Rare Disease Symposium 2026

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Roopa Ramamoorthi, PhD

Director, Catalyst Program, InVent Fund, UCSF

Roopa Ramamoorthi brings a diverse scientific background in drug development, bacteriology, biotechnology, and engineering. Prior to joining UCSF, Roopa was Associate Director Partnering and Scientific Affairs at BIO Ventures for Global Health, where her focus was putting together collaborations between academic, non profit and pharmaceutical organizations to accelerate the development of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for Neglected Tropical Diseases, TB and Malaria for the WIPO Re:Search Consortium. She worked for Bayer in California for more than five years as a scientist and senior scientist in development of antibody and other biological therapeutics and evaluating and bringing in platform technologies and has experience in science and technology consulting with Strategic Perspectives.

Roopa received her Ph.D. in biochemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Washington and at MIT. She is a registered patent agent and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Roopa grew up in India where she received her B.S. in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai.

James Levine, MD, PhD, MBA

Professor, President, Fondation Ipsen

Dr. James Levine is a physician–scientist, entrepreneur, and President of Fondation Ipsen, where he leads global work in rare-disease innovation. With a background in wearable tech, data analytics, and more than 100 patents, he has founded 30+ companies and advised four U.S. Presidents, the State Department, and the U.S. Army. His international development efforts span underserved regions in the U.S., Africa and Asia. Levine has published 200+ scientific papers, and has authored seven books translated into more than 20 languages.

Sohela Shah, PhD

Program Director Catalyst Program and InVent Fund

Sohela serves as the program director for Catalyst Program and InVent Fund, within Innovation Ventures at UCSF. With a strong passion for advancing research projects and promoting technology patenting and commercialization, Sohela is dedicated to bridging the gap between groundbreaking innovations and real-world applications. Before joining Innovation Ventures, she held the position of founding product manager at The Production Board, a prominent technology incubator and investment holding company in San Francisco, where she made significant contributions to the TERA startup project.

Sohela started her career journey in academia, earning her Ph.D. in Genetics from Tufts University's School of Biomedical Sciences in Boston. Building upon her expertise, she pursued postdoctoral training in rare disease genetics at the University of California San Francisco, followed by a research fellowship in clinical genetics and genomics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a Niehaus Scholar. After her academic research and training, Sohela transitioned to the field of technology startups focused on developing software tools and solutions for curating, interpreting, and analyzing complex biological data. She played a pivotal role in the development of NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) data interpretation and reporting software for genetic test results at Ingenuity Systems (acquired by QIAGEN) and Invitae Corp.

Driven by her dedication to the field of genetics and genomics, Sohela aspires to continue making significant contributions. She aims to foster collaboration between academia and industry, working towards driving innovation and improving patient outcomes. With her diverse expertise in research, product management, and technology commercialization, Sohela is poised to make a lasting impact in the field.

Fireside Chat: Atul Butte’s legacy in rare cancer and “scalable privilege”

Aenor Sawyer, MD

Executive Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Dr. Aenor Sawyer, has more than two decades of experience in development and evaluation of health technologies, telemedicine and remote medical management. In addition to her Clinical work in Orthopaedics as the Director of the Skeletal Health Service, Dr Sawyer was recently recruited into UCSF innovation Ventures to serve as Director of Innovator Enrichment and also Manager in Strategic Alliances. Dr. Sawyer’s experience in remote medical management includes 15 years as an Expedition Medic and Medical Advisor for extreme ocean rowers. She also conducts research with the Australian Antarctic Division on remote medical monitoring. She has expertise in remote care and Space Health/Medical management as the Director of the UC Space Health Program and previously served as the Chief Health Innovation Officer for the Translational Research Institute for Space Health, a NASA-funded program.

She is a member of the UCSF IT Governance Committee, Co-Founder and Co-Director of the UCSF Center for Advanced 3D+ Technologies, Co-Founder of the Center for Digital Health Innovation, and a UCSF HEALTH HUB board member. External roles also include Chair of MCRI HealthTechnology Advisory Board, Advisor to UCSF Invest Fund, Advisor to ANDHealth, External Advisory Board Member of the Scripps Translational Sciences Institute, and prior Associate Editor of Nature’s Digital Medicine Journal.

