COAST Researchers and Staff
COAST brings together 30 members from across the UCSF campus from departments and divisions such as Department of Psychiatry, Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, Pediatric Medicine, Adolescent Medicine, Physiological Nursing, Family Health Care Nursing, Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the Biomedical Sciences (BMS) Graduate Program, Neuroscience Graduate Program.
Nancy E. Adler, PhD
Co-Director, COAST
Email: nancy.adler@ucsf.edu
As director of CHC, Dr. Adler fosters interdisciplinary research, bridging social, clinical and basic sciences. Understanding the etiology and treatment of obesity requires such an interdisciplinary approach. Although not an identified obesity researcher, Dr. Adler was a pioneer in bringing together researchers and clinicians to develop COAST, which is now supported by and housed in the CHC. read more
Susan Akana
Email: Susan.Akana@ucsf.edu
Robert B. Baron, MD, MS
Professor of Medicine,
Associate Dean for Graduate and Continuing Medical Education
Vice Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine
Director, UCSF Weight Management Program
Email: baron@medicine.ucsf.edu
Dr. Baron has received numerous teaching awards including University of California's "Distinguished Teacher Award" and the California Society of General Internal Medicine's "Clinician Teacher of the Year Award" and “Senior Clinician-Educator Mentorship Award.” He focuses much of his scholarship on obesity and related topics in nutrition, in preventive medicine topics including hypertension and lipid management, and in issues in graduate and continuing medical education. read more
Jyu-Lin Chen, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Department of Family Health Care Nursing
UCSF, School of Nursing
Email: jyu-lin.chen@nursing.ucsf.edu
Dr. Chen's program of research focuses on the impact of family and socio-cultural factors on Chinese and Chinese-American children’s health and healthy behaviors, especially overweight in school-age children. Her research focuses on child-centered and family-oriented methods from a bio-behavioral model.
read more
Mary Dallman
Email: Mary.Dallman@ucsf.edu
Jennifer Daubenmier, PhD
Assistant Professor at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Department of Medicine, UCSF
Email: JDaubenmier@lppi.ucsf.edu
Jennifer Daubenmier, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in the Department of Medicine at UCSF. Her scientific interests include the effects of mind-body practices on eating behavior and stress-related chronic disease processes associated with obesity.
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Elissa S. Epel, PhD
Co-Director, COAST
Email: EEpel@lppi.ucsf.edu
Elissa S. Epel, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF. She is also a faculty member in the Health Psychology Postdoctoral Program, the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, and the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program. She is one of the founders of COAST, and is serving as the director of research. read more
Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH
Professor of Pediatrics
Email: efuentes@sfghpeds.ucsf.edu
Dr. Fuentes-Afflick is a pediatrician and epidemiologist with expertise in health outcomes in Latinos, particularly the role of acculturation on health outcomes. She has conducted research studies focused on the role of acculturation on body mass outcomes in Latina women and their children. Dr. Fuentes-Afflick is also interested in the portrayal of body mass images in Latino television media, principally in telenovelas.
