annie Wang (right; Cardiology, UCSF Health). Read about the winners here.

Other Honors and News

Kenneth Covinsky was named the 2026 Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Distinguished Professor of Geriatrics.

Joel Ernst has been elected an honorary member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).

Mitch Feldman received the Association of Chiefs and Leaders in General Internal Medicine (ACLGIM) Chief’s Recognition Award.

Jin Ge has been appointed vice chair of the Clinical Informatics and Digital Health Special Interest Group of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

Adali Martinez and Vuong Do were named Emerging Health Equity Scholars by the UCSF Multiethnic Health Equity Research Center.

Kristen Mengwasser received the UCSF School of Medicine Irene Perstein Award.

Payam Nahid received the American Thoracic Society World Lung Health Award.

Binh Phan received the Excellence in Teaching for Clinical Faculty Award from the UCSF School of Medicine Graduating Class of 2026.

Neil Powe received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Prescott Woodruff received the American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments.

ZSFG Medicine Faculty Awards

Congratulations to those honored with 2026 Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Medicine Faculty Awards!

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award: Triveni DeFries
Clinical Innovator Award: Anna Chodos
Care Experience Award: Tessa Kaplan
Outstanding Junior Investigator Award: Andrew Kerkhoff
Professional Altruism Award: Niharika Dixit
John Murray, MD Award for Excellence in Internal Medicine: Margot Kushel
Henry F. Chambers, MD Medicine Subspecialty Consultant Award: Colin Feuille
Performance/Quality Improvement Award: Jamie Yao
Clinical Fellow Award: Luis Garcia
Jane Bailowitz, MD Volunteer Medicine Faculty Award: Oliver Bacon
Distinction in Medical Education Award: Harini Sarathy
Mentoring Award: Rebeccah Brusca

Fellow Awards

Our fellows are integral to the department, contributing their expertise and dedication to patient care and the broader UCSF mission. Each year, our internal medicine residents honor fellows from each division.

This year’s awardees are (pictured top to bottom, left to right): Fellow of the Year, Ilias Nikolakopoulos (cardiology); Fellow Award recipients Hope Caughron (cardiac electrophysiology), Catherine Gordon (palliative care), Alexander Kostrinsky-Thomas (clinical informatics), Kara Lau (rheumatology), Cesar Lopez (infectious diseases), Trisha Macrae (pulmonary), Noam Margalit (geriatrics), Molly McCallum (endocrinology), Meghan Murphy (addiction medicine), Ava Runge (gastroenterology), Omid Vadpey (nephrology), Evangelia Vemmou (cardiology), Emma Winkler (rheumatology), and Constance Wu (hematology/oncology).

Resident Faculty Awards

Our residents also select faculty for the following awards:

Patricia Cornett Subspecialty Faculty Teaching Award: Sam Brondfield and Robert Weber
Floyd C. Rector Award for Excellence in Teaching: Carolyn Hendrickson
Harry Hollander Award for Clinical Reasoning: Reena Gupta and Sumant Ranji
Clinic Preceptor Award: Lurit Bepo, Fayola Edwards-Ojeba, Beth Griffiths, Brent Kobashi, Alison Rustagi, Emma Shak, Vanessa Thompson, and Shawn Torres
Research Mentoring Award: Jin Ge
Longitudinal Subspecialty Clinic Preceptor Award: Patricia Cornett, Timothy Dyster, and Courtney Sherman
Residency Advising & Development (RAD) Advising Excellence Award: Emma Bainbridge, Mike Cheng, Jackie DesJardin, Anita Oh, Theodore Peng, Anne Rosenthal, Luis Rubio, Sara Sani, and Larissa Thomas

DOM in the News

Julia Adler-Milstein cautioned that the complexity of sepsis care can limit the adoption of narrowly focused AI tools (STAT News).

Ayesha Appa noted that too few people are accessing medications for addiction treatment (New York Times).

Louise Aronson pointed to the growing need for services that help older adults remain at home as the population ages (San Francisco Chronicle).

Jody Baron showed that certain types of T-cells can attack infection in the liver, opening the door to new therapies for hepatitis B (News Medical).

Sanjay Basu warned that spikes in self-harm may indicate broader mental health challenges among ICE detainees (NBC News).

Geoffrey Buckle addressed the growing burden of colorectal cancer on younger patients and families (Live Science).

Adithya Cattamanchi demonstrated that a portable TB testing device is as effective as and easier to use than a lab test (NPR, Science Magazine).

Peter Chin-Hong discussed the current response to the Ebola virus (CNN) and warned about the risks of defunding and weakening international rapid-response systems (New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle). He also cautioned about the high mortality rate of hantavirus (KQED Forum, Fox News).

Steven Deeks found that a single dose of CAR-T-enhanced cells suppressed HIV in two people without their usual medications (AP News, New York Times, US News & World Report) and endorsed a promising gene therapy approach for HIV (Science).

