Departments of Medicine, Neurology, and Pediatrics

Pictured PSCDP & MSTP Panel Discussion Workshop at Mission Bay Campus on "Mentor-Mentee Relationships for Physician-Scientists."

Dear Physician-Scientist Community,

Welcome to the quarterly newsletter of the Physician-Scientist Career Development Program (PSCDP)! Our program is focused on supporting scientific success and fulfillment amongst laboratory-based physician-scientists in the UCSF Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics and Neurology.

This month we invite you to check out or revisit the Funding and Transition to Independence Fact Sheets that were developed by leadership in Medicine, Pediatrics, and Neurology, and were rolled out in December. (Please see details below.) We also welcome your feedback via a brief survey, so that we can continue to improve this offering. Fill out the survey here.

Sincerely yours,

Alexandra, Cathy, Sanjeev, and Camille

Please view the funding and transition to independence fact sheets using the button links below.

The Funding Fact Sheets outline what the lab-based physician-scientist trainee can expect, in terms of salary support across the postdoctoral/junior faculty periods, but also where these funds come from. The fact sheets list what is expected of the trainee, in terms of applying for different grants. These are organized by Department (and in Medicine, by Division) to reflect training structure, clinical responsibilities, and different sources of funding.

The Transition to Independence Fact Sheets outline the criteria that are considered at UCSF (but also at other similar institutions) when making decisions about faculty searches for a lab-based physician-scientist ready to start her/his own independent laboratory. These are organized by Department.

Science Writing Strategies in Person Workshop

Please join PSCDP leadership for an in-person science writing workshop with Gabe Murphy, PhD, a Research Development Strategist and Grant Writer in the Office of Collaborative Research (OCR), in the School of Medicine, on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at Parnassus campus, 3:30-5:00pm.

If you are working on an abstract for a manuscript, or an aims page for a grant, Dr. Murphy will review them and provide individualized feedback! Please email your draft Specific Aims page and/or the abstract of your manuscript by Wednesday May 15th, 2024, to PSCDP@ucsf.edu. You are welcome to attend the workshop regardless, but this is a great opportunity to get personalized writing feedback from a pro.

At the session, Dr. Murphy will also share effective science writing strategies, emphasizing the importance of transitioning smoothly between ideas/concepts, as well as how to utilize schematics and graphics. If you would like to attend, please register using the link below. The event workshop details are:

Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Place: 521 Parnassus Ave. CSB 1113 & 1114

Time: 3:30-5:00pm

Please RSVP using the link below:

Get to know three of our remarkable fellows each quarter. In this section you'll find an interview with one fellow from each of our participating departments.

Vincent Auyeung, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor

Department of Medicine

Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy, and Sleep Medicine

What stage of training are you currently in?

I am starting an independent laboratory as we speak!

Describe your laboratory research.

My lab studies the fundamental molecular mechanisms of lung epithelial plasticity, with the aim of finding therapies to restore homeostatic repair in fibrosis and other lung diseases. Subsets of lung epithelial cells can change their identity (“plasticity”) in order to respond to injury and repair the lung, but when this process can go awry in different ways, causing pathological outcomes ranging from mucus hypersecretion to fibrosis. I am particularly interested in how cellular stress response pathways contribute to pathological outcomes.

What made you want to become a physician-scientist or choose your area of research?

I’ve always been curious, and once in a very long while, I learn something that I just feel in my bones is true. It’s like for a moment the curtain is pulled back and I can see how a piece of biology works. In the book Anathem, Neal Stephenson calls it the “light of Cnous.” And then the feeling goes away, and I spend the rest of my time chasing it. At the same time, I feel very strongly and somewhat sentimentally about service to patients and their families. This is something I’m unwilling to give up. I’m lucky this career path allows me to do both. 

Do you have a hobby or fun fact you want to share?

I love photography! Like science, it’s amazing how little, and how much, goes into getting the “shot.” Sometimes it takes meticulous preparation and an understanding of the equipment’s technical limitations and capabilities. One time I took photographs of an exploding test tube by exploiting the characteristics of a camera flash (i.e., very bright and lasting <1e-5 sec), which required soldering some custom circuits. Another time I used some astronomy tools to predict that on June 19, 2018, at 12:49 AM, if I parked in a dirt lot off US 97 and looked south, the Milky Way would be directly above Mt. Shasta, and the crescent moon would be setting in the west, casting the perfect amount of light on the mountain to balance the brightness of the stars. I just had to be at the right place at the right time to click the shutter. But my favorite is a photo I took at the National Aviary. I was startled by a swooping pelican and clicked the shutter reflexively with the wrong settings dialed in. All the preparation in the world can’t compete with plain good luck.

