Year 4. April 28. Celebrating our Physician Scientists Locally and Nationally
Research and innovation are the lifeblood of our department. As such, I look forward to opportunities to promote, highlight and to celebrate the accomplishments of our physician scientist colleagues. Their success is making major contributions to our strategic goals of leading in innovation, transforming care and advancing health for all.
Jane C. Fazio, MD, PhD Recognized for Life-Saving Research on Silicosis
Jane C. Fazio, MD, PhD, is a pulmonary and critical care medicine specialist (and newly minted health policy PhD!), a graduate of our Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR Program) and currently based at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Fazio has sparked life-saving policy change thanks to her research on a deadly lung condition called pulmonary silicosis in young fabrication workers. Her work was recently recognized by the Western Occupational & Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA) with the Anne Searcy, MD Public Service Award, an honor that recognizes individuals who have made significant achievements to protect the health and safety of workers through volunteer public policy advocacy or collaboration with a governmental or public agencies.
Dr. Fazio learned of her award after a tough week in the ICU.
“Honestly, it was probably the best thing that happened to me all week,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t do this work to get awards or be recognized, but it’s exciting to be seen, because so much of what I do is probably not seen by folks.”
Dr. Fazio was a pulmonary and critical care medicine fellow and a health policy PhD student in the UCLA STAR Program when she first noticed a pattern of severe silicosis among some of her young, male, Latino patients at Olive View, many of whom were undocumented. They had something else in common besides their youth, gender and ethnicity: They were all fabrication workers who built artificial stone countertops, which in the U.S. are made of materials that contain high levels of a compound called silica.
“Usually, silicosis develops over decades, but in these cases, it was sometimes as little as five years of daily exposure that led to folks getting sick and needing lung transplantation or dying,” Dr. Fazio said. “It’s a very severe disease.”
Dr. Fazio sounded the alarm on her findings to the occupational health branch of the California Department of Public Health and developed the largest US-based patient registry of silicosis cases. After giving a talk at a WOEMA conference in 2023, she worked with the organization to petition to Cal OSHA to establish a silica standard that tightens regulations around how much silica dust people are allowed to breathe in the workplace. Cal OSHA in December 2024 adopted the standard permanently.
“When all this started, it was me in a clinic by myself saying, ‘Oh my gosh, what is happening?’ — to see all the momentum around this now is really exciting,” Dr. Fazio recalled. “I think as clinicians, it’s really rewarding to really be an expert in a space where you can move the needle and use your expertise to help people.”
Dr. Fazio hopes to continue her research on silicosis among fabrication workers, though its future hinges on funding; much of her work was sponsored by the National Institute of Occupation, Safety and Health, which recently was dramatically cut along with many other federal agencies. She continues to use her Bruin Scholar Award and grants from the DoM to fund a longer-term registry of patients with silicosis that will help her understand the disease course and risk factors for progression. Investigators at the University of Cincinnati are collaborating with her on a larger, NIH-funded grant that will implement programs to help fabrication workers with silicosis obtain workers’ compensation.
“I think the major changes in society really come through policy, and if we want people to be healthier, our policies have to reflect back on what we see clinically,” Dr. Fazio said. “A lot of times, as physicians, we’re the ones that really see the downstream, end-stage effects of complex societal policy decisions.”
Please join me on congratulating Dr. Fazio on her award. Thank you, Jane, for your dedication to advancing health care for all!
Carlos Irwin A. Oronce, MD, MPH, PhD, Named Among National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health
I am thrilled to share that one of our all-star health services researchers, general internist Carlos Irwin A. Oronce, MD, MPH, PhD, was named one of the National Minority Quality Forum’s (NMQF) 40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health for 2025. This honor recognizes individuals from minoritized populations who are leading initiatives to strengthen community health.
“I really admire many of the researchers who have received this award in the past, such as Evan M. Shannon, MD and Utibe Essien, MD, MPH — they are incredible folks who are very accomplished,” Dr. Oronce said. “I was very surprised they selected me.”
