Year 3. November 4. Community Impact.

The vision statement of our strategic plan includes: Advancing Health for All. This week I share some stories that provide examples of how we are impacting the health of our communities and the opportunities ahead.

DoM Quality LEADERS Organize First L.A. Walk for Alopecia 

I mentioned earlier this month, that the UCLA Department of Medicine (DoM) Research Day often sparks serendipitous collaborations. It turns out that’s true not just for research, but other important projects as well. Just ask dermatologist Carolyn Goh, MD and DoM Quality project manager Cory Hedwall, whose chance encounter at DoM Research Day 2023 led to the first-ever L.A. Walk for Alopecia

“We kind of just sat next to each other, and it was like, ‘Oh hey, you have alopecia? I have alopecia!’” Hedwall recalled. Dr. Goh, who serves as associate director of the DoM Peer Coaching Program that is overseen by the DoM Quality and Wellness teams, told him about the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF), a nonprofit that advocates for patients with this autoimmune condition that leads to complete hair loss, and funds research projects. She asked if he’d be interested in pairing his skills as a project manager with her clinical knowledge to find an opportunity to support patients with alopecia. 

Their chance came along quickly: The foundation was seeking volunteers to lead walk sites for its annual Walk for Alopecia fundraiser, an event centered on a community walk with teams of supporters. With encouragement from Interim Chief Quality Officer Anna Dermenchyan, PhD, RN, Hedwall and Dr. Goh got to work planning food, music, yoga, a watermelon-eating contest, a meditation station and more. They also rounded up a group of volunteers from across UCLA, including DGSOM medical students and undergraduates in the THINQ Collaborative, a program led by DoM Quality for UCLA students who are interested in healthcare. 

Carolyn Goh, MD

The walk was held on Sept. 28 in Van Nuys. More than 200 participants turned out for the event, including patients, families and several teams from the DoM. Dermatology, Quality and UCLA Health Encino, Primary and Specialty Care were well-represented among the walkers, with faculty, attendees, residents, staff and their families all lacing up their shoes to support their colleagues. Dr. Goh — the event’s “Physician Champion” — gave a talk about the NAAF’s impact and how the money raised will benefit alopecia research. Thanks to Dr. Goh, Hedwall and the rest of the volunteers, the event raised $26,000.

Dr. Goh is passionate about supporting the foundation’s work because she has seen its impact on the lives of patients. Three years ago, there were no FDA-approved treatments for alopecia; now there are three. “A lot of that is because of the fundraising and advocacy work that the foundation does,” Dr. Goh explained.

She and Hedwall plan to continue working together on projects to raise awareness and further research for people with alopecia, including more ongoing initiatives like a support group. For Hedwall, advocacy work has helped him view his own condition in a new light. 

“This was an amazing experience for me because I never really addressed my own alopecia throughout my life,” he said. “This really showed me that there's a whole community of people that are affected by this condition and have each other's backs, and that there are opportunities to support each other.” 

Thank you Carolyn and Cory for setting an example for all of us by demonstrating how collaboration can bring ideas to life. Please join me in congratulating them on the success of their first Walk for Alopecia. I look forward to seeing what they do next! 

(L-R) David & Nika Harutyunyan, MD, Brian Le, Maryanne Elegonye, Nathan Samras, MD, MPH, Cory Hedwall, Anna Dermenchyan, PhD, RN, Sylvia Lambrechts, Fran Schiff, Danielle Seiden of the DoM Quality team
(L-R) Brynn and Cory Hedwall with Carolyn Goh, MD
DoM Quality THINQ students
(L-R) Alex Valles, Kristi Kuiken, NP, Erin Collier, MD, Michael Nguyen, MD, Carolyn Goh, MD, Cynthia Estrada, Amy Shen, MD, Yolanda Jimenez, Elizabeth Arellano, Valerie Raymundo and the rest of the UCLA Dermatology team. 
(L-R) Carlos Torres, Lorena Rodriguez, Alex Valles, Carolyn Goh, MD, Michael Nguyen, MD, PhD and Kristi Kuiken, NP of the Dermatology Division at UCLA Health Encino, Primary and Specialty Care.

Geraldine Navarro, MD Appears on the Arthritis Foundation’s First Spanish-Language Podcast Episode 

In the three years since I joined UCLA, I have witnessed countless incidents where our faculty go beyond the call of duty to improve the lives of the patients we serve. One recent example of this is Geraldine Navarro, MD, a rheumatologist based at UCLA Santa Clarita Tourney Road Primary and Specialty Care, who recently lent her expertise on pain management to the Arthritis Foundation’s first-ever Spanish episode of its podcast “Live Yes! With Arthritis.”

There is a gap in data on the prevalence and outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Latinx patients, though data does suggest that those who suffer from it have greater disability and functional impairment compared to non-Hispanic white patients. According to the Arthritis Foundation, arthritis limits the activity of 44% of Latinx and Hispanic people with the condition (with variations among specific populations), compared to 40% of non-Hispanic white patients.

