1. < Message from the Chair

Our early career faculty represent the future. The recent reduction in federal funding of scientific research puts that future at risk. While we do not fully understand the full extent of these changes, early indications are that many who are thinking about building careers in science and discovery are having second thoughts. Our department is committed to supporting our early-stage investigators, particularly in the face of these unprecedented challenges to the academic scientific enterprise. Thus, it is more important than ever to encourage and support our research trainees and early-stage faculty. Let us acknowledge and recognize the accomplishments of our junior faculty who are leading in innovation, transforming care and advancing health for all. As such, I dedicate this piece to highlighting some of their recent achievements.

Shannon Wongvibulsin, MD, PhD Scores Funding for Dermatology Research

I am pleased  to announce that third-year dermatology resident and Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR) Program scholar Shannon Wongvibulsin, MD, PhD was recently awarded a fellowship from the Dermatology Foundation, an organization that invests in dermatology research and the careers of outstanding physician-scientists. Dr. Wongvibulsin will be supported by a Dermatologist Investigator Research Fellowship. She is also part of a team led by the Chancellor’s Professor and Volgenau Chair for Engineering Innovation Aydogan Ozcan, PhD and Patch Clinic Director Medhi Farshchian, MD, PhD that received a large grant in Nov. 2024 from the LEO Foundation. This grant and the Dermatology Foundation fellowship will help advance Dr. Wongvibulsin’s and her colleagues’ research on developing a non-invasive wearable device to detect skin diseases.

“By combining AI, optical technologies, and immunology, my research will explore the mechanisms driving various inflammatory skin disorders and develop tools that translate scientific discoveries into real-world applications,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to create transformative, equitable solutions that improve patient outcomes, specifically with a focus on inflammatory skin diseases.”

Dr. Wongvibulsin seeks to become an independent physician-scientist who integrates AI and optical technologies to address major clinical and public health challenges in dermatology. She believes her experience in the STAR Program has prepared her well to accomplish her goal, with special credit to STAR Executive Co-Directors Linda L. Demer, MD, PhD and Tamer Salem, MD, PhD and Dermatology STAR Program Director Roger Lo, MD, PhD for their one-on-one mentorship and to the program’s dedicated grant writer, Shaun Mason, who is now helping her navigate the complex grant preparation process as she prepares for further career development applications.

“I am extremely grateful for my time in the STAR program, which has provided a supportive and enriching environment to foster my growth as a physician-scientist,” she said. “Overall, the STAR program has been foundational in equipping me with the mentorship, skills and support needed to establish myself as an independent physician-scientist.”

In addition, Dr. Wongvibulsin would like to extend her sincere gratitude to her primary research mentor Aydogan Ozcan, PhD and the Dermatology Division, particularly April Armstrong, MD, MPH; Marcia Hogeling, MD; Medhi Farshchian, MD, PhD and Fund Manager Sandra Garcia for their invaluable support of her Dermatology Foundation Dermatologist Investigator Research Fellowship application.

Please join me in congratulating Shannon on this fantastic step in her career! I am excited to see how her work moves medicine forward.

Jaime La Charite, MD, MPH and Katie Fruin, MD Receive Bruin Scholars Awards

One of the UCLA Department of Medicine's (DoM) foremost missions is to close equity gaps in healthcare, and we are committed to advancing the careers of trainees and faculty who demonstrate LEADERShip in community service and health equity research. I am excited to share that two early-career physicians who have dedicated their careers to advancing health equity, Jaime La Charite, MD, MPH and Kaitlyn Fruin, MD, are the recipients of the UCLA Department of Medicine’s (DoM) Office for Inclusive Excellence and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Bruin Scholars Awards. This program provides participants with at least two years of funding for projects that address the needs of underserved or structurally vulnerable populations.

Dr. La Charite plans to use the funds to apply what she has learned through her UCLA research on creating health-promoting childhood environments to reduce the impact of childhood adversity on long-term health outcomes. She will collaborate with a community partner to conduct a study that lays the groundwork for improving early intervention efforts at schools that can reduce substance use and improve wellbeing and functioning among adolescents who have faced significant life challenges.

“The Bruin Scholar award will support the collection of preliminary data that will be instrumental in my application for an early investigator award,” Dr. La Charite explained. “This funding is a crucial step in my path toward becoming an independent clinical investigator and advancing research on school-based interventions with broader health impacts.”

In addition to funds, Bruin Scholars awardees also are automatically granted membership to the JAM Council Program, a competitive mentorship program within the DoM Office of Inclusive Excellence. Dr. Fruin hopes to use the experience of JAM Council mentors to learn how to form multi-sector partnerships and how to leverage the UCLA Anchor Institution Mission for a deeper partnership between UCLA Health and Homeboy to advance their shared priorities of advancing economic development, health equity and justice. Dr. La Charite looks forward to the JAM Council’s guidance on successfully transitioning to a faculty role, securing larger research grants, managing a team, navigating career and research opportunities and more.

“I hope these experiences will help me refine my research and leadership skills, ultimately advancing my goal of conducing impactful population health research,” she said.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Fruin and Dr. La Charite on their Bruin Scholars awards!