As a UCSF Orthopedist, she is Founder and Director of the Skeletal Health Service where she combines her background as an Orthopedic Surgeon, Physical Therapist and Exercise Physiologist enabling pediatric to geriatric patients optimize their bone health across the lifespan. Dr Sawyer's career includes 10 years as a Physical Therapist, after which she received an M.S. in Human Physiology and her M.D. from the University of California, Davis. Upon completion of her Orthopedic Surgery residency at Stanford University, she completed fellowship training in Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery and Pediatric/Adolescent Sports Medicine, both at Boston Children's Hospital, in the Harvard Orthopedic program.

Gini Deshpande, PhD

CEO, NuMedii

A molecular biologist by training, Gini has more than 16 years of experience turning cutting-edge scientific concepts into products that benefit patients. As CEO of NuMedii, Gini structured the company’s critical partnerships with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies including Allergan, Astellas and Aptalis, and raised the initial rounds of financing. Before NuMedii, she helped companies identify optimal markets and whole-product solutions for their groundbreaking technologies, including Affymetrix and iPierian, and led innovation at Children’s Hospital Boston, where she focused on the creation of new devices for the tiniest of patients. Gini has helped commercialize early-stage technologies in research tools, diagnostics and therapeutics and has closed licensing deals worth several million. She received her MS from the University of Pune (India), her PhD in Biological Sciences from Purdue University, and did post-doctoral work at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Rare Disease Genetics Overview

Nadav Ahituv, PhD

Director, Institute for Human Genetics, UCSF

Nadav Ahituv is a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences and the Director of the Institute for Human Genetics at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his PhD in human genetics from Tel-Aviv University working on hereditary hearing loss. He then did his postdoc, specializing in functional genomics, in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the DOE Joint Genome Institute. His current work is focused on identifying gene regulatory elements and linking nucleotide variation within them to various phenotypes including morphological differences between species, drug response and human disease. His lab was one of the co-developers of massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) that allow for high-throughput functional characterization of gene regulatory elements. In addition, he pioneered cis-regulation therapy (CRT), the use of gene regulatory elements as therapeutic targets for haploinsufficient disorders, and adipose modulation transplantation (AMT), a novel cancer cell therapy.

Nathaniel Prorok, MHA

Senior Program Manager, Catalyst

Nate Prorok brings a diverse and wide ranging skill set and experience to the Catalyst Program team. After undergraduate studies in Physical Therapy and Athletic Training at Loyola Marymount University, Nathaniel worked with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps - International in Tacna, Perú, with local communities to develop sustainable solutions to the problems they faced in health and education. Afterwards, Nathaniel earned a graduate degree in Healthcare Administration from Marquette University and worked with Children’s Hospital Wisconsin to develop a medical home for youth in foster care. Prior to joining the Catalyst Program, Nathaniel completed a fellowship at the University of Utah Health where he worked on various population health, wellness, and social determinants of health projects.

Morning Panel: Drug Discovery in Rare Diseases

Charles Hart, PhD

Director of the Small Molecule Discovery Center (SMDC)

Charles Hart is the Director of the Small Molecule Discovery Center (SMDC) and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF. At the SMDC, he leads a team that supports UCSF investigators in identifying and optimizing small molecules for use as chemical probes and drug discovery leads using high-throughput screening (HTS), medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and biophysics. He previously served (2018-2025) as Executive Director of UCSF’s Catalyst Program, the university’s translational accelerator. Charles teaches drug discovery, entrepreneurship, and translational science classes in the UCSF/UC Berkeley Master in Translational Medicine program, UCSF’s Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence and Computational Drug Discovery and Development (AICD3), and UCSF’s School of Pharmacy Inquiry Immersion program, and serves as the Faculty Lead for UCSF in the NSF I-Corps Northwest Hub. He is also on the Board of the Academic Drug Discovery Consortium and has been an editorial board member of SLAS Discovery since 2003. Prior to UCSF he was Senior Vice President at Threshold Pharmaceuticals (2004-2017), Senior Director of Biology at Galileo Pharmaceuticals (2001 to 2004), Director of Drug Discovery at Signature Bioscience (2000 to 2001), a Research Unit Director at Affymax (1990 to 2000), and an electron microscopist at SRI (1977 to 1981). Charles received his AB in cell biology from UC Berkeley (1977), MS in developmental biology from Stanford (1980), PhD in molecular biology and genetics from Yale (1987), and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Université de Strasbourg, France (1990).