Those who are familiar with Dr. Oronce’s work will not be surprised at all. He is a UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) alumni who is best known for his groundbreaking health policy research, including his work disaggregating data to improve medical workforce representation among Asian American subgroups. Last fall, he and a group of colleagues published an article in JAMA Network Open that challenged conceptions about Asian American representation in the medical field, demonstrating that Laotian, Cambodian and Filipino American subgroups were underrepresented in every stage of the allopathic physician education pipeline.
Dr. Oronce hopes that his recognition by NMQF will raise awareness his important area of scholarship.
“For me, this honor means being able to advance the data disaggregation, advocacy work and research work that I’ve been doing and ensuring that the needs of Asian Americans across the board are identified and met,” he said.
Dr. Oronce’s accomplishments advancing health justice go beyond the day-to-day obligations of a physician-scientist. One of his proudest achievements so far is his work on the Filipinx/a/o Community Health Association, a virtual space for Filipinx-American public health scholars, early-career professionals and students to discuss health challenges among their community. He co-founded the organization alongside his mentor Ninez A. Ponce, PhD, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, during the final year of his NCSP fellowship.
These connections are already proving fruitful: Dr. Oronce, Dr. Ponce and other scholars who met through the Filipinx/a/o Community Health Association have published articles in JAMA Health Forum and Health Affairs, respectively, on the disproportionate rates of death of Filipinx frontline health care workers due to COVID-19 and the link between racism, colonialism and Filipinx health disparities.
“We were able to put on our ethnic studies hats to think about the history of why Filipinos were disproportionately recruited into nursing, and how that connects to occupational exposure,” Dr. Oronce said. “To me, as a very quantitative person, collaborating with scholars who were very qualitative and community-oriented has been one of the most gratifying achievements of my career.”
Dr. Oronce will receive his 40 Under 40 award on April 29 during the National NMQH Leadership Summit on Health Disparities and Health Braintrust in Washington, D.C. He looks forward to the chance to share space with changemakers such as fellow 40 Under 40 honoree and first-ever Gen Z Congressman Maxwell Frost and to discuss health equity with people who work for healthcare organizations like DaVita.
“I think this is going to be really enriching for me, because you don’t know what you don’t know,” Dr. Oronce said. “Just being in the room, having those conversations and learning from people is going to be such a good learning experience.”
Please join me in congratulating Carlos on his stellar achievement!
Zhengyi Zhang, PhD Receives CDA from American Heart Association for Cardiometabolism Research
Let us now celebrate the work of Zhengyi Zhang, PhD, an assistant project scientist studying genetic regulation of cardiometabolic disease in the laboratory of Tamer Sallam, MD, PhD. Dr. Zhang recently received a Career Development Award from the American Heart Association that will support his work characterizing the function of genes involved in lipid metabolism.
“Receiving the CDA from the AHA was an incredible honor, and I’m deeply grateful,” Dr. Zhang said. “This award not only validates the importance of my research goals but also gives me a renewed sense of encouragement and motivation to keep pushing forward in this field.”
Dr. Zhang will use his award to investigate how a specific long non-coding RNA called Lexis and its partner protein RLAY regulate metabolism in the liver and fat tissue. He aims to understand how this RNA-protein pair influences cholesterol levels, fat storage and the development of heart disease in the context of a high-fat diet.
“I hope these studies will help uncover novel molecular pathways that can be targeted to prevent or treat conditions like obesity, high cholesterol and atherosclerosis,” Dr. Zhang said. “Ultimately, the long-term goal is to develop more precise and effective therapies that improve heart health and reduce the burden of disease on patients and families.”
Dr. Zhang joined UCLA in 2016. He believes the DoM is the ideal place for his research because of its collegial environment, strong support for junior investigators and access to mentors like Dr. Sallam; Peter Tontonoz, MD, PhD; Aldons Jake Lusis, PhD; and Stephen Smale, PhD.