Gloria Yiu, MD, PhD Secures K08

Let me now shine the spotlight on rheumatologist Gloria Yiu, MD, PhD, who in early February secured a K08 grant that will help fund her quest to understand regulatory T cell development. Dr. Yiu’s work aims to ultimately lead to the design of better cell-based therapies for patients with autoimmune disease.

To meet this need, Dr. Yiu and her team are investigating immune cells called regulatory T cells that suppress inflammation. These cells are promising candidates for cell therapies to treat autoimmune disease. However, gaps remain in scientists’ understanding of how they develop, limiting their therapeutic applications. To unravel the mystery, Dr. Yiu’s K08-funded project will use stem cells, gene editing and organoid models to clarify how regulatory T cells develop.

“We ultimately want to leverage fundamental biology to design better therapies for patients living with autoimmune disease,” she said.

To other early-career physician-scientists who hope to follow in her path, Dr. Yiu encourages embracing setbacks. One of her mentors once told her to take enough shots that you miss 80% of the time — a lesson in persistence that has stayed with her. She also emphasizes that science is not a solo pursuit - it’s more fun, more exciting, and far more impactful when done in collaboration with others.

“Science is challenging, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have mentors, cheerleaders and critics — often embodied by the same people,” she said.

Congratulations, Gloria, on this exciting milestone in your career!

Nupur Agrawal, MD, MPH Accepted to Macy Faculty Scholars Program

The clinical educators among our faculty are all-stars who establish new paradigms in medical pedagogy. A shining example of this is pediatrician and internist Nupur Agrawal, MD, MPH, who on Feb. 18 was accepted to the Macy Faculty Scholars Program. This exciting opportunity will enable Dr. Agrawal to further her collaboration with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to establish a curriculum and guidelines for teaching advocacy to medical trainees.

Dr. Agrawal first recognized the need for a standardized advocacy curriculum during her fellowship in medical education at DGSOM. For the past several years, she and a group of collaborators at UCLA and UCSF have been conducting research that they hope will lead to one. A paper they published a few years ago prompted the ACGME to join the cause. The organization is now working with Dr. Agrawal to find ways to integrate advocacy skills programs into accreditation criteria.

The team’s effort will continue under Dr. Agrawal’s Macy Faculty Scholars Program project, which provides $100,000 in salary support per year for two years, so participants can dedicate half of their time to research. Dr. Agrawal will also receive $25,000 per year to cover the cost of professional development activities and project expenses, plus mentorship, education, and networking opportunities.

While she anticipates that her project will require more than two years to fully realize, Dr. Agrawal will use the program to make headway on using the team’s research findings to develop a national, open-source, evidence-based curriculum for medical advocacy that is maintained and routinely updated by a national coalition — one that is useful to all doctors, from primary care physicians to surgeons, whether they practice medicine in rural settings or big cities. The team will eventually develop learner assessments and program evaluation tools to ensure that the curriculum is effective and has an impact on broader community health.

“I think a big part of work will be identifying an ideal platform to host the curriculum and designing the curriculum in a way that makes it engaging and feasible for the modern physician,” Dr. Agrawal said.

To Dr. Agrawal, the Macy Scholars Faculty Program was a no-brainer to apply to because it is one of the few organizations that provides funding for medical education research. The money provided by these programs — along with their guaranteed research time — are essential for busy faculty who must balance their scholarship activities with clinical work. They also offer the chance to make participants’ research and the DoM part of the larger conversation.

“There’s a national-level recognition that happens when you’re doing good work, and I’m excited to see how this opportunity will propel advocacy training in medical education forward,” Dr. Agrawal said. 

Congratulations, Nupur!

Dan Ly, MD, PhD, MPP Receives VA Career Development Award 

Next, I would like to share a story of persistence that will be familiar to many of us who work in academic medicine. Dan Ly, MD, PhD, MPP, a health economist, health services researcher, and assistant professor of medicine based at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles (VA-GLA) and UCLA, was recently notified of approval of funding for a VA Career Development Award (CDA).

“As a physician working in the hospital, I noticed that some patients with no prior diagnosis of diabetes appeared in the hospital with especially high blood sugars,” he said. “I wondered who these patients were and what barriers there might be to their receiving care from the VA earlier.”

To tackle this problem, he will conduct a study with three main goals: First, to identify the characteristics of VA patients who present with extremely elevated blood sugar levels when they are initially tested; second, to examine the barriers to care for these patients; and third, to develop an intervention that prompts them to go to the doctor before their disease progresses to such a serious point.

“My team and I hope that by identifying and bringing these at-risk patients into care earlier, we can forestall or prevent some of the complications caused by undiagnosed and untreated diabetes and by other chronic conditions,” Dr. Ly said.

On a personal note, my scientific interest in understanding complications of diabetes, resonates with Dan’s goal to work towards to mitigating unrecognized poor diabetes control among veterans.

Congratulations, Dan, on your much-deserved CDA!

Dale

P.S.

Speaking of future leaders, I am partial to my grandchildren who visited us last week. The time passed too quickly. My granddaughter was pleased to reconnect with her polar bear, and excited about her flight back home, while my grandson had plans to sleep through it.

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