Fyodor Urnov, PhD

Director, CRISPR Cures Center

Fyodor Urnov is a Professor of Molecular Therapeutics at UC Berkeley and a Director at its Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI). He co-developed the toolbox of human genome and epigenome editing, co-named genome editing, and was on the team that advanced all of its first-in-human applications to the clinic. He also led the effort that identified the genome editing target for an approved medicine to treat sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. A major goal for the field of genome editing and a key focus of Fyodor's work is expanding access to CRISPR therapies for genetic disease. As part of that effort Fyodor directs the Danaher-IGI Beacon for CRISPR Cures - a first-in-class academia-industry partnership developing and advancing to the clinic CRISPR-based platform approaches to treat severe Mendelian diseases of the immune system. In May 2025 a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine described the world’s first on-demand engineered CRISPR therapy for a newborn with a severe metabolic disorder; Fyodor was the IGI lead of this 4-way collaboration between CHOP, Penn Medicine, Danaher, and the IGI that reduced key components of “CRISPR as a platform” approach to clinical practice. Fyodor also directs the newly established CZI-IGI Center for Pediatric CRISPR Cures that aims to expand the “CRISPR on-demand” approach exemplified in that effort to multiple additional pediatric patients with severe genetic diseases.

Aaron Tward, MD, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer, Akouos

Former UCSF Catalyst awardee

Aaron is the Chief Scientific Officer of Akouos, a precision genetic medicines company focused on therapies for people affected by disabling hear loss, which was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company in 2022. Aaron is a board-certified, fellowship-trained surgeon who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the ear and skull base. Prior to Akouos, he was an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A surgeon-scientist, Aaron is a pioneer in the application of high-throughput sequencing technologies to critical problems in biomedicine. He has authored more than 30 publications spanning the fields of genomics, cancer biology, stem cell biology, and skull base surgery. He received both a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and an M.D. from UCSF and completed his residency in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and a fellowship in otology, neurotology, and skull base surgery at Harvard Medical School. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Russell Dahl, PhD

CSO, Jacaranda Biosciences

Dr. Russell Dahl is the Chief Scientific Officer of Jacaranda Biosciences and has more than 20 years of leadership experience in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research. He is recognized for his work developing novel therapeutic modalities and advancing multiple first-in-class drug candidates to human trials. Dr. Dahl previously held senior scientific roles at Bristol Myers Squibb, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and DuPont Pharmaceuticals, and held tenure-track faculty positions in chemistry and neuroscience. Dr. Dahl earned a BS in Chemistry from Santa Clara University and MS and PhD degrees in Organic Chemistry from UC San Diego as a DuPont Pharmaceuticals Fellow. HE has co-authored over 100 peer previewed publications and is an inventor on more than 100 patents.

Photography & Human Perspective in Rare Disease

Rick Guidotti

Founder and CEO, Positive Exposure

Rick Guidotti is an award-winning photographer who for more than 25 years has collaborated globally with nonprofits, medical institutions, and communities to challenge perceptions of difference. He is founder and director of POSITIVE EXPOSURE, using photography, film, and education to advance inclusion and human rights. His work includes LIFE Magazine’s Redefining Beauty cover and exhibitions at the Smithsonian, and continues worldwide.

Moving Mountains: Reyna’s Story and the Summit Still Ahead for CDKL5 Gene Therapy

Jainu Jogani

Co-Founder, Child’s Cure Genetics Research

Jainu Jogani is a rare disease advocate, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Child’s Cure Genetic Research, focused on accelerating therapies for rare pediatric genetic disorders. Motivated by his daughter’s diagnosis with CDKL5 deficiency disorder, he has helped advance gene therapy programs resulting in rare-disease patents and orphan drug designations. At the UCSF Rare Disease Symposium 2026, he will discuss the CDKL5 gene therapy project and its development pathway.

Jacinthe Gingras, PhD

Scientific Advisor, Child’s Cure Genetics Research

Jacinthe Gingras, PhD, serves as Scientific Advisor for the CDKL5 Gene Therapy program, bringing deep biotechnology leadership and scientific strategy experience to the team. She has held senior scientific leadership roles, including as Vice President of Discovery Research where she guided multidisciplinary research teams and translational science initiatives, successfully bringing multiple gene therapies for neurological disease to the clinic.

