Faculty Mentors
David Amaral, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Neuroscience, Beneto Foundation Chair and Research Director of the M.I.N.D. Institute, and Staff Scientist at the California National Primate Research Center.
Neuroanatomical, behavioral and electrophysiological organization and functions of brain systems involved in learning, memory, emotion and social behavior; neurobiological correlates of autism.
Lars Berglund, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Dean of Research, Director of the General Clinical Research Center, and Professor of Medicine.
Molecular mechanisms involved in lipoprotein metabolism, metabolic regulation of lipoprotein (a) and its role of as a risk factor for development of cardiovascular disease.
Ann Bonham, Ph.D., Executive Associate Dean of Research and Education, Professor of Medical Pharmacology and Toxicology and Cardiovascular Medicine.
Neuroscience and cardiovascular regulation; central nervous system regulation of cardiorespiratory function and how gender, environmental pollutants, and changes in physiological state or pathophysiological states alter this regulation.
Nipavan Chiamvimonvat, M.D., Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine.
Cellular and molecular mechanisms contributing to cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death; modulation of cardiac ion channels and the resultant electrical remodeling in cardiac hypertrophy and failure; gene targeting techniques to examine the functions of specific calcium channel subtypes.
Charles DeCarli, Ph.D., Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center and the Imaging of Dementia and Aging (IDeA) lab and Professor of Neurology
Structural and functional brain imaging techniques to understand the relationship between brain structure and function with aging and disease, specifically investigating populations of individuals to determine brain changes associated with age, cerebrovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease.
Ellen Gold, Ph.D., Chief of the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health Sciences, Director of the UC Davis site on the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), and Professor of Medicine.
Lifestyle and ovarian function in midlife women, neurotoxicity of organophosphates in children of migrant farmworkers, smoking effects on maternal folate and reproductive outcomes, smoking and adverse reproductive health in women, epidemiology of brain tumors in children.
Randi Hagerman, M.D., Medical Director of the M.I.N.D. Institute and Tsakopoulos-Vismara Professor of Pediatrics.
Clinical work and research on fragile X syndrome, particularly in molecular clinical correlations and treatment endeavors.
Barbara Horwitz, Ph.D., Vice Provost of Academic Personnel, Distinguished Professor of Physiology
Metabolism and the factors that modulate physiological regulation of energy balance, with an emphasis on obesity and aging; role of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins in reducing oxidative stress and extending longevity.
Ishwarlal Jialal, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Laboratory for Atherosclerosis and Metabolic Research and Robert E. Stowell Endowed Chair in Experimental Pathology
Nutrition, clinical biochemistry, atherosclerosis, metabolism and free radical biology.
Marc Kaufman, Ph.D., Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine
Discharge properties of the group III and IV muscle afferents whose stimulation by contraction is responsible for the exercise pressor reflex and its role in regulating the cardiovascular system during exercise in humans; and neural mechanisms that control airway caliber during exercise.
Anne Knowlton, M.D., Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and of Pharmacology
Function and regulation of heat shock proteins (HSPs); protective properties of HSPs; regulation of HSP expression, and investigation of alternative modes of induction expression.
Richard Kravitz, M.D., M.S.P.H., Director, Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care; and Professor of Medicine
Application of rigorous epi methods to problems in health services research especially the assessment of physician behavior and quality of care.
Nancy Lane, M.D., Director of the Center for Aging and Professor of Medicine and Rheumatology
Osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, including changes in trabecular bone connectivity in response to estrogen deficiency and bone and structural factors as well as micronutrient deficiencies that contribute to osteoarthritis.
Bill Lasley, Ph.D., Associate Director for the Center for Health and the Environment and Professor of Population Health and Reproduction
Reproductive toxicology and biomarker development, comparative reproduction, reproductive epidemiology, contraception, and women's aging.
John Robbins, M.D., Professor of Medicine and PI of the Women's Health Initiative
Use of large data sets to address clinical problems; Women's health with a specific emphasis on osteoporosis, epidemiology with a focus on osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease, patient physician interaction and quality of care.
Ray Rodriguez, Ph.D., Director of the Center of Excellence in Nutritional Genomics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Biology
Nutritional genomics, specifically investigation of chemopreventive properties of a soy-based polypeptide using microarray analysis and the ability to remodel chromatin structure and to up-regulate genes related to tumor suppression, apoptosis, cell cycle control and DNA repair.
John Rutledge, M.D., Professor and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Nutrition and Vascular Medicine, The Richard A. and Nora Eccles Harrison Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research and Director of the Cardiac Risk Reduction Clinic.
Treatment of patients at risk for development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, prevention and treatment of diabetic vasculopathy.
Frank Sharp, M.D., Professor of Neurology
Gene regulation following brain ischemia and hemorrhage, and those genes that indicate cell survival versus cell death, and genes that protect against stroke, study of gene expression in the blood of patients and animal models to provide diagnostic, prognostic and mechanistic insight into neurological diseases.
Judith Stern, D.Sc., Co-Director of the Collaborative Obesity Research Evaluation Team and Distinguished Professor of Nutrition & Internal Medicine
Diet and nutrition; comparing a nondiet approach to health with the standard weight loss approach using diet, exercise and behavior modification and evaluating the use of magnesium supplements in people with asthma.
Dennis Styne, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics.
Pediatrics; endocrinology; metabolism; Cushing's disease; hormones; puberty; growth hormones.
Alice F. Tarantal, Ph.D., Unit Leader, Reproductive Sciences, California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC); Director, Center for Fetal Monkey Gene Transfer for Heart, Lung, and Blood Diseases; Professor of Pediatrics and CNPRC; Professor of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy
Biomedical research which focuses on: (1) gene therapy, (2) stem cells/cell-based therapies, (3) developmental ontogeny and fetal models of disease, (4) fetal:maternal microchimerism, and (5) in vivo imaging.
Judith Turgeon, Ph.D., Professor of Internal Medicine
Cellular endocrinology, steroid hormone receptors and crosstalk with peptide hormone receptors, signal transduction, exocytosis, anterior pituitary hormone secretion.
Craig Warden, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Identification of the genes that cause obesity and understanding the mechanisms for this effect, the discovery of novel genes influencing accumulation of adipose tissue using genetics in mammals, the mechanisms and genes that link obesity to health co-morbidities in some people.