2026 Awards and Honors
🧬 Emily’s Entourage Translational Research Grant
Award: $200,000 Translational Research Grant
Recipients: Kyle Cromer, PhD; Sriram Vaidyanathan, PhD
Project: Synthetic biology approach to enhance the persistence and regenerative capacity of gene-corrected airway stem cells for cystic fibrosis
🧬 NIH Computational Modeling of Human Hormone Homeostasis Initiative Award
Award: NIH Computational Modeling of Human Hormone Homeostasis Initiative Award
Recipient: Edward Hsiao, MD, PhD
Project: Computational Modeling of Human Hormone Homeostasis in Bone to Predict Sex-Specific Disease and Therapeutic Responses
Collaborators: Marina Sirota, PhD; Dan Evans, PhD; Christopher Hernandez, PhD; Grace Gu, PhD; Hanqin Li, PhD; Dirk Hockemeyer, PhD; Tomiko Oskotsky, PhD; Anne Schafer, PhD
Focus: Development of HERO (Hormonal and Endocrine Regulation of Osteogenesis), an AI-powered platform that integrates human health, genetic, biological, and other data to model hormone regulation of bone formation and loss, with the goal of improving prediction of disease progression and therapeutic responses.
2025 Awards and Honors
🏆 Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Awards
Award: Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Awards
Recipients: John Liu, MD, PhD; Christina Tringides, PhD; Tyler Miller, MD, PhD
Recognition: Outstanding research contributions
🧬 California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Awards
Award: CIRM DISC0 Foundation Awards (> $7.5M total funding)
Recipients:
Bruce Conklin, MD — $5.1M
Project: Scalable gene-editing therapeutic platform for gene-based treatments
Benoit Bruneau, PhD — $2.4M
Project: Stem cell–based modeling of congenital heart disease genetics
🎤 Faculty Research Lectureship (Social, Behavioral, and Health Policy Sciences)
Award: UCSF Faculty Research Lectureship
Recipient: Kathryn A. Phillips, PhD
Recognition: Research on value, implementation, and optimization of health technologies
🧪 NIH NCI SPORE Grant – Cancer Outcomes Program
Award: $12M NCI SPORE Grant
Program Co-Leads: Susan M. Chang, MD; Franklin W. Huang, MD, PhD
Program Focus: Translational cancer outcomes research (meningioma, prostate, breast cancer)
🧫 St. Baldrick’s Foundation Training Grant
Award: $330,000 Training Grant
Recipient: Alfonso Ramirez-Ristori, MD
Focus: Molecular pediatric pathology and cancer diagnostics training
🔬 AAAS Wachtel Award
Award: AAAS Wachtel Award
Recipient: Karin Pelka, PhD
Recognition: Immune “hubs” in tumor immunotherapy response
🧬 Institute for Human Genetics (IHG) Seed Grants
Award: $50,000 IHG Seed Grants
Recipients:
Akinyemi Oni-Orisan, PharmD, PhD; Jia Yang, PhD
Project: SLCO1B1 functional characterization for precision medicine
John Liu, MD, PhD; Mitchel Berger, MD
Project: Spatial transcriptomics and CRISPR in glioblastoma
Diana Laird, PhD; Mary Norton, MD
Project: Oogenesis lineage reconstruction using mitochondrial heteroplasmy
🧠 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Award: Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Honoree: Stephen L. Hauser, MD
Recognition: Discovery of B cells as drivers of multiple sclerosis
🧬 CIRM Grant – Neurodevelopmental Syndromes
Award: $6.25M CIRM Grant
Lead Recipient: Mercedes Paredes, MD, PhD
Collaborators: Nadav Ahituv, PhD; Kevin Bender, PhD; Young Shin Kim, MD, PhD; Roy Ben-Shalom, PhD
Project: Gene-activation therapy for CNS microdeletion syndromes (e.g., 22q deletion syndrome)
2024 Awards and Honors
🧬 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Awards
Awards: ASHG Early Career Award; ASHG Scientific Achievement Award
Recipients:
Loïc Yengo, PhD — Early Career Award
Nadav Ahituv, PhD — Scientific Achievement Award
🧪 Institute for Human Genetics (IHG) Exploratory Grant
Award: $50,000 IHG Exploratory Grant
Recipients: Teresa Sparks, MD, MAS; Kyle Cromer, PhD; Tippi MacKenzie, MD
Project: In utero therapies for non-immune hydrops fetalis and RASopathies
🏛 American Academy of Arts & Sciences Election
Honor: Election to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Honorees: W. Thomas Boyce, MD; Kathleen Giacomini, PhD; Geeta Narlikar, PhD; Neil Powe, MD, MPH, MBA
2023 Awards and Honors
🧬 ASHG Lifetime Achievement Award
Award: ASHG Lifetime Achievement Award
Recipient: Neil Risch, PhD, MS
Recognition: Contributions to statistical and population genetics in complex disease
2022 Awards and Honors
🏆 AAAS Fellows