Dr. Gingras’s breadth of experience in therapeutic development, strategic program planning, and scientific innovation helps ensure that our approach to CDKL5 gene therapy is informed by both rigorous science and practical pathways toward clinical translation.

Nalin Gupta, MD, PhD

Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, UCSF

Dr. Nalin Gupta, chief of pediatric neurological surgery at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital, is an expert in the evaluation and surgical management of neurological disorders in children, including epilepsy, brain tumors, hydrocephalus, and cranial and spinal birth defects. Dr. Gupta's primary research focuses on the role of inflammation in brain tumor progression. He is a principal investigator of the Brain Tumor Research Center at UCSF. He is also involved in national clinical studies of brain tumors and the effectiveness of fetal surgery for spina bifida. Dr. Gupta earned his medical degree and completed residency training in neurological surgery at the University of Toronto. He completed fellowship training in pediatric neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children. He also has a doctorate in biophysics from UCSF. He served as an attending neurosurgeon at the University of Chicago before coming to UCSF.

Sohela Shah, PhD

Program Director Catalyst Program and InVent Fund

Sohela serves as the program director for Catalyst Program and InVent Fund, within Innovation Ventures at UCSF. With a strong passion for advancing research projects and promoting technology patenting and commercialization, Sohela is dedicated to bridging the gap between groundbreaking innovations and real-world applications. Before joining Innovation Ventures, she held the position of founding product manager at The Production Board, a prominent technology incubator and investment holding company in San Francisco, where she made significant contributions to the TERA startup project.

Sohela started her career journey in academia, earning her Ph.D. in Genetics from Tufts University's School of Biomedical Sciences in Boston. Building upon her expertise, she pursued postdoctoral training in rare disease genetics at the University of California San Francisco, followed by a research fellowship in clinical genetics and genomics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a Niehaus Scholar. After her academic research and training, Sohela transitioned to the field of technology startups focused on developing software tools and solutions for curating, interpreting, and analyzing complex biological data. She played a pivotal role in the development of NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) data interpretation and reporting software for genetic test results at Ingenuity Systems (acquired by QIAGEN) and Invitae Corp.

Driven by her dedication to the field of genetics and genomics, Sohela aspires to continue making significant contributions. She aims to foster collaboration between academia and industry, working towards driving innovation and improving patient outcomes. With her diverse expertise in research, product management, and technology commercialization, Sohela is poised to make a lasting impact in the field.

Afternoon Panel: New Technologies & Diagnosis for Hearing Loss

Rebecca M. Lewis, AuD, PhD, CCC-A, ABAC 

Chief of Audiology, UCSF

Rebecca M. Lewis is Chief of Audiology, Program Director of Audiology at UCSF, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery. She is an audiologist–scientist whose work integrates clinical care, health systems innovation, and research in hearing science. She leads UCSF’s multi-site audiology program, developing evidence-informed care pathways and patient education initiatives to improve outcomes for individuals with hearing loss and tinnitus. Trained in auditory neuroscience, her research background includes molecular and cellular approaches to regenerating auditory structures to restore hearing, large database-driven research initiatives, alongside applied work in tinnitus and complex hearing disorders. Through national leadership roles in audiology and tinnitus research organizations, Dr. Lewis advances patient-centered hearing health by bridging foundational science with practical improvements in care delivery.

Payal A. Anand, AuD, CCC-A

Director, Audiology Clinic, UCSF

Payal A. Anand is Director of the multi-site Audiology Program at UCSF and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, with over two decades of experience in clinical care and program leadership. She oversees comprehensive audiology services across an extensive health system, serving patients of all ages with expertise in pediatric and adult hearing care, vestibular and balance disorders, and advanced hearing technologies. On this panel, she brings her pediatric expertise, focusing on improving access, care coordination, and evidence-informed interventions for children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Dr. Anand is committed to navigating system-level and insurance barriers, advocating for expanded pediatric hearing care coverage, and leading research and quality-improvement initiatives that develop patient- and family-centered approaches. Her leadership ensures patients and families receive coordinated, high-quality, evidence-informed care from diagnosis through long-term intervention.

