Our Faculty

Jason Cyster, PhD

Professor
Microbiology and Immunology

Jason Cyster, PhD studies lymphocyte trafficking and homeostasis.

Grae Davis, PhD

Professor
Biochemistry and Biophysics

Graeme Davis, PhD studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal development and plasticity.

Jayanta Debnath, MD

Professor and Chair

Jayanta Debnath, MD is working to understand the role and regulation of autophagy in epithelial homeostasis and cancer pathogenesis.

Pamela Den Besten, DDS

Professor
Orofacial Sciences

Pamela Den Besten, DDS studies the development of ameloblasts, the cells that deposit enamel on developing teeth, and explores the development of stem cells derived from tooth pulp in the reconstruction of teeth.

Tobias Deuse, MD

Professor

Tobias Deuse, MD is developing immune editing strategies to shield stem cells and cell products from immune recognition and rejection. He develops immune-oncology therapeutics and regenerative cell therapies based on this concept.

Christopher Dvorak, MD

Professor
Pediatrics

Christopher Dvorak, MD studies approaches to optimizing the safety and efficacy of hematopoietic stem cell transplants, via personalized and targeted elimination of host HSCs and immunity, as well as graft engineering.

Robert Edwards, MD

Professor
Neurology

Robert Edwards, MD, PhD studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate neurotransmitter release and how they contribute to synaptic physiology, behavior and disease, particularly Parkinson’s.

Marlys Fassett, MD, PhD

Associate Profressor
Dermatology

Marlys Fassett, MD, PhD is a dermatologist and physician-scientist studying the neuroimmune circuits that couple itch and rash. 

Seyedeh Faranak Fattahi, PhD

Assistant Professor
Cellular Molecular Pharmacology

Faranak Fattahi, PhD uses human pluripotent stem cells to study the peripheral nervous system in health and disease with the goal of developing novel therapies through drug discovery and regenerative medicine.

Donna Ferriero, MD, MS

Professor

Donna Ferriero, MD is the Director of the Neonatal Brain Disorders Center and studies the pathobiology of hypoxic-ischemic injury in the developing nervous system.

Steve Finkbeiner, MD, PhD

Professor
Neurology

Steven Finkbeiner, MD, PhD is the Director of the Taube/Koret Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. He studies how inherited gene mutations lead to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in ALS, frontotemporal dementia, Huntington’s and Parkinson's disease.

Susan Fisher, PhD

Professor
Ob/Gyn, Reproductive Sciences

Susan Fisher, PhD studies the mechanisms by which human placental cells invade the uterus during pregnancy. She also studies the early steps of differentiation and the maintenance of human embryonic stem cells.

Zev Gartner, PhD

Professor
Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Zev Gartner, PhD is working to organize the body’s building blocks into defined structures spanning the subcellular to tissue length scales.

Michael German, MD

Professor
Diabetes Center

Michael German, MD studies the cascade of gene activation underlying the development of beta cells from less differentiated cells during embryogenesis or from stem cells in the adult pancreas, and how these genes function in the mature beta cell.

Ruby Ghadially, MD

Professor
Dermatology

Ruby Ghadially, MD is a dermatologist with research interests in skin stem cells and their use for in vivo expansion of keratinocytes for autologous burn and wound therapy.

Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm

Professor
Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences

Kathy Giacomini, PhD focuses on membrane transporters, which are of great pharmacological importance as they play a major role in drug disposition and response.

Stephen Gitelman, MD

Professor
Pediatrics

Stephen Gitelman, MD is the Director of the UCSF Pediatric Diabetes Program and has active clinical research interests in diabetes, particularly in the prevention of type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Linda Giudice, MD, PhD

Professor

Linda Giudice, MD, PhD is the Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences. She researches human uterine receptivity in pregnancy and embryo development, and she has initiated studies on human somatic cell nuclear transfer and the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into placental cells.

Andrei Goga, MD, PhD

Professor
Cell and Tissue Biology

Andrei Goga, MD, PhD uses mouse models to study basic cell cycle regulation in normal and tumor cells in order to facilitate the development of cell cycle inhibitors as potential therapeutics.

Douglas Gould, PhD

Professor
Ophthalmology

Douglas Gould, PhD studies the extracellular matrix – fundamental non-cellular components of all tissues. Specifically, he studies collagens that are critical components of specialized ECM structures called basement membranes.

Su Guo, PhD

Professor
Bioengineering

Su Guo, PhD uses molecular genetic approaches in zebrafish to identify novel genes involved in fate determination of dopaminergic neurons.

Corey Harwell, PhD

Associate Professor
Neurology

Corey Harwell, PhD studies cellular and molecular programs that regulate neural cell fate and circuit assembly in the developing brain.

Akiko Hata, PhD

Professor
CVRI

Akiko Hata, PhD studies mechanisms of growth factor signaling in the control of cell growth and differentiation of vascular cells. 

Peng He, PhD

Assistant Professor
Pathology

Peng He, PhD focuses on gene regulatory networks in human tissues, leveraging single-cell and spatial assays combined with innovative computational methods.

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