Andrea Garber, PhD, RD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics,
Division of Adolescent Medicine, UCSF
Email: garbera@peds.ucsf.edu
Dr. Andrea Garber is a Nutritionist, with a PhD in clinical nutrition, and a Registered Dietitian (RD). As the Nutrition faculty in Adolescent Medicine, she teaches adolescent nutrition to Pediatric Residents and Fellows and conducts research on obesity and eating disorders. read more
Stefan Gazdzinski, PhD
Email: Stefan.Gazdzinski@ucsf.edu
Stefan Gazdzinski, PhD received Doctorate in biophysics from Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. Before joining Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIND) in 2001, he investigated physical properties of fluids and solutions in porous media and nano-spaces using methods of magnetic resonance. read more
Ira Goldfine
Email: Ira.Goldfine@ucsf.edu
Carl Grunfeld, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, UCSF
Chief, Metabolism and Endocrine Sections at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco
Email: carl.grunfeld@ucsf.edu
Dr. Grunfeld is both a basic scientist and clinical investigator whose research has focused on metabolic effects of cytokines, infection, & inflammation, endocrine & metabolic disturbances in HIV/AIDS, wasting in AIDS and the metabolic changes due to antiretroviral therapy. His laboratory defines the physiology and molecular biology of these changes, and then determines the consequences with regard to host defense and atherosclerosis. read more
Email: mheyman@peds.ucsf.edu
Melvin B. Heyman, MD, MPH
Professor of Pediatrics; Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, UCSF
His research has been oriented towards clinical problems in pediatric patients with nutrition and/or gastroenterologic issues. He was one of the first investigators to reveal the importance of nutrition support in sickle cell anemia, helped to develop procedures in the diagnosis of hepatobiliary problems in infants, and has been actively pursuing novel treatments for children with inflammatory bowel disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease. read more
Email: Alka.Kanaya@ucsf.edu
Alka M. Kanaya, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF
Alka M. Kanaya, MD performs patient-oriented translational clinical research with a focus in adipocyte biology and its link to type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. She investigates novel proteins produced by fat cells, called “adipocytokines”, to determine their association with future type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk. read more
Barbara Laraia, PhD MPH, RD
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine, UCSF
Co-Director, COAST
Email: LaraiaB@chc.ucsf.edu
Dr. Laraia is a public health nutrition investigator with a special interest in the relationships between food policy, the food environment and health. She has expertise in qualitative methods, program evaluation, community-based research and nutritional epidemiology. read more
Robert H. Lustig, MD
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, in the Division of Endocrinology Director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at UCSF
Email: rlustig@peds.ucsf.edu
Dr. Lustig is a nationally-recognized authority in the field of neuroendocrinology, with a specific emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. read more
Kristine A. Madsen, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, UCSF
Email: madsenk@peds.ucsf.edu
Dr. Madsen is a pediatrician and research scientist with expertise in the design and evaluation of interventions related to pediatric obesity. She has directed clinic- and community-based studies aimed at increasing physical activity and reducing obesity among children of diverse backgrounds. read more
Laurel Mellin, MA, RD
Associate Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, and Director, Emotional Brain Training Center of Excellence, Center for Health and Community, UCSF
Email: mellinl@fcm.ucsf.edu
Laurel Mellin, MA, RD is an Associate Clinical Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Pediatrics at UCSF. She is the founder of emotional brain training (EBT) a method of treating obesity and stress symptoms that equips individuals with tools based on an integration of neuroscience and developmental theory to decrease the frequency and duration of the stress response and to favor high-level well-being. The goal of the intervention is to alleviate the whole range of stress symptoms and promote high-level well-being. read more
David H. Rehkopf, ScD, MPH
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF
Email : DRehkopf@psg.ucsf.edu
Dr. Rehkopf's research seeks to better understand the importance of the influence of family economic resources on the development of adolescent and early adult obesity and the effects of obesity on economic resources in younger adults entering or transitioning within labor markets. Differentiating between the relative causal importance of these pathways has important implications for the types of population level policies that could be recommended to have affects on decreasing disparities in obesity and potentially mortality more generally. read more
Michele Mietus-Snyder, MD
Preventive Pediatric Cardiologist
Cardiovascular Consultant to the WATCH Clinic, UCSF
Email: mietussnyderm@peds.ucsf.edu