Dylan Chan, MD, PhD

Professor of Otolaryngology, UCSF

Dylan K. Chan is Professor of Otolaryngology at UCSF and Director of the UCSF Children’s Communication Center, which delivers multidisciplinary care for children with hearing loss. A pediatric otolaryngologist and scientist, Dr. Chan’s research focuses on the genetics of hearing loss and addressing health disparities in underrepresented pediatric populations. His laboratory has employed advanced imaging and molecular techniques to investigate inner-ear disorders, leading to the identification of novel targets for treating hearing loss. Through both his research and clinical leadership, he strives to improve early genetic diagnosis and develop equitable, personalized interventions for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

Konstantina Stankovic, MD, PhD, FACS

Otorhinolaryngologist, Stanford

Konstantina Stankovic is the Bertarelli Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, and professor, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery. She is a Harvard-trained ear and skull-base surgeon and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained auditory neuroscientist. She blends her surgical expertise with training in physics, molecular biology, auditory neuroscience, and systems electrophysiology to devise novel solutions tailored to the unmet needs of those with hearing loss. She has initiated and led cross-departmental, national, and international collaborations to develop and deploy novel molecular diagnostics and therapeutics for hearing loss and otologic diseases in general while educating the next generation of leaders in surgery and science. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and President Elect of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology.

Nancy M. Young, MD

Otolaryngologist, Lurie Children’s Hospital Chicago/Northwestern

Nancy M. Young is the Lillian S. Wells Professor of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Northwestern University and Medical Director of Audiology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. A pioneering leader in pediatric cochlear implantation, Dr. Young founded Lurie’s cochlear implant program and has advanced the field through decades of surgical and programmatic leadership. She has spearheaded innovative research applying artificial intelligence and neuroimaging to predict cochlear implant outcomes, aiming to personalize therapy and maximize each child’s post-implant speech and language development. Dr. Young’s contributions – including her role as President of the American Otological Society – have significantly influenced pediatric hearing loss care, driving improvements in cochlear implant technology and outcomes for children worldwide.

Closing Patient Keynote

Rebecca Alexander

Author, Motivational Speaker, Psychotherapist, Mental Health Educator, Disability Rights Advocate, and Fitness Coach

Rebecca Alexander is an award-winning author, psychotherapist, disability rights advocate, keynote speaker, and endurance athlete living with Usher syndrome, a rare genetic condition causing progressive deafness and blindness. She holds two Master’s degrees from Columbia University and maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Manhattan. Rebecca is the author of Not Fade Away: A Memoir of Senses Lost and Found, and her work bridges healthcare, mental health, and disability advocacy. Through storytelling and leadership, she advances resilience, accessibility, and inclusive approaches to living with rare disease.

Jacque Duncan, MD

Head of Ophthalmology, UCSF

Jacque L. Duncan, M.D., Chair and Distinguished Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, is also the Chair of the Foundation Fighting Blindness Scientific Advisory Board, and the co-Chair of the FFB Clinical Consortium Executive Committee. Dr. Duncan has expertise in the diagnosis and management of patients with retinal degenerations including age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, cone-rod dystrophy, and Stargardt disease. Her research focuses on identifying imaging technologies to better evaluate retinal changes in disease and in response to emerging therapies. She has worked with FFB Leadership to launch the FFB Consortium which comprises over 48 clinical centers and over 160 investigators with expertise in the care and study of patients with inherited retinal degenerations.

Innovation Ventures and IHG Team

David Morris, MD

Vice Chancellor of Business Development, Innovation and Partnerships, UCSF Innovation Ventures

David Morris, MD, a pharma executive with experience in research and development, venture capital, and developing early-stage biotech companies – as well as deep roots in academic medicine – has been named Vice Chancellor for Business Development, Innovation and Partnerships at UC San Francisco.

Morris has worked at Roche and Novartis, where he led respiratory and primary care drug development and ultimately rose to become global head of clinical operations, overseeing hundreds of clinical trials worldwide.

He has been directly or indirectly involved in the research, development, and approval of multiple new medications for COPD, asthma, dermatologic diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and heart failure, including work on Entresto, which has become a standard of care for heart failure. He and his team were also early innovators in leveraging technology to streamline clinical research and apply digital solutions in drug discovery and development at Novartis.

