A Monthly Digest of Noteworthy Activities and Achievements

In 2025, the Department of Medicine received $245M in NIH funding – the second highest total for departments of medicine in the U.S. It represents 34% of the $724M received by the UCSF School of Medicine, which was first in the nation. Read more about the rankings here.

Honors and News

Anna Chang has been appointed the associate
dean for curriculum for the UCSF School of Medicine.

Jonathan Singer was
inducted into the
American Society for
Clinical Investigation (ASCI).*

*Jonathan Singer was inadvertently omitted as an ASCI inductee (along with Mallar Bhattacharya and Catherine Smith) in last month’s newsletter.

UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Awards

Kent Adler, Rashmi Manjunath, Brandon Scott, Krishan Soni, Allison Webber, and Elizabeth Zheng (pictured left to right, top to bottom) received UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Awards.

Other Honors and News

Theresa Allison has been named the Harris Fishbon Distinguished Professor in Clinical Translational Research in Aging in the Division of Geriatrics.

Elisabeth Askin received the UCSF Academic Senate Clinical Excellence Award.

Rebecca Berman has been appointed the president-elect of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM).

Mallory Johnson received the Distinction in Mentoring Award from the UCSF Academic Senate.

Jasmine Santoyo-Olsson and UCSF colleagues received the Editor’s Choice Award for an article published in Innovation in Aging, a journal of the Gerontological Society of America.

GME Accreditation Review

Congratulations to the leaders and staff of our exceptional DOM residency and fellowship programs, which recently passed a detailed accreditation review by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

DOM in the News

Michelle Albert noted that heart disease affects about half of American women and underscored the importance of monitoring key health metrics (Fox News).

Louise Aronson acknowledged that while conversations with aging parents about independence can be difficult, they are essential for ensuring safety (New York Times).

Hayley Barnes advocated for stronger regulations to prevent silicosis, noting that the industry has demonstrated it can produce low-silica products (NPR).

Peter Chin-Hong warned about rising measles risk due to falling vaccination rates (PBS, Everyday Health), described the symptoms and transmission associated with a recent tuberculosis outbreak (ABC News), and shared research into a potential universal nasal vaccine for viruses and allergens (CBS News).

Matthew Gubens commented on a firefighter’s struggle to obtain insurance coverage, noting that treatment guidelines don’t always align with patient needs (NBC News).

Krista Harrison discussed how aging often involves cumulative grief as people lose loved ones, roles, and independence over time (San Francisco Chronicle).

Sandeep Kishore noted that while traditional blood pressure cuffs remain the gold standard, wearable health technologies may help address low adherence to home monitoring (Slate).

Gregory Marcus reviewed the growing role of wearable devices such as the Apple Watch in detecting AFib (MedPage Today) and reported that while the cardiovascular effects of moderate alcohol consumption remain uncertain, some studies suggest it may have little to no effect (Everyday Health, New York Times).

Katherine Van Loon emphasized that rising colorectal cancer rates among younger adults may be linked in part to dietary shifts toward highly processed foods (San Francisco Chronicle).

Robert Wachter explored the pitfalls and promise of AI in healthcare (New York Times), and the benefits and downsides of patient-facing AI tools (NPR, New York Times). His new book, A Giant Leap, was a USA Today and an Amazon bestseller, and was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal.

Recent Grants of Note

Margaret Feeney: a grant of $4.4M over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project entitled, “Characterization of CD4 T cells targeting liver and blood stage malaria epitopes.”

Gustavo Velasquez, Sara Suliman, and team: a grant of $4.1M over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project entitled, “Immunogenetic determinants of response to drug-susceptible tuberculosis treatment.”

