The 2024 UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds Trainee Research Award recipients: (top row, L to R) Mark Gergues, MS; Richard Jin, MD, PhD; (bottom row, L to R) Susan Shen, MD, PhD; and Belinda Wang, MD, PhD.
Four early career researchers from the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences have been selected to present their scholarship and research at Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds events later this spring as part of a series designed to highlight the work of senior trainees (e.g., residents, child psychiatry fellows, psychology trainees, postdoctoral fellows) at or near the end of their training and help launch their academic careers. A pair of special Grand Rounds sessions on March 5, 2024, and April 2, 2024, will each feature formal presentations from two of the selected trainees, followed by a period for questions and discussion with audience members.
Congratulations to the trainees below, who will present their research work on the following dates and topics:
- Mark Gergues, MS (March 5) - "A Thalamic-Ventral Hippocampal Circuit That Supports Anxiety-Related Behavior" (mentored by Mazen Kheirbek, PhD)
- Richard Jin, MD, PhD (March 5) - "Early-Life Viral Infection in Mice Leads to Long-Lasting Changes in Sensory Processing" (mentored by Anna Victoria Molofsky, MD, PhD)
- Susan Shen, MD, PhD (April 2) - "Stressed Out Cells: The Case of Hypoxia" (mentored by Steven Altschuler, PhD, and Lani Wu, PhD)
- Belinda Wang, MD, PhD (April 2) - "A Foundational Autism Protein Interaction Atlas Reveals Molecular Convergence" (mentored by Matthew W. State, MD, PhD)
Now in its 11th year, the UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds Trainee Research Award annually selects trainees conducting notable and advanced research through a competitive application process. In addition to presenting their scholarship and research at Grand Rounds events, the recipients will receive additional mentorship and guidance from faculty, the opportunity to discuss their work with department leadership, and special recognition at graduation.
About UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute are among the nation's foremost resources in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. Together they constitute one of the largest departments in the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, with a mission focused on research (basic, translational, clinical), teaching, patient care, and public service.
UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences conducts its clinical, educational, and research efforts at a variety of locations in Northern California, including the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building; UCSF Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital; UCSF Medical Centers at Parnassus Heights, Mission Bay, and Mount Zion; UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; the San Francisco VA Health Care System; UCSF Fresno; and numerous community-based sites around the San Francisco Bay Area.
About the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
The UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established by the extraordinary generosity of Joan and Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain.
The UCSF Weill Institute leverages UCSF’s unrivaled bench-to-bedside excellence in the neurosciences. It unites three UCSF departments—Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Neurology, and Neurological Surgery—that are highly esteemed for both patient care and research, as well as the Neuroscience Graduate Program, a cross-disciplinary alliance of nearly 100 UCSF faculty members from 15 basic-science departments, as well as the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, a multidisciplinary research center focused on finding effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
About UCSF
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area.