“I can’t begin to describe how much time and effort Dr. Sallam, my mentor, has invested in guiding and supporting me,” he said. “Their support is instrumental not only for my research progress but also for my career development,”
Dr. Zhang is also grateful for the support of his family, including his wife Lijing Cheng, PhD — currently a post-doc Dr. Sallam’s lab alongside Dr. Zhang — and his seven-year-old son William. He describes Lijing as a constant source of encouragement, as is William.
“I’ll never forget struggling with my proposal and feeling discouraged, when William looked at me and said, ‘Dad, you get what you get, and you don’t get upset,’” Dr. Zhang recalled. “I love that line — even if it felt like he was the parent in that moment.”
Congratulations, Zhengyi! I look forward to seeing the outcome of your research.
DoM Faculty Inducted In the American Society for Clinical Investigation
This past Friday, four DoM faculty were inducted in the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) during a special ceremony in Chicago. This is a major career milestone that establishes these physician-scientists' research contributions among those that have significantly advanced our understanding of biomedicine. Join me in celebrating their accomplishments and hear their firsthand reactions and reflections upon being elected to ASCI membership.
Folasade May, MD, PhD, MPhil
Folasade May, MD, PhD, MPhil is a gastroenterologist, an associate professor at DGSOM, associate director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity and a prolific scholar in the study of colorectal cancer prevention and early detection. Her research has generated actionable insights to boost cancer screening uptake overall and among underserved populations, and she has been called upon to share her expertise at the White House, on Red Table Talk and in many other media appearances.
In short, there is little surprise that Dr. May was elected to ASCI — though she herself did not see it coming.
“For me, what was most remarkable to learn was that a group of such distinguished peers and colleagues in scientific research thought that I was worthy of this designation,” Dr. May said. “It meant a lot for me coming from the group that it's coming from.”
Dr. May is currently in the process of setting up a major interventional clinical trial alongside UCLA Fielding School of Public Health researcher Beth Glenn, PhD. They were recently awarded a $3 million grant from the NIH to study ways to improve colorectal cancer screening rates in networks of community health centers across greater Los Angeles.
“This work is so important because it empowers patients to take their own health into their own hands,” Dr. May said. “The reason I really love doing this work is because it’s about connecting with patients and making them aware of the science and technology available to them so they can optimize their health.”
Congratulations, Fola, on your election to ASCI!
Meet the Researcher: Folasade May, MD, PhD, MPhil
Philip O. Scumpia, MD
Humility seems to be a shared quality among the DoM’s ASCI inductees. Like Dr. May, Associate Professor of Dermatology Philip O. Scumpia, MD was surprised that he was elected to ASCI.
“I felt like Tom Hanks in that movie when he was stranded on an island, Castaway — the excitement he had in the part when he creates the fire,” said Dr. Scumpia, who is an alumni of the Specialty Training and Advanced Research Program at UCLA. “Then, after the shock died down, I felt a little bit like, do I really belong there?”
One need only glance at Dr. Scumpia’s accomplishments to see that he does indeed belong in the ASCI. In the course of his research on the relationship between the skin’s immune system and health and disease, the dermatologist and dermatopathologist has spearheaded the invention of biomaterials for wound healing as well as a non-invasive method for conducting biopsies of skin lesions that has already demonstrated success in his patients at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center.
A diverse array of research and clinical challenges keeps Dr. Scumpia excited about his field. He particularly enjoys translating his research from the bench to the bedside and back again.
“As a dermatologist, I get to see different types of skin disease and perform procedures, then as a dermatopathologist I get to look at that tissue under the microscope and see how cells behave in different scenarios,” he said. “The beauty of it is that later on, I can take tissue from a patient’s skin back to the lab and study it using approaches like histology and cell sequencing. There’s always something new to look at.”
Congratulations, Phil!
Meet the Researcher: Philip O. Scumpia, MD
Hrishikesh S. Kulkarni, MD, MS
For pulmonologist Hrishikesh Kulkarni, MD, MS, being elected to ASCI is a symbol not only of his own success, but of the success of the places and people who shaped him into the physician-scientist he is today.