Vincent's stunning photographs.

Aaron Bodansky, MD 

Clinical Fellow, PGY-8

PSDP Research Fellow, Year 2

Department of Pediatrics

Division of Pediatrics Critical Care Medicine

What stage of training are you currently in? 

I am a PGY8, in my 4th and final year of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship. I will be starting as faculty here at UCSF in July. 

Describe your laboratory research.

The immune system was designed to attack external threats, yet for reasons that remain unclear, we continue to see increasing global prevalence of autoimmune diseases in which the immune system mistakenly attacks our own bodies. I utilize next-generation technologies to profile the proteome-wide set of autoantibodies present in various states of health and disease. Using this, I have been able to both better define what constitutes a “normal” autoreactive profile, and in contrast identify novel autoantibodies or autoreactive T cells which contribute to previously enigmatic diseases.

What made you want to become a physician-scientist or choose your area of research?

I have always been fascinated by the immune system. We have a limited number of protein-coding genes, yet the immune system is capable of targeting an unlimited number of potential invaders. The average person generates many trillions of unique antibodies which each target different molecules. Despite this, somehow, we have successfully devised a system to regulate these responses to preferentially attack foreign invaders and prevent attacking ourselves. These abilities of the immune system to overcome what appear to be fundamental barriers in biology inspires me. Under certain circumstances, however, this tightly regulated system becomes dysregulated leading to a range of diseases. As a physician-scientist in the pediatric intensive care unit, many of the children I care for suffer from diseases of immune dysregulation such as sepsis or acute respiratory distress syndrome in addition to more rare diseases such as MIS-C or HLH. My hope is to unravel the specific mechanisms by while these children develop immune dysregulation towards eventually developing targeted therapies to better treat them.

Describe a major challenge you've encountered in your career as a physician-scientist.

I think the single greatest challenge is devoting appropriate attention to the many different components of establishing an independent career as a physician-scientist. As an early-stage scientist, you have to balance performing experiments to generate data, analyzing data, writing and submitting papers, writing and submitting grants, managing collaborations, putting together talks to present to various different audiences, and maintaining a vision for your scientific “brand”. Meanwhile, you have to make sure to maintain active clinical skills and remain inspired by your clinical work. Then you need to consider whether you want to leave any time to your personal life. The challenge is finding enough time in the week to do it all with grace.

Describe something that gives you joy in your current stage as a physician-scientist.

My greatest joy is pure discovery. Those moments where I finally understand how a new piece of data fits into the larger puzzle to suddenly shed light on a question I have been struggling with for a long time. Those moments are pure gold.

Do you have a recent accomplishment you would like to highlight?

The most recent accomplishment I am most proud of is the birth of my son Kaiyon. He is 4 months old, about the same age as my most recent pre-print which hopefully gets accepted for publication soon! Here is the link to view it: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.19.23300188v1

Do you have a hobby or fun fact you want to share?

Prior to going to college, I wanted to be a boxer. After high school, to boost my skills, I spent a year in Thailand training in Muay-Thai (Thai Boxing), and extensive time in Mexico training in traditional boxing. It turned out I was extraordinarily bad at both, and never won a single match in either discipline. This is quite unusual, as they typically can find ways to pair “consistent losers” such that you eventually have a victory, but this was never the case for me. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, and I helped pad some other folks' stats.

What stage of training are you currently in?

I am a research fellow.

Describe your laboratory research.

I am currently in the laboratories of Dr. Martin Kampmann and Dr. Bill Seeley. My research uses a combination of CRISPR-based genomic screening techniques and human histopathologic analysis to identify modifiers of tau aggregation across different tauopathies. I ultimately aim to identify the molecular mechanisms that underlie selective vulnerability in AD and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

What made you want to become a physician-scientist or choose your area of research?

I chose to become a physician scientist after having several experiences working with the muscular dystrophy association during high school and college. During this time, I saw the importance of combining research with clinical practice to develop novel therapies and expand our understanding of the mechanisms that cause neurodegenerative diseases.

Describe a major challenge you've encountered in your career as a physician-scientist.

During my PhD my laboratory moved to a new institution. Navigating this transition was challenging both personally and scientifically, but it also allowed for several opportunities to grow as a person and as a scientist.