Dr. Michele Mietus-Snyder is a preventive cardiologist and Associate Professor in the UCSF Departments of Pediatric Medicine and Physiological Nursing. She received both her undergraduate and MD degrees from UC San Diego and did her Pediatrics residency and Pediatric Cardiology fellowship training at The Children’s Hospital, Boston, Harvard Medical School. Her interest in the molecular pathways responsible for early, preclinical, pediatric atherogenesis led her to pursue basic science research on lipoprotein gene regulation at Harvard and at the Gladstone Institute for Cardiovascular Disease Research. read more
Laura A. Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH
Associate Professor
Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine,
University of California, San Francisco
Email: laura.schmidt@ucsf.edu
Laura Schmidt, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine. Her research program broadly focuses on the social dimensions of health and illness, with an emphasis on the political and organizational contexts in which health care is provided. Substantively, she studies several areas of concern in health policy today. A major strand of her research agenda has focused on the health care market, including studies of for-profit health care and her book on the history of procompetitive health care initiatives, which is currently under contract with Princeton University Press. read more
Hilary Seligman, MD, MAS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco General Hospital
Email: hseligman@medsfgh.ucsf.edu
Hilary Seligman, MD, MAS studies the role of food insecurity, or access to enough food for an active, healthy life, in the development and management of obesity and chronic disease. More than ten percent of the population of the United States is food insecure. read more
Saunak Sen, PhD
Assistant Professor in Residence, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCSF
Email: sen@biostat.ucsf.edu
The research of Saunak Sen, PhD, focuses on genetic mapping studies that seek to identify genetic variants conferring susceptibility to human disease including obesity and diabetes. His work consists of three interwoven strains: developing statistical methodology, developing statistical software, and collaborative statistical practice. read more
Naomi E. Stotland, MD
Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, UCSF
Email: stotlandn@obgyn.ucsf.edu
Dr. Stotland is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at UCSF. She is currently a Women's Reproductive Health Research Scholar (WRHR). Dr. Stotland's research interests include weight gain, nutrition, and obesity in pregnancy. read more
Laurence Tecott, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
In Residence of Psychiatry, UCSF
Email: larry.tecott@ucsf.edu
Our laboratory has a longstanding interest in the impact of genetic and psychological factors on the central nervous system regulation of feeding and energy balance. Our focus on the brain serotonin system led us to identify the serotonin 5-HT2C receptor as a key contributor to the suppression of appetite by this neurotransmitter system. read more
Jeanne M. Tschann, PhD
Adjunct Professor, Psychiatry, UCSF
Email: TschannJ@healthpsych.ucsf.edu
Dr. Tschann’s primary interest is the study of personal relationships and health-related outcomes among children and adolescents, particularly in Latino populations. read more
Joan Orrell-Valente, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
The Children’s Center at Langley Porter, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF
Email: ValenteJ@peds.ucsf.edu
Dr. Valente is currently an Assistant Professor at UCSF with a joint appointment in the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and The Children’s Center at Langley Porter, Department of Psychiatry. She is the Clinical Program Coordinator of the UCSF-LPPI Eating Disorders Program, and the Consulting Psychologist at the Weight Assessment for Teen and Children Health Clinic, the pediatric obesity clinic.
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Christian Vaisse, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
UCSF Diabetes Center
Email: vaisse@medicine.ucsf.edu
Obesity: Genetic Determinants and Clinical Implications
The overall goal of this laboratory is to identify genetic defects implicated in the onset and progression of multi-factorial metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Our strategy combines human genetic approaches with molecular biology and animal studies. We are currently concentrating our research on the molecular mechanisms implicated in the hypothalamic effects of the adipocyte secreted, weight-regulating hormone, leptin. read more
James P. Warne, PhD
Email: jwarne@diabetes.ucsf.edu
James P. Warne is a postdoctoral scholar in the UCSF Diabetes Center. He received a BSc(hons) in biology from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine ( University of London), UK, and a PhD in pharmacology at Imperial College Faculty of Medicine. His research into the role of stress hormones (glucocorticoids) in energy balance and obesity that originated during his graduate studies was continued in the Department of Physiology at UCSF, where he worked with Mary Dallman. read more
Janet Wojcicki, PhD, MPH
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
UCSF
Email: wojcickij@peds.ucsf.edu
Janet Wojcicki, PhD MPH is a fellow in the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. She is an anthropologist and epidemiologist by training and previously completed a fellowship in HIV prevention and epidemiology at UCSF. Dr. Wojcicki has extensive