On the highly informative Spanish episode of “Live Yes! With Arthritis,” Dr. Navarro spoke at length about the ways patients with RA can manage pain, navigate medications, and more. She emphasized the importance of recognizing that pain is treatable and the value of establishing care with a linguistically competent physician or using interpreter services. She also noted that many Latino and Hispanic patients face socioeconomic challenges and cultural nuances that may make them less likely to seek help until their arthritis is more advanced.

Geraldine M. Navarro, MD

When they do seek treatment for pain, Dr. Navarro underscored that an integrative approach is most effective — advice that is important both for patients and their primary care physicians to keep in mind. 

“The best treatment for arthritis is a multidisciplinary treatment that includes medicines and alternative treatments such as acupuncture, reducing stress, sleeping and eating well,” Dr. Navarro said in Spanish during the podcast. “Moving is the best medicine, and there is always an exercise that can be done, no matter the condition or situation, but we do have to do it regularly and modify it to our situation.”

"Moverse es la mejor medicina, y siempre hay un ejercicio que se puede hacer, sin importar la condición o situación, pero tenemos que hacerlo regularmente y modificarlo a nuestra situación."

Dr. Navarro plans to continue working closely with the Arthritis Foundation to educate Spanish-speaking patients and communities. She noted that the organization is hosting its Jingle Bell Run on Dec. 8 in Griffith Park. More information is available here for those who are interested in participating.

If you would like to hear Dr. Navarro’s rich insights on managing arthritis pain please find the podcast episode here. Be sure to share it with Spanish-speaking family and friends who might find her advice helpful!

Dr. Hsue Finds Excellence in First Visit to Cardiology at UCLA-Olive View

The DoM has a tight partnership with UCLA-Olive View Medical Center, with many joint training programs, research collaborations and jointly appointed faculty. UCLA Division of Cardiology Chief Priscilla Hsue, MD recently paid her first visit to the cardiology division at UCLA-Olive View. She was accompanied by Soma Wali, MDwho serves as chair of medicine at Olive View and executive vice chair for affiliated hospitals at UCLA, and by Senior Executive Academic Vice Chair Gregory Brent, MDDr. Hsue’s interactions with our DoM colleagues at Olive View left her with the impression that patients there are in very good hands.

“It was apparent that the faculty are committed to providing the best patient care and fostering research and teaching as part of UCLA,” she said. 

Dr. Hsue is well-acquainted with the challenges faced by providers who care for patients at safety net hospitals like Olive View. Prior to joining the DoM, she had spent her entire academic career working at San Francisco General Hospital at UCSF, which also provides care to patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. 

“Individuals who chose to work at a county hospital are often united by their commitment to working with underserved communities,” Dr. Hsue noted. 

Priscilla Y. Hsue, MD

One big item on the agenda for Dr. Hsue’s trip to Olive View was to scope out opportunities for additional partnerships. Those wheels are already turning: Since her visit, she has already had conversations with the Olive View cardiology team about the possibility of opening a 24-hour laboratory to provide cardiac catheterization to patients who are having a common type of heart attack called an ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction. They have also discussed the possibility of joint appointments for faculty and more cross-talk between those who are based at different sites. 

“Namely, could providers who are based at Ronald Reagan Medical Center do some service or clinic at Olive View, and vice versa?” Dr. Hsue explained. “Obviously there are complicated logistical issues to be ironed out, but I am very supportive of partnering with Olive View in the future.”

Dr. Hsue added that she foresees including faculty and fellows who are based at Olive View in cardiology in Grand Rounds and faculty meetings virtually over Zoom. She also sees low-lying fruit in research collaborations, such as involvement in clinical trials, cohorts and translational studies. 

The Division of Cardiology at Olive View is a critical part of our mission to serve our community, and I look forward to seeing how our partnership evolves under Dr. Hsue’s leadership.

(L to R): Benjamin Waterman, MD, chief medical officer at Olive View; Anthony Koppula, MD; Dr. Hsue; Joseph Hana, MD; Jonathan Soverow, MD, director of interventional cardiology at Olive View; Kaylin Nguyen, MD; Robin Wachsner, MD; Dr. Wali; and Dr. Brent

Visiting with Our Central Coast Faculty

One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is the opportunity to connect with our talented and devoted faculty who are making a profound impact in all the communities we serve. From the central coast to the South Bay, hearing about your practices, learning about your patients, and gathering feedback on how we can continue to collaborate to advance health and education. I am very proud, for example, of our many accomplishments across all missions, such as our partnership with UC Santa Barbara that gives pre-medical students the chance to learn from DoM LEADERS. 

Recently, I had the privilege of traveling to the central coast with Senior Executive Clinical Vice Chair Tisha Wang, MDand Vice Chair of Ambulatory Medicine Evelyn Curls, MD, MBA. This trip allowed me to meet some of the remarkable faculty and staff who are dedicated to exceptional patient care, and learn about the unique challenges and opportunities faced by our faculty, working hundreds of miles from Westwood. I personally thanked them for their hard work and commitment.