Describe something that gives you joy in your current stage as a physician-scientist.

I have the opportunity to mentor trainees and to be curious in the lab when unexpected results arise.

Do you have a recent accomplishment you would like to highlight?

I recently was awarded the Alzheimer's Association Clinician Scientist Fellowship. I also presented at the most recent AD/PD conference on my research studying mechanisms of tau aggregation.

Do you have a hobby or fun fact you would like to share?

I play club ultimate frisbee and goaltimate and had the opportunity to play at Beach Nationals this past year. I hope to keep playing for many years to come!

Sarah (center) playing club ultimate frisbee.

Pictured top left to right, panelists, Ray Swanson, MD, Margaret Feeney, MD, Joel Ernst, MD, and Naledi Saul, MPM; Amy Kao, MD, PhD and Alexandra Nelson, MD, PhD; Lower left to right, Physician-Scientists fellows and PSCDP leadership; Dr.James Bayrer, MD, PhD, and Kevin Shannon, MD

Pictured above Cathy Smith, MD, and her family on spring break at Disneyland.

Sanjeev Datar, MD, PhD, traveled to Texas to get a front row seat of the Eclipse.

New CRISPR Center Brings Hope for Rare and Deadly Genetic Diseases

CRISPR collaboration combines expertise from three UC schools to scale treatment for diseases that industry has largely passed by – until now. By Jess Berthold 

Please visit UCSF's website for full article announcing this collaboration using the link below.

Children and adults with rare, deadly genetic diseases have fresh hope for curative therapies, thanks to a new collaboration between the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) and Danaher Corporation, a global life sciences and diagnostics innovator. The new Danaher-IGI Beacon for CRISPR Cures center will use genome editing to address potentially hundreds of diseases, including rare genetic disorders that have no cure. The goal is to ensure treatments can be developed and brought to patients more quickly and efficiently.

The IGI comprises genetics researchers and clinician experts from three University of California campuses: UCSF, UCLA and UC Berkeley, where the institute is housed, as well as other research institutions. Danaher will provide tools, reagents, resources and expertise to accelerate preclinical and clinical development and establish new standards for safety and efficacy. The IGI team includes UCSF physician-scientists Matthew Kan MD, PhD, Puck and Cowan focusing on ART-SCID; and David Nguyen, MD, PhD, Michelle Hermiston, MD, PhD and Bryan Shy, MD, PhD, focusing on HLH. Petros Giannikopoulos, MD, director of IGI’s Clinical Laboratory, will be the center’s diagnostic and analytical lead. Donald Kohn, MD, of UCLA will be involved in translating the gene editing approaches developed at UCSF and UC Berkeley to clinical cell manufacturing in the UCLA Human Gene and Cell Therapy Facility.

NIH Grant Writing Webinar Series

See upcoming dates below.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is hosting a virtual grant writing webinar series entitled - Debuting Your Research Career: How to Plan for and Write Your First (or Next) NIH Grant Application. This monthly webinar series is free and open to all pre- and post-doctoral fellows, clinician-scientists, and early to mid-career research investigators. This series will take place every third Thursday of the month between 10am and 11:30am EST from February to July 2024. The workshop will provide information on funding opportunities for early career researchers at NIAID; navigating F, K, DP2, and R38/K38 awards; and understanding the peer review process. Two events have already passed, but there are four more upcoming.

All workshops are virtual via Zoom:

• Navigating NIH to prepare your grant application – K awards – April 18th, 2024
• Developing your candidate information section and research strategy for F and K awards May 23rd, 2024
• Navigating NIH to prepare your grant application – DP2/R38/K38 awards – June 20th, 2024.
• Understanding the Peer Review process – July 18th, 2024

NIH K08 Library of Resources

Please visit our library of resources that houses slide presentations, and copies of grant submissions. A confidential agreement is required for access. Please use the link below to sign it.

Confidential Consultations

Has a significant issue arisen in your scientific or professional life as a laboratory-based physician scientist? Would you benefit from speaking with someone other than your primary mentor or other career mentors? If so, you can request a one-time confidential consult with one of the PSCDP leadership team members by using the link below.

Mentoring Committees

PSCDP assembles mentoring committees for interested laboratory-based physician-scientists in Medicine, Neurology, or Pediatrics during the fellowship and/or junior faculty period, providing ongoing and scientific and career guidance. If you are interested in this service, please register below and we will contact you to begin the process.