New cohort of UCSF StARR scholars appointed for 2022-2023

The UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Training’s Resident Research Training Program is pleased to announce the appointment of three resident scholars to the Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) program for 2022-2023.

With funding from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Aging, the StARR program is designed to support a select group of clinical residents annually in developing rigorous clinical and translational research skills, creating and maintaining effective relationships with research mentors, and conducting high-impact research projects to improve the prevention, detection or management of health conditions.

StARR scholars are supported in dedicating at least 80% of their time for a full year to conducting clinically relevant scientific projects and pursuing research training experiences designed to launch their careers as clinician investigators.

The 2022-2023 StARR scholars are Matthew Murrill, MD, PhD, Favian Su, MD, and Jason Gandelman, MD.

Matthew Murrill, MD, PhD, is a third-year medicine resident with more than 5 years of public health research and practice experience in the U.S. and India. After completing his MD-PhD training at Johns Hopkins University, he returned to India to research multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, patients lost to follow-up and the feasibility of preventive therapy. As a StARR fellow, he will study how to improve care of latent tuberculosis among non-U.S.-born Asians in California. Matthew’s mentors are Priya Shete, MD, MPH, and Adithya Cattamanchi, MD.

Favian Su, MD, is an orthopaedic surgery resident in a six-year research track. His research interests relate to introducing new technologies into the clinical setting and evaluating surgical outcomes. For instance, he has developed novel MRI techniques to quantify early cartilage degeneration. As a StARR fellow, he plans to apply blue-red light phototherapy technology to try to decrease skin bacteria at planned surgical sites. Favian’s mentors are Brian Feeley, MD, Drew Lansdown, MD, and Emily Finlayson, MD, MPH, MS.

Jason Gandelman, MD, is a psychiatry resident researching whether medication for patients with late-life depression can improve cognition. As a StARR fellow, he plans to analyze cerebral blood flow data in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Depression dataset and to conduct a pilot clinical study to see whether the angiotensin receptor blocker Olmesartan might augment other medications in improving depressive and cognitive symptoms of late-life depression patients by increasing cerebral blood flow. Jason’s mentors are Craig Nelson, MD, and Scott Mackin, MD.

Residents interested in StARR for future years can find information about program eligibility, requirements, benefits, and instructions at: https://epibiostat.ucsf.edu/starr-program