Research Tracks & Mentors

One of the greatest strengths of the UC San Diego site is the involvement of our highly successful research faculty who will serve as mentors for the RAPID program.  UC San Diego is one of the nation's top research institutions, and our research faculty mentors have a variety of expertise in infectious diseases research.

Potential Research Mentors

A sample of potential research mentors, by research track, from a campus-wide pool for the UC San Diego RAPID program are found in the table and links below.

If you have any questions, please email hsfacaffairs@ucsd.edu.
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Host-Pathogen Interactions Research Track

First Name, Last Name, Degree	Department	Research Interest
Brookie Best, PharmD, MAS	Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences	Clinical Pharmacokinetics, Clinical Pharmacology, Obstetric Pharmacology, Pediatric Pharmacology
Ethan Bier, PhD	Biological Sciences	Genetics and biology of malaria vectors, bacterial toxin action
Ben Croker, PhD	Pediatrics	Cell death, neutrophil biology, innate immunity
Laura Crotty Alexander, MD	Medicine	Effects of Vaping and E-cigarettes on Lung Inflammation
Pieter Dorrestein, PhD	Pharmacy & Pediatrics	Metabolomics of the human microbiome and bacterial pathogens
Partho Ghosh, PhD	Chemistry & Biochemistry	Structural biochemistry of bacterial and protozoan pathogenesis
Pradipta Ghosh, MD	Medicine, Cell and Molecular Medicine	Intracellular trimetric-GTPase system
Rob Knight, PhD	Pediatrics & Computer Science	Human microbiome and its impacts on health and disease
George Liu, MD, PhD	Pediatrics	Staphylococcal host-pathogen interactions, vaccine development
*Victor Nizet, MD^§**	Pediatrics & Pharmacy	Bacterial pathogenesis, innate immunity, novel ID therapeutics
Bernhard Palsson, PhD	Bioengineering & Pediatrics	Systems biology of bacterial pathogens and antibiotic resistance
Manuela Raffatellu, MD^§	Pediatrics	Salmonella host-pathogen interactions, GI mucosal immunity
Emily Troemel, PhD	Biological Sciences	Host-pathogen interactions, Cryptosporidium, Pseudomonas
Elina Zuniga, PhD	Biological Sciences	Innate and adaptic immunity to viral infections
^*Track Leader; ^§Executive Committee; All are Full Professors

HIV Research Track

First Name, Last Name, Degree	Department	Research Interest
Constance Benson, MD	Medicine	HIV clinical trial and design
Victor DeGruttola, ScD	Family Medicine & Public Health	HIV biostatistics and study design
John Guatelli, MD	Medicine	HIV pathogenesis and restriction factors
Scott Letendre, MD	Medicine	NeuroAIDS and HCV clinical trials
Susan Little, MD	Medicine	Primary HIV infection and clinical trial design
David Looney, MD^#	Medicine	HIV molecular biology and next generation techniques
Natasha Martin, DPhil^#	Medicine	HIV and ID epidemic modeling
Sheldon Morris, MD^#	Medicine	HIV and sexually transmitted infections and clinical trial design
Davey Smith, MD*^§	Medicine	HIV cure and molecular epidemiology
Stephen Spector, MD^§	Pediatrics	Pediatric HIV clinical trials
Celsa Spina, PhD^#	Medicine	HIV immunology
^*Track Leader; ^§Executive Committee; ^#Associate Professors; Others are all Full Professors

Global Health & Neglected Infectious Diseases Research Track

First Name, Last Name, Degree	Department	Research Interest
Constance Benson, MD	Medicine	Mycobacteria therapeutics
Conor Caffrey, PhD	Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences	Drugs and diagnostics for parasitic diseases
Scott Letendre, MD	Medicine	NeuroAIDS and HCV clinical trials
Anita Raj, PhD	Family Medicine & Public Health	Gender equity in global health, maternal/fetal health
Sharon Reed, MD^§	Medicine	Parasitic diseases and therapeutics
Robert Schooley, MD	Medicine	Point of care diagnostics
Argentina Servin, MD, MPH	Medicine	Sexual violence, substance abuse, HIV/STI risk among vulnerable underserved populations
Aleem Siddiqui, PhD	Medicine	Viral hepatitis pathogenesis
Jay Silverman, PhD	Medicine	ID epidemiology in vulnerable populations
Davey Smith, MD^§	Medicine	Diagnostics for resource limited settings
Jamila Stockman, PhD^#	Medicine	ID and health disparities
Steffanie Strathdee, PhD	Medicine	ID epidemiology in vulnerable populations
*Elizabeth Winzeler, PhD^§**	Medicine	Malaria pathogenesis
^*Track Leader; ^§Executive Committee; ^#Associate Professors; Others are all Full Professors

Explore Faculty Research

For a comprehensive list of faculty and specific research, please visit the following programs and departments directly:

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