Recent Publications of Note

Alipanah-Lechner N, Neyton L, Sinha P, Leroux C... Carrillo SA... Hariharan T, Hendrickson C, Kangelaris K, Langelier CR... Lin C, Liu K... Sarma A, Schmiege E, Spottiswoode N, Sullivan K, Weingart MF, Willmore A... Matthay MA, Calfee CS. Longitudinal multiomic signatures of ARDS and sepsis inflammatory phenotypes identify pathways associated with mortality. J Clin Invest. 2025 Dec 2;136:e196290. >> PubMed Citation

Boeckh M, Xie H, Stevens-Ayers T... Limaye AP. Cytomegalovirus DNAemia in hospitalized adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection requiring supplemental oxygen: virologic and clinical characteristics and association with outcomes. J Infect Dis. 2025 Dec 31. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Chammas D. Where do I put this? N Engl J Med. 2026 Jan 1;394(1):9-11. >> PubMed Citation

Deardorff WJ, Burke RE, Makam AN. Navigating postacute care options for patients after hospital discharge: A review. JAMA Intern Med. 2026 Mar 1;186:362-373. >> PubMed Citation

Holmgren AJ, Fenton CL, Thombley R, Soleimani H, Croci R, DeMasi O, Byron ME, Murray SG, Adler-Milstein JR, Yazdany J. Ambient artificial intelligence scribes and physician financial productivity. JAMA Netw Open. 2026 Jan 2;9:e2553233. >> PubMed Citation

Khine A, Sanda S, Torok C, Quandt Z, Gitelman SE. Glucocorticoids to manage cytokine release syndrome during teplizumab therapy for new-onset type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2026 Mar 1;49:e46-e48. >> PubMed Citation

Lee CH, Gerstenfeld EP. An uncommon cause of bradycardia treated with catheter ablation. JAMA Intern Med. 2026 Jan 1;186:124-125. >> PubMed Citation

Leyte-Vidal A, Shah NP. How I individualize frontline treatment for chronic-phase CML. Blood. 2026 Jan 22;147:329-336. >> PubMed Citation

Ma S, Chang YC, Chiang CH... Comparison of anticoagulants and risk of ischemic stroke in patients with acute cancer-associated venous thromboembolism. Blood Adv. 2026 Jan 13;10:14-24. >> PubMed Citation

Mahadevan U, Seow CH, Barnes EL... Chaparro M, Flanagan E, Friedman S, Julsgaard M, Kane S, Ng S, Torres J, Watermeyer G, Yamamoto-Furusho J, Robinson C, Fisher S, Anderson P, Gearry R, Duricova D, Dubinsky M, Long M, Global Consensus Group for Pregnancy in IBD. Global consensus statement on the management of pregnancy in inflammatory bowel disease. Gut. 2026 Jan 8;75:208-251. >> PubMed Citation

Munir AZ, Gutierrez A, Krawiec CJ, Manandhar P, Shyani AC... Qin J, Moslehi JJ. CXCR6+ T cells drive immune checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis.Circulation. 2026 Jan 7. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Peluso MJ, Sandel DA, Deitchman AN, Kim SJ, Dalhuisen T... Tibúrcio R, Zemelko L, Borgo GM, Singh SS, Schwartz K, Deswal M, Williams MC, Hoh R, Shimoda M... Khalili M... Henrich TJ, Yukl SA... Deeks SG, Rutishauser RL. Correlates of HIV-1 control after combination immunotherapy. Nature. 2026 Feb;650:187-195. >> PubMed Citation

Rushakoff RJ, Rov-Ikpah E, Lee G, Mehta PB... Koliwad S, Fenton C... Novel inpatient automated self-adjusting subcutaneous insulin algorithm: 3-year experience. An observational study. An Observational Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2026 Jan 21;111:532-540. >> PubMed Citation

Santhosh L, Berman R, Thomas L. Moving from "me" to "we": Adopting a collectivist approach to address the wicked problem of trainee and faculty back-up/jeopardy systems. J Gen Intern Med. 2026 Jan 7. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Shum AK. COPA syndrome spans multiple organs but is defined by STING in the lung. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2026 Jan 7. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Spottiswoode N, Neyton LP, Mick E... Lydon EC, Narendra R, Serpa PH, Caldera S, Gomez A, Hendrickson C, Kangelaris K, Liu K... Matthay MA, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Host-microbe multiomic profiling predicts mortality in sepsis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2026 Jan 1;212:95-104. >> PubMed Citation

View more DOM-authored publications from last month.

Featured Events

International Women's Day 2026
UCSF is celebrating International Women’s Day with a rich program of speakers and events. Discover workshops, classes, music, and more!
Through Wednesday, March 11
Click here for more information.

NIH R01 Grant Application Workshop
This workshop helps researchers navigate the NIH application process and enhance the quality of their grant proposals.
Wednesday, March 18 | 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Click here for more information.

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