“This is a reflection of the organizations and communities I’ve been a part of — I grew up in India, so I represent my country, as well as the institutions to which I belong, like UCLA,” he said. “It’s also a reflection of my family, my collaborators, my mentors and the science that I do.”
Dr. Kulkarni’s team studies how an immune pathway called the complement system, which previously was mainly thought to function in the blood, actually affects the lung. Their goal is to find solutions to what is known as immune-induced lung injury, a dangerous potential side effect of lung transplant and a possible byproduct of the body’s fight against pathogens like the ones that cause COVID-19. On the other hand, this system is also protective against bacterial pneumonia. Thus, their current focus is the identification of a point in the immune response that is optimal for intervention.
“We've shown that the lung has the ability to make its own proteins to fight off infection or even protect itself before those circulating proteins can come in, and thus they work together,” he said. “Now the challenge is, once the cat’s out of the bag, how do you actually get this under control, so it doesn’t go on to continue damaging the tissue? The balance is what we want to address.”
Given that other tissues also have their “own” immune responses that can go haywire, the mechanisms by which complement modulates lung injury also have broader relevance.
“The tools we are developing and the approaches we are taking have applicability to other organ systems like the gut, kidney, heart and the brain,” Dr. Kulkarni said. He is working with physicians and scientists in other divisions and departments at UCLA to translate his team’s research beyond the lung.
Congratulations, Hrish!
Meet the Researcher: Hrishikesh S. Kulkarni, MD, MS
Marmar Vaseghi, MD, MS, PhD
Marmar Vaseghi, MD, MS, PhD has long admired the work of many members of ASCI. Now, she is one of them.
“I am truly honored. The American Society for Clinical Investigation is a very unique society in that it truly focuses on the career and accomplishments of physician-scientists,” she said. “It is incredible and amazing to now be part of that society.”
In her cardiac electrophysiology research lab, Dr. Vaseghi untangles the mechanisms behind cardiac arrhythmias that lead to sudden cardiac death. While the past several decades have seen significant advances that have led to important treatment options, many patients continue to experience recurrent dangerous arrhythmias that increase both morbidity and mortality. The Vaseghi laboratory aims to better understand the mechanisms of these abnormal heart rhythms and uses a combination of electrophysiological and neural recording techniques along with molecular and optogenetic approaches in animal models to develop and evaluate novel therapies for arrhythmias.
“Our work and our lab’s mission focus on developing new targets for arrhythmia therapeutics so that we can help relieve the patient suffering that we see at the bedside,” Dr. Vaseghi said.
To Dr. Vaseghi, financial support, mentorship, infrastructure and collaboration all contribute to making the DoM a wonderful place to conduct cutting-edge research.
“I think these tenets of research, support, mentorship, infrastructure, and collaboration are key to being able to work collaboratively to advance science and medicine, to come up with new ideas, and to implement those ideas,” she said.
Congratulations, Marmar!
Meet the Researcher: Marmar Vaseghi, MD, MS, PhD
I would also like to recognize Jonathan D. Herman, MD, PhD and Jason Hong, MD, PhD for receiving Young Physician-Scientist Awards, from the ASCI. Their tremendous work in malaria vaccine and pulmonary arterial hypertension research, respectively, are outstanding examples of our missions in action!
The ASCI meeting is held jointly with the annual meeting of the Association of American Physicians (AAP). It was nice to sit together at the AAP dinner with fellow colleagues from the DoM who are AAP members. See pictures from the events in Chicago this past weekend.
Dale
P.S.
I nominated my first MD PhD student, Brian O’Neill for ASCI membership. Brian is now an associate professor and program director for the Endocrinology Fellowship Program at the University of Iowa. Brian joined my lab at the University of Utah more than 20-years ago. I could feel old, but I feel much more proud to be able to share in his accomplishments.
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