Six DoM Physician-Scientists Honored by the American Society for Clinical Investigation

Hrishikesh S. Kulkarni, MD, MS

Dr. Kulkarni is a pulmonologist and critical care physician who holds the Allan J. Swartz and Roslyn Holt Swartz Women’s Lung Health Endowed Chair at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM). His research focuses on a group of proteins in the immune response called the complement system and how they contribute to acute lung injury, including in the context of pneumonia, COVID-19, and lung transplantation.

Dr. Kulkarni completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and attended medical school at Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital in Mumbai, India. He undertook his post-doctoral training at the University of California San Francisco and Washington University in St. Louis, where he also completed a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine. Prior to joining UCLA, he was a tenured associate professor of medicine and molecular microbiology at Washington University, where he built a basic-translational research program in lung injury.

Dr. Kulkarni is grateful for the many opportunities that enabled him to come from Mumbai to pursue a career as a physician-scientist in the U.S. He is also honored that his work is being recognized by his peers in academic medicine, as it could pave the way for personalized therapies in lung diseases that currently do not have a cure.

“What we are studying in the context of immune proteins that are made in the lung and how they influence disease is fairly new, and the fact that the scientific community is beginning to recognize the value of these discoveries is very important,” he said.

Folasade May, MD, PhD

Dr. May is a gastroenterologist and renown health services researcher whose work centers on improving healthcare outcomes and reducing health disparities in the prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal cancers. She leads several studies on how to optimize population health efforts for cancer screening and on how patient, physician and systemic factors influence outcomes in cancer and chronic diseases. She also leads research in collaboration with Federally Qualified Health Centers to boost colorectal cancer screenings among low-income patients.

Dr. May holds a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She completed her fellowship in gastroenterology at UCLA and her residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and holds a Masters of Epidemiology from the University of Cambridge, where she studied global health and the obesity epidemic. Dr. May attended college at Yale University, where she received a BA in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.

Dr. May feels that election to ASCI demonstrates that her unique path as a gastroenterologist who spends most of her time in research and health policy is one of immense value to the field and to patients.

“Being elected to the ASCI shows that the hard work that my team and I have done since I joined the UCLA faculty in 2015 has made an impression on like-minded colleagues and the people who have made tremendous contributions to advancing medicine,” Dr. May said. “I feel validated that a group of people who are excellent at science believe that my science is also excellent.”

Philip O. Scumpia, MD

Dr. Scumpia is an associate professor of medicine at DGSOM and serves as director of dermatopathology at the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles. His laboratory studies the way transcription controls immune responses in wound healing, infection, skin cancer and other skin diseases, with the goal of translating its findings to new treatments and diagnostics. His team is currently developing immunomodulatory biomaterials for wound healing, skin regeneration, vaccines and cancer immunotherapies.

Dr. Scumpia is an alumni of the Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program at UCLA, during which he completed his post-doctoral training with Stephen Smale, PhD. Dr. Scumpia obtained his PhD in microbiology and immunology from the University of Florida and his medical degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Like Dr. Kulkarni and Dr. May, Dr. Scumpia feels that being elected to the ASCI is a strong indicator that his research is making a difference.

“In academia, there is always the feeling that you need to get another figure to make the manuscript better, or another manuscript to make your application better,” he said. “Receiving this honor and being elected to ASCI is validation that the work I’m doing is impactful.”

Marmar Vaseghi, MD, PhD

Dr. Vaseghi is a clinical cardiac electrophysiologist and professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at UCLA. She specializes in the treatment of heart rhythm disorders, including complex cardiac catheter ablations. Her laboratory has significant expertise in evaluating mechanisms of arrhythmias and heart failure, the role of the autonomic nervous system in arrhythmia and heart failure development, and the evaluation of new neuromodulatory therapies. She is the vice chair of the Heart Rhythm Society Research Committee and a fellow of the Heart Rhythm Society and American College of Cardiology. She is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) New Innovator Award.

Dr. Vaseghi completed fellowships in clinical cardiac electrophysiology and cardiovascular disease at UCLA, where she also completed her residency in internal medicine. She obtained her medical degree from Stanford University, and her PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology as well as her Master’s in Clinical Research from UCLA.

“I am truly honored to have been selected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, which includes many of the most well-respected and accomplished physician scientists in the field,” Dr. Vaseghi said. “It is a true privilege to be a part of this unique society which celebrates the contributions of physician-scientists who bridge the gap between basic science and clinical care.”

Dr. Herman is a practicing infectious disease physician who serves as an assistant professor-in-residence in the UCLA Division of Infectious Diseases at DGSOM. He conducts basic science and translational research on new vaccines for malaria, focusing on harnessing B cell biology to refine antibody-mediated protection. He completed a fellowship in clinical infectious diseases through Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital and his residency at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He earned his MD and PhD from Harvard Medical School.

“I am humbled to be recognized by my physician-scientist colleagues and feel energized to continue my work to develop new vaccines for infectious disease that affect humanity all around the globe,” Dr. Herman said.

Dr. Hong is an assistant clinical professor in the UCLA Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, and an alumnus of the UCLA STAR Program. He studies the mechanisms that underlie pulmonary arterial hypertension and uses computational and experimental approaches to develop more targeted therapies. He earned a PhD in molecular, cellular, and integrative physiology at UCLA, where he also completed a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Columbia University and his medical degree at Loma Linda University. He also holds an MPH from the University of California Berkeley.

“This award recognizes our efforts to advance research in pulmonary arterial hypertension, made possible by the support of my mentors and leadership,” Dr. Hong said. “It motivates us to continue exploring new avenues that could one day lead to therapies that improve patient outcomes.”