Honor: Election as AAAS Fellows
Honorees: Judith Auerbach, PhD; Atul Butte, MD, PhD; Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, MSc, MAS, MBA, MLS
🧠 American Brain Foundation Award
Award: Scientific Breakthrough Award
Recipient: Stephen L. Hauser, MD
Recognition: B-cell–targeting therapies in multiple sclerosis
2020 Awards and Honors
🎓 UCSF Teaching Award
Award: Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award
Recipient: Katherine Hyland, PhD
🏛 National Academy of Medicine Election
Honor: Election to National Academy of Medicine
Honorees: Mark Anderson, MD, PhD; Aleksandar Rajkovic, MD, PhD
2019 Awards and Honors
🧪 ASCPT Early Stage Investigator Award
Award: Darrell Abernethy Early Stage Investigator Award
Recipient: Akinyemi Oni-Orisan, PharmD, PhD
🎓 Excellence in Teaching Awards
Award: Academy of Medical Educators Excellence in Teaching Awards
Honorees: Marta Sabbadini, PhD, MS, LCGC; Jessica Van Ziffle, PhD
🔬 Faculty Research Lecture Award
Award: UCSF Faculty Research Lecture Award in Translational Science
Recipient: Kathleen Giacomini, PhD
2018 Awards and Honors
🏛 National Academy of Sciences and Related Honors
Honor: Election to National Academies
Honorees:
Ying-Hui Fu, PhD
Pui-Yan Kwok, MD, PhD
Andrej Sali, PhD
2017 Awards and Honors
🏆 Distinguished Service Award
Award: Distinguished Service Award
Recipient: Pui-Yan Kwok, MD, PhD
2016 Awards and Honors
🏛 Chancellor Diversity Award
Award: Chancellor Diversity Award
Recipient: Lauren Weiss, PhD
🏆 Lifetime Achievement in Health Equity
Award: Lifetime Achievement in Health Equity
Recipient: Esteban Burchard, MD, MPH
2015 Awards and Honors
🧬 ASCI Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award
Award: ASCI Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award
Recipient: Louis J. Ptáček, MD
🏆 E. Mead Johnson Award
Award: E. Mead Johnson Award
Recipient: Ophir Klein, MD, PhD
2014 Awards and Honors
🏆 Irene Perstein Award
Award: Irene Perstein Award
Recipient: Sharon Chung, MD
🏛 Pioneer Award (Personalized Medicine World Conference)
Award: Pioneer Award, Personalized Medicine World Conference
Recipient: Yuet Wai Kan, MD, DSc, FRS
2013 Awards and Honors
🎓 Harry Hind Distinguished Professorship
Award: Harry Hind Distinguished Professorship
Recipient: Esteban Burchard, MD, MPH
🏛 Institute of Medicine Election
Honor: Election to the Institute of Medicine
Recipient: Matthew State, MD, PhD
🧪 Leon I. Goldberg Young Investigator Award (ASCPT)
Award: Leon I. Goldberg Young Investigator Award (ASCPT)
Recipient: Nadav Ahituv, PhD
2012 Awards and Honors
🎓 UCSF Faculty Research Lecture Award
Award: UCSF Faculty Research Lecture Award
Recipients: Ying-Hui Fu, PhD; Louis J. Ptáček, MD
🏛 National Academy of Sciences Election
Honor: Election to the National Academy of Sciences
Recipient: Louis J. Ptáček, MD
🏛 Institute of Medicine Election
Honor: Election to the Institute of Medicine
Recipient: Jennifer Puck, MD
2011 Awards and Honors
🧠 Zülch Neuroscience Prize
Award: Zülch Neuroscience Prize
Recipient: Robert Nussbaum, MD
2010 Awards and Honors
🧬 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
Award: NIH Director’s New Innovator Award
Recipients: Ophir Klein, MD, PhD; Lauren Weiss, PhD
🏆 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Award: Distinguished Alumnus Award
Recipient: Walter L. Miller, MD
🏛 Institute of Medicine Election
Honor: Election to the Institute of Medicine
Recipient: Neil Risch, PhD, MS
2009 Awards and Honors
🎓 UCSF Distinguished Clinical Research Lecturer
Award: UCSF Distinguished Clinical Research Lecturer
Recipient: Walter L. Miller, MD
🏛 American Society for Clinical Investigation Election
Honor: Election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation
Recipient: Esteban Burchard, MD, MPH
🧪 Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award
Award: Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award
Recipient: Kathleen Giacomini, PhD
2008 Awards and Honors
🏛 American Academy of Arts & Sciences Election
Honor: Election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Recipient: Louis J. Ptáček, MD
2007 Awards and Honors
🏛 Institute of Medicine Election
Honor: Election to the Institute of Medicine
Recipient: Louis J. Ptáček, MD
2006 Awards and Honors
🏆 Lifetime Achievement Award (Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America)
Award: Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America
Recipient: Pui-Yan Kwok, MD, DSc, FRS