(L-R): Drs. Abel, Tisha Wang, and Evelyn Curls [after arriving at SLO airport at midnight, after a flight that almost got diverted back to LAX because of dense fog on the Central Coast].

During our discussions, I shared updates on our strategic plan and emphasized the vital role the central coast plays in our patient care, research, education, and community engagement missions. It was invaluable to gain insight into the challenges our central coast colleagues face; this understanding will be essential as we implement our strategic plan and prepare for decades of growth across our region. I reminded our colleagues in the Central Coast how critical they were for our department’s missions, and our commitment to supporting them to excel. I invite you to view a few pictures from the trip and join me in celebrating our colleagues up north!

(L-R): Dr. Phoebe Chen, Dr. Deepa Ragesh Panikkath, Dr. Tisha Wang, Dr. Evelyn Curls, Lariza Johnson, Dr. Abel and Dr. Virginia Hernandez in San Luis Obispo
(L-R): Beatriz Perez, Sherry Runnels, Dr. Abel and Amelia James in San Luis Obispo
(L-R): Corina Guzman, Dr. Abel, Linda Garza, Mandy Serrano, in San Luis Obispo
(L-R): Dr. Abel, Dr. Brett Gidney, Dr. Tisha Wang, Meghan Posch, NP, Dr. Evelyn Curls in Santa Maria.
(L-R): Dr. Shahram Shafi (physician lead), Angie Gutierrez (manager), Dr. Evelyn Curls, Brenda Montes Reyes, Isabel Vasquez, Mirella Rocha, Jizelle Trujillo, Vanessa Vergara, Dr. Abel, Lariza Johnson, Dr. Tisha Wang, Blanca Martinez, Dr. Addison Cook, in Goleta.
(L-R): Drs. Tisha Wang, Stephen Vampola, Abel, Evelyn Curls in Montecito.

Welcoming New Faculty

Allow me to introduce you to the colleagues who joined us between Sept. 9 and today, Nov. 4. Please join me in welcoming them to the DoM. We are grateful to have you all on our team!

Deb Lab Marks Major Milestone in Quest to Reduce Scar Tissue After a Heart Attack

I will round the newsletter out this week with some exciting research news from the Division of Cardiology. Those of you who attended DoM Research Day 2024 may recall UCLA Cardiovascular Research Theme Director and Professor Arjun Deb, MD’s fascinating plenary session on his team’s monoclonal antibody AD-NP1. Their drug is designed to reduce scar tissue buildup following a heart attack — also known as a myocardial infarction (MI) — and therefore lower the risk of later heart failure. 

I am pleased to share that new preclinical data validating AD-NP1’s efficacy was published on Oct. 24 in Cell Reports Medicine, where the Deb lab reported that a single dose of their drug was enough to reduce scar tissue in mice post-MI. Importantly, these mice were humanized, or engineered to express human genes. The drug’s success in these animal models is a key step towards clinical translation. 

A few years ago, Dr. Deb’s lab shifted the cardiology world’s understanding of how heart attacks lead to heart failure when they discovered that an enzyme called ENPP1 is involved in post-MI scar tissue formation. That discovery led them to create AD-NP1, which inhibits ENPP1 when given within 24 hours after a heart attack. In the Deb lab’s new study, 5% of humanized mice that were given single dose of AD-NP1 developed severe heart failure four weeks after a heart attack, compared to around 50% of the animals that did not receive the drug.

Dr. Deb shared that it is a little unclear what ENPP1’s function is in healthy tissue, which raises questions about AD-NP1’s long-term side effects. But while there is much more to learn, experiments in non-human primates that suggest that a single, very high dose of the drug is not toxic. The Deb lab plans to file an Investigational New Drug application for AD-NP1 to the FDA very soon with the hope of launching a clinical trial in humans early next year. 

Arjun Deb, MD

AD-NP1 could potentially treat other conditions as well. ENPP1 is involved in scar tissue formation in multiple organs, including the kidneys and other tissues. The Deb lab plans to test out their drug in animal models of stroke, kidney injury and other contexts to see if they might have created “one drug for all organ repair.”

Meanwhile, the team has already identified a second potential therapy for preventing scar tissue formation after a heart attack. Just one day after the article about AD-NP1’s preclinical efficacy ran in Cell Reports Medicine, the Deb lab published another article — this time in Nature Cardiovascular Research — showing that a protein called GPNMB can reduce cardiac scar tissue formation in mice post-MI. GPNMB is a compound secreted by immune cells called macrophages, which are found in the bone marrow. Like AD-NP1, it may also be effective at reducing scar tissue formation in other organs as well. 

These discoveries exemplify innovations from the DoM that have the potential to change the course of medicine. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Deb and thanking him and his team for their contributions to the UCLA DoM’s mission to Lead in Innovation, Transform Care and Advance Health for All.

Dale

P.S.

Last week, our department celebrated Halloween. Many of our colleagues got seriously into this. Enjoy some of the creative costumes seen throughout our divisions and programs!


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