The 2026 Society of Epidemiological Research (SER) Conference in Phoenix was another wonderful opportunity for the DEB community to connect, celebrate, and share research. This year's DEB social, coordinated by newly joined DEB Professor Elizabeth Rose Mayeda, Professor Emeritus Tom Newman, and Program Administrator Beverly Bitagon, marked the 10th anniversary of the very first DEB SER social, which began in Seattle. Thanks to Department Chair Mark Pletcher for generously supporting this annual tradition, and congratulations to the 12 UCSF-affiliated presenters who shared posters and oral presentations at the conference. We hope even more DEB PhD students will join us next year as SER heads to Detroit in 2027!
DEB Presenters at SER 2026
Elizabeth Rose Mayeda; Incoming faculty
Discussant: Symposium: Augmenting Our Reality: DAGing Out Causal Assumptions and Study Design, Measurement, Missing Data, Analysis, and Interventions
Joey Fong; Incoming staff researcher
Poster: Estimating dementia risk: leveraging electronic health records among study participants lost to follow-up
Nicola (Niki) Churchill; Incoming postdoc
Presentation: Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia’s State Policies and Mortality in the United States: A Descriptive Study
Nicola (Niki) Churchill; Incoming postdoc
Poster: Examining the Joint Effects of Positive Spousal Social Support and Closeness on Dementia Risk using Causal Survival Analysis
Frank Wolf; PhD student
Poster: Differences in initial clinical prescription of antidepressant mediations among sexual minority and heterosexual populations with major depressive disorder
Michelle Caunca; Postdoc (Neurology)
Poster: Is the Educational Attainment of Adult Children Associated With Their Parents’ Risk of Incident Stroke?
Tanvi Srivastava; PhD student
Poster: Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Outcomes in the Pathways Study of Breast Cancer Survivors
Tanvi Srivastava; PhD student
Poster: Understanding Colorectal Cancer Etiology: Paradigm III Conceptual Model
Aimee Lansdale; PhD student
Poster: Co-occurring Exposure to Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke During Pregnancy on Preterm Birth Outcomes
Paloma Rojas Saunero; Incoming postdoc
Poster: Estimating Effects of Exposures on Memory Trajectories With Death and Dropout: Comparing Modeling Frameworks and Prediction Strategies
Yodit Goshu; Incoming PhD student
Poster: Mobile Phlebotomy to Enhance Diversity in Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarker Research: The California Blood Biomarker Study
Whitney Wells; PhD Student
Oral presentation: Quasi-experimental evaluation of the health effects of state-level social policy
Deborah Adeyemi; PhD Student
SER Dissertation Workshop | Dissertation Title: Characterizing Heterogeneity in Postpartum Readmission Risk Among Black Women in California
Brittany Peterson; PhD student
Oral abstract: The impact of vision center establishment on patient visits and cataract surgical volume: a multi-country staggered adoption difference-in-differences analysis
Kelley Akiya; Postdoc (TE-TRAC)
Oral Abstract: Food Insecurity, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, and Physical Functioning in Older Adults