A Monthly Digest of Noteworthy Activities and Achievements

Join us in warmly welcoming our 2025-2026 chief medical residents (pictured from left to right, top to bottom): Fletcher Bell, Daniel Boctor, Harry Cheung, Kenneth Hubbell, and Pooja Lalchandani; Emily Marogi, Karishma Patel, Tamara Sanchez Ortiz, Audrey Tran, and Justin Zhang. Read more about them here.

We wish to thank our amazing 2024-2025 chief medical residents: Blythe Butler, Ella Cornell, Diana Funk, Chris Gordon, Lauren Phinney, Ellena Popova, Karena Puldon, Rob Short, Madison Wilson, and Constance Wu.

Honors and News

Rebecca Conant has been named Clinician of the Year
by the American Geriatrics Society.

Jeffrey Critchfield has been selected to serve as the
vice dean of the UCSF
School of Medicine at ZSFG.

John Davis has been named vice chancellor of education and student affairs for the UCSF School of Medicine.

Tor Neilands received the 2025 UCSF Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award.

Rita Redberg was named
to the Guggenheim
Foundation’s 100th Class
of Fellows.

Other Honors and News

Pei Chen received the UCSF School of Medicine’s GME Excellence and Innovation Award.

Ashwin Kotwal has been appointed chair-elect of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Research Committee.

Annie Luetkemeyer testified before the California Senate Health Committee on Senate Bill 829, a bill to establish the California Institute for Scientific Research; her remarks begin at 2:16:30 in this video.

Maria Ruiz received the Julius R. Krevans Award from the ZSFG Dean’s Office.

Louise Walter received the Harold S. Luft Award for Mentoring from the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.

Melisa Wong received the Arti Hurria Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in Internal Medicine from the American Geriatrics Society.

Remembering Vipul Jain

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the unexpected passing of Vipul Jain, chief of medicine at UCSF Fresno. His death is a tremendous loss to the UCSF and Fresno communities, where he was admired for his leadership, compassion, and dedication to our mission. Read more about his legacy here.

DOM in the News

Peter Chin-Hong explained the health concerns of food dyes such as Red Dye No. 3 (CBS News) and advised that individuals who were not vaccinated against measles as children should receive the MMR vaccine later in life (USA Today). He also noted that many scientists believe COVID-19 originated naturally and not in a lab (Fox News).

Anna Chodos highlighted the importance of addressing caregivers' needs as part of medical care for elderly patients (KCBS).

Joel Ernst emphasized the global health risks associated with reducing funding for vaccine research (STAT News).

Candace Kim noted the unpredictable ways in which delirium can manifest in hospitalized elderly patients (ABC News).

Krishna Komanduri mourned the departure of a top FDA regular – yet another high-profile resignation among healthcare leaders (STAT News).

Margot Kushel warned that cuts to federal housing funding will disproportionately impact areas that rely solely on federal support (NBC News).

Courtney Sherman discussed the HALT (Healing Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease Together) Clinic’s approach to treating addiction by focusing on the whole person (KCBS).

Gina Solomon raised concerns about California’s insurance strategy for addressing toxic chemical damage resulting from the Pacific Palisades fire (ABC News).

Stephanie Rogers emphasized the role of adequate sunlight and morning stimulation in managing delirium among older patients (ABC News).

Dolores Shoback suggested that a recent study didn’t fully reflect the essential roles of diet and exercise in maintaining bone health (NBC News).

Recent Grants of Note

Charles Langelier and team: a grant of $3.9M over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project entitled, “Integrated Host/Microbe (IHM) metagenomics of the lower airway to diagnose pediatric respiratory infections, identify etiologic pathogens, and predict outcomes.”

Emily Arnold and team: a grant of $1.4M over two years from the California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP) to support the research center, “Northern California HIV Policy Research Center (NorCalPRC).”

Narges Alipanah-Lechner: a grant of $1M over five years from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for a project entitled, “Proteomic and metabolomic trajectories of ARDS molecular phenotypes.”

Recent Publications of Note

Boyd-Barrett C, Zhang J, Pu H, Funk D, Al-Atassi R, Pierluissi E. Up close with enhanced care management program providers. California Health Care Foundation; April 2025. >> Available at chcf.org

Conte M, Imbert E, Avila R... Hickey MD. Pop-up mobile: A mixed methods study of mobile outreach for people with HIV with housing instability who are out of care from a low-barrier clinical program in San Francisco. AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2025 Apr;39:141-150. >> PubMed Citation

Derendinger B, Mochizuki TK, Marcelo D... Phillips PPJ, Nahid P... Cattamanchi A, Yoon C. C-reactive protein-based screening of people with tuberculosis symptoms: A diagnostic accuracy study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2025 Mar;211:499-506. >> PubMed Citation

Durstenfeld MS, Hill CL, Clare RM... Association of cardiologist clinic visits with cardiovascular primary prevention outcomes among people with HIV from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the southern United States. J Am Heart Assoc. 2025 Mar 18;14:e038462 >> PubMed Citation

Fallah MP, Van Ryn C, Moses JS... Kelly JD. Associations of inflammatory markers with post-acute clinical findings among survivors of Ebola virus disease with and without viral RNA shedding in the semen in Liberia: A nested case-control study. Lancet Microbe. 2025 Mar 10. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Geng H, Mo S, Chen L... Rubenstein JL. Identification of genomic biomarkers of disease progression and survival in primary CNS lymphoma. Blood Adv. 2025 Mar 11;9:1117-1131. >> PubMed Citation

Haber LA, Cloud DH, Boudin C, Williams BA. The intersection of climate justice and criminal justice: Extreme heat and health inequities in carceral facilities. JAMA. 2025 Mar 11;333:843-844. >> PubMed Citation

Holmgren AJ, Apathy NC, Crews J, Shanafelt T. National trends in oncology specialists' EHR inbox work, 2019-2022. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2025 Mar 03. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Kelly JD, Hoggatt KJ, Lo NC... Boscardin WJ... Annual variant-targeted vaccination to prevent severe COVID-19 disease in cohorts with vaccine-derived and hybrid immunity. Clin Infect Dis. 2025 Mar 14. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Lingappan K, Matthay MA. Unlocking the therapeutic code of mesenchymal stromal cells. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2025 Mar;211:313-315. >> PubMed Citation

Matthay MA, Wick KD, Alipanah-Lechner N. Awake prone positioning in COVID-19 – is there a new standard of care? JAMA Intern Med. 2025 May 1;185:581-582. >> PubMed Citation

Spinelli MA, Heise MJ, Gistand N... HIV viral suppression with use of long-acting antiretroviral therapy in people with and without initial viremia. JAMA. 2025 Apr 22;333:1451-1453. >> PubMed Citation

Tuot DS, Plantinga L. Approaches to raise awareness of CKD among patients and the general population. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2025 Mar;21:147-148. >> PubMed Citation

See all 83 DOM-authored publications from last month.

Featured Events

Thrive City: Live Music Lunch Series
Join us for lunch with live music and enjoy special performances by Bay Area musicians, featuring funk, jazz, a cappella, and more.
Tuesdays, May 13-27 | 12:00-1:30 pm
Click here for more information.

Finding Mental Health Resources
Feeling overwhelmed? Discover the mental health resources available
at UCSF—support is closer than you think.
Wednesday, May 21 | 3:00-4:00 pm
Click here for more information.

Center for Infectious Disease Molecular Imaging Seminar
Learn innovative imaging methods for conditions affecting immunocompromised individuals at the inaugural CIDMI seminar.
Thursday, May 22 | 3:00-5:00 pm
Click here for more information.

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