The 2022 UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds Trainee Research Award recipients (L to R): Alison Hwong, MD, PhD; Kristen Nishimi, PhD, MPH; Kristen Rudd, PhD; and Shuyu 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 in April 2022 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:
- Alison Hwong, MD, PhD (April 19) - "Smoking Cessation Treatment for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness" (mentored by Christina Mangurian, MD, MAS)
- Kristen Nishimi, PhD, MPH (April 26) - "Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Influence on Behaviors and Infectious Disease Outcomes" (mentored by Aoife O'Donovan, PhD)
- Kristen Rudd, PhD (April 19) - "Applying an RDoC Perspective to the Developmental Consequences of Early Life Stress on Risk for Psychopathology" (mentored by Nicki Bush, PhD, and Danielle Roubinov, PhD)
- Shuyu Wang, MD, PhD (April 26) - "An Unbiased, Automated Approach for Measuring Naturalistic Behaviors Between Interacting Prairie Voles" (mentored by Devanand Manoli, MD, PhD)
Now in its ninth 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.
More about this year's honorees
Hwong is currently a Veterans Affairs Fellow in the UCSF National Clinician Scholars Program. She attended medical school and received a PhD in health policy at Harvard University. Hwong completed her residency in psychiatry at UCSF, where she served as chief resident for research and also participated in the Research Resident Training Program. She is a former American Psychiatric Association (APA) Foundation Psychiatric Research Fellow, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Honors Scholar, Donald J. Cohen Klingenstein Fellow in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and a recipient of the Ruth L. Kirschtein National Research Service Award.
Nishimi is a data science postdoctoral fellow in mental health at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS). She completed her master of public health and PhD in population health sciences at Harvard University. Nishimi has also completed a fellowship in psychiatric genetics and translational research at the Harvard Training Program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and an advanced psychology fellowship in data science at UCSF/SFVAHCS. She is a previous recipient of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health's Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness Dissertation Award.
Rudd is a postdoctoral fellow at the UCSF Center for Health and Community. She earned her PhD in developmental psychology at UC Riverside and has nearly two dozen published manuscripts, conference poster presentations, and invited talk to her credit. Rudd is a previous recipient of the UCSF Weill Institute Women in Neurosciences Award, UCSF Berkelhammer Postdoctoral Award, and the Society for Psychophysiological Research Travel award.
Wang is a fourth year resident physician in the UCSF Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Program and a member of the Resident Research Training Program. She completed medical school at Harvard Medical School and a PhD in biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Wang has received a number of honors, including a Brain and Behavioral Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant, Koch Institute for Cancer Research Graduate Fellowship, National Multiple Sclerosis Society Pilot Research Grant, and a UCSF Weill Institute Pilot Award for Junior Investigators in the Neurosciences.
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 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.