Monica Gandhi warned that instability in research funding is hampering scientific research (San Francisco Chronicle). She also outlined the risk factors contributing to tuberculosis infections in California (SF Gate) and explained how Ebola spreads and its potential to cause a pandemic (Medical News Today).

Sheiphali Gandhi advocated for workers’ compensation coverage for people with work-related silicosis (KQED).

Margot Kushel explained how homelessness can contribute to substance use (East Bay Times) and cautioned against policies that displace unhoused people without addressing underlying needs (Mercury News).

Phuoc Le underscored the importance of rapid containment efforts in response to Ebola outbreaks (KCBS).

Uma Mahadevan highlighted promising evidence supporting combination drug therapy for inflammatory bowel disease (NBC News).

Nicky Mehtani debunked claims about “super meth,” noting that it is not a recognized clinical or scientific term (Wired).

Melanie Ott clarified how hantavirus spreads and highlighted its high mortality rate (KCBS).

Michael Peluso expressed optimism about advances in long COVID research and treatment development (Men’s Health).

Carla Perissinotto emphasized the importance of social connection for protecting cognitive health (Fox News).

Sumant Ranji said that patient trust and human relationships remain essential aspects of care that AI cannot easily replicate (San Francisco Chronicle).

Diana Thiara recommended individualized dosing of GLP-1 medications based on patient needs and response (Medscape).

Katherine Van Loon warned about rising rates of colorectal cancer in younger adults and emphasized the importance of early detection (San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner).

Robert Wachter advocated for oversight of AI systems used in patient care (STAT News) and noted the rapidly growing use of AI tools to interpret medical information (Scientific American).

Eric Widera addressed ethical dilemmas surrounding advance directives and end-of-life decision-making in advanced dementia (New York Times).

Recent Grants of Note

John Greenland: a grant of $2.9M over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a project entitled, “Airway epithelial cell reprogramming mechanisms leading to chronic lung allograft dysfunction.”

Holly Nishimura: a grant of $930K over five years from the National Institute of Mental Health for a project entitled, “Optimizing delivery of biomedical HIV prevention for mobile men in fishing communities along Lake Victoria, Kenya.”

Recent Publications of Note

Baugh A, Bhakta NR, Leduc T, Woodruff PG, Thakur N. Understanding firefighter qualification under race-neutral spirometry ∓ evolving NFPA guidelines. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2026 Apr 3. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Chin NA, Erickson CM, Widera E. Importance of function for Alzheimer diagnosis and management—more than memory. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2026 Apr 1;186:397-398. >> PubMed Citation

Cowger JA, Guichard JL, Miranda D... Klein L. Engaging patients and clinicians with remote pulmonary artery pressure monitoring improves care: The PROACTIVE-HF clinical trial. JACC Heart Failure. 2026 Jun;14:103008. >> PubMed Citation

De-la-Rosa-Martinez D, Porco TC, Hazel A, Liu X, Khader K, Blumberg S. Clostridioides difficile colonization amplification despite limited in-hospital transmission: A modeling study. PLOS Medicine. 2026 Apr 13;23:e1004712. >> PubMed Citation

Humphreys J. Caring for each other’s sons. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 2026 Apr 30. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Kushel M. State-level changes in homelessness in the COVID-19 pandemic era—what matters? JAMA Network Open. 2026 Apr 1;9:e265196. >> PubMed Citation

Lydon EC, Deosthale P, Glascock A, Phan HV... ... Allen J, Mick E... Langelier, CR. Host–microbiome archetypes differentiate infection from pathogen carriage in the human lower airway. Nature Communications. 2026 Apr 13. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Prado V, McCoy IE, Zhang Y... Liu KD... Hsu, CY. Independent association between acute kidney injury and kidney function trajectory. Kidney International. 2026 Apr 23:S0085-2538. >> PubMed Citation

Rathore U, Dugan E, Thornton H... Steinhart Z... Arce, MM... Levy, JA... Marson, A.Systematic discovery of pro- and anti-HIV host factors in primary human CD4+ T cells. Cell. 2026 Apr 20. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Riviello E, Matthay MA. Non-invasive respiratory support improves outcomes in high-income countries. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2026 Jun;14:470-472. >> PubMed Citation

Rustagi AS, Vali M, Graham FJ... Walter LC, Byers AL, Hoggatt KJ, Cohen BE, Keyhani S. Mortality and generalizability of the national lung screening trial. JAMA Network Open. 2026 Apr 1;9:e268622. >> PubMed Citation

Saha B, Takagi E, Zhang C-B, Demko J, Weber R... Manis A, Almeida Leite Dellova DC... Pearce, D. Roles of WNK1 and mTORC2 in aldosterone-independent regulation of potassium secretion in the distal nephron. Kidney International. 2026 Apr 23. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

View all DOM-authored publications from last month.

The 28^th Annual Holly Smith Dinner

Follow @UCSFDOM on X (formerly Twitter). For questions, comments, or suggestions, email the webmaster.

UCSF Department of Medicine
505 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143
medicine.ucsf.edu