He later served as managing director for the Novartis Venture Fund, working out of its Emeryville office with many Bay Area startups, including Soteria Biotherapeutics, a biotech spinout from the laboratory of Jim Wells, PhD in the UCSF School of Pharmacy.

Most recently, working from their Bay Area offices, Morris headed research and development at Valo Health, a Boston firm that uses generative AI for drug discovery. He also served as chief medical officer for Enterprise Therapeutics in the United Kingdom, where he helped develop new inhaled therapies for cystic fibrosis.

Peter Kotsonis, PhD

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Business Development, Innovation and Partnerships

Peter is a PhD-neuroscientist and drug hunter who has worked in both academic and corporate innovation settings. He joined UCSF in 2013, primarily responsible for developing novel business models and, a partnering vision for the campus eco-system that drives towards commercialization.

Peter has experience in pre-IPO academic start-ups (vasopharm GmbH) and larger global organizations (Novartis Ag and Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co, Ltd). Whilst at Julius-Maximilians University of Wurzburg (Wurzburg, Germany) he was the project leader and co-inventor of Ronopterin, a novel medicine for traumatic brain injury that is currently in Phase III clinical development and with Orphan Designation. For the resulting work, he and the team were awarded the 2000 Phoenix Pharmacy Ag Pharmazie-Wissenschaftspreis (Munich, Germany). At the Novartis Institute for Medical Science (London, UK) he led a CGRP migraine program. At Sepracor Inc. (MA, USA) he was the head of operations for Discovery and Early Clinical Research, which included aspects of strategy, portfolio management and external innovation. There he also completed the exclusive licensing of a first-in-class antipsychotic, Ulotaront, from a strategic partnership with PsychoGenics Inc. Ulotaront is currently in Phase III clinical development and received FDA Breakthrough designation in 2019.

Peter completed his studies at the University of Melbourne (BSc HONS) and Monash University (PhD). He is the recipient of the prestigious CJ Martin Fellowship from the Australian NH&MRC and, has been a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for over 25 years.

Shelley Green

Chief Administrative Officer, Institute for Human Genetics, UCSF

Shelley Green is the Chief Administrative Officer for the Institute for Human Genetics (IHG) and the Department of Physiology. Shelley is an experienced and highly skilled leader with over 15 years at UCSF, where she oversees operations and financial management for the Department of Physiology and the Institute for Human Genetics. She plays a critical role in strategic planning and organizational development, ensuring that departments operate efficiently and align with UCSF’s mission to advance research and education. 

Sean Karlin

Senior Brand & Communications

With an education in film, a passion for adventure, and the good fortune to work with organizations like Greenpeace, Amazon Watch and Sea Shepherd, Sean has spent much of his life travelling and documenting the environmental movement. In 2005 he settled in San Francisco, joined Beyond Pix Studios to cover the world’s biggest technology innovators, including Apple, LinkedIn and Amazon. Along with new priorities came new skills that included commercial production and design.

Working with an incredible team of creative professionals, Sean led commercial campaigns for local and national broadcast television, which was honored with a pair of Emmy Awards for directing ad campaigns in 2009 and 2014.

In 2016, he began working with the University of California designing and producing educational media projects, and today you can find him wandering the ivy walled campus of UC San Francisco tending to brand and visual communications with the Innovation Ventures team.

Inder Takhar

Program Manager

Inder joined the University of California, San Francisco, in June 2022 to manage special projects/programs for the Innovation Ventures team, specifically working with Strategic Alliances and the Entrepreneurship Program.  He has a background in executive public relations, partnership development, and communications. Prior to joining UCSF, Inder worked at Morling Financial Advisors, SLAC National Lab, and the Global Engagement Office at UC Berkeley. Inder has his MA from San Francisco State University and BA from the University of California, San Diego.

Praneeti Pathipati, PhD

Program Director, Catalyst

Praneeti is a PhD-trained scientist who supports UCSF faculty in evaluating and advancing early-stage research discoveries toward translation and commercialization. She brings experience assessing scientific merit, translational readiness, and potential development pathways through roles across academia, biotech, pharma, and venture. With over 15 years of research and industry-facing experience, Praneeti collaborates with faculty, founders, and external partners to help translate innovative science into impactful healthcare solutions.