Our current ProSTAR/PSTP community hosts a vibrant mix of trainees at all levels, and a continuum of graduates who are currently STAR fellows. Our graduates continue subspecialty training in all medicine subspecialties, and continue in a successful and validated pipeline known to produce successful physician investigators in the areas of basic, translational, and clinical/health services research.
Sriram Anbil, MD
Dr. Anbil completed his MD at The University of Texas School of Medicine in San Antonio, and spent four years in the laboratory of Dr. Tayyaba Hasan and Massachusetts General Hospital, two as a research associate prior to medical school, and two as an HHMI Medical Research Fellow between his MS2 and MS3 years. To date, his research has focused on the development of 3D organoid models for ovarian and pancreas cancer, mechanism-informed combination regimens to treat late stage cancers, and targeting the tumor-stroma interactions that drive pancreas cancer progression. His research interests include understanding how evolutionary stresses impact the composition of the tumor microenvironment of pancreas cancer, and how this landscape is affected by treatment. In addition, Dr. Anbil is interested in assay development for the early detection of disease.
Kathleen Fenerty, MD
Dr. Kathleen Fenerty is an aspiring academic oncologist. She began her research career at the National Institutes of Health, where she was part of the Medical Research Scholars Program. There she had the opportunity to spend a year studying multimodal immunotherapies for prostate cancer. She then graduated from medical school at Indiana University before heading to UCLA, where she is excited continue her training as a clinician scientist.
Rui Li, MD, PhD
Dr. Li graduated from Zhejiang University School of Medicine and came to UCLA for his PhD study in Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. His research focused on the interactions between tumor microenvironment and progression. He developed a new combination therapywhich can effectively stimulate anti-tumor T cell responses in otherwise immunoresistant non-small cell lung cancer. He was also involved in a clinical trial that utilizes gene-editing dendritic cells to treat advanced-stage lung cancer with failures of prior therapies. His future interest is to translate laboratory findings to clinical practice.
Giuliana Repetti, MD
Dr. Giuliana Repetti began her research career in the lab of Dr. Lee Rubin at Harvard University studying the molecular and cellular basis of neurodegenerative diseases. As a University of Arizona medical student, she worked with Dr. Steven Goldman exploring the mechanisms behind a cardiac patch to treat heart failure. Between her third and fourth years of medical school she completed a Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the lab of Dr. Christine Seidman and Dr. Jonathan Seidman. She spent the year examining the biomechanics and calcium handling properties of various forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, particularly those caused by genetic variants affecting the thin filament. She also conducted a twin study to investigate he relativecontribution of genes and environment to the clinical outcomes of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Sohn Kim, MD, PhD
Dr. Sohn Kim received his MD and PhD from the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program. His thesis work identified a mechanism of colonization resistance exerted by the intestinal microbiota against a common nosocomial pathogen, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, mediated by the narrow spectrum of activity of a novel microbiota-derived lantibiotic peptide. He is interested in the intersection of classic Microbiology techniques with multi-omic analytic platforms, computational biology, and cellular bioengineering to study and modulate the microbiota’s effect on human health and disease, identify therapeutic targets, and develop new interventions to correct microbiome-mediated disorders.
Eileen Shiuan, MD, PhD
Dr. Shiuan grew up in the Bay Area and went to undergrad at the University of Chicago, where she discovered her passion for oncology and cancer research and what real winters feel like. She subsequently fled south to Nashville, where she completed her MD and PhD in Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt University. There, she studied host-tumor interactions in the context of immunity and metastasis, as well as biomarkers and toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. She loves being back in California pursuing her career as a physician scientist and exploring restaurants, hikes, and beaches with her husband and new UCLA family.
Michael Raddatz, MD, PhD
Dr. Raddatz completed his MD and PhD at Vanderbilt University where he studied inflammatory mechanisms of calcific aortic valve disease under the mentorship of Dr. David Merryman. His recent work with Dr. Alexander Bick leverages computational genomics to understand the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease in patients with clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP). He is interested in the overlap of cardiovascular disease and immunobiology, and how related molecular mechanisms may help to explain and alleviate health disparities in cardiology.
To see featured ProSTAR graduates and STAR fellows, follow this link: Featured Current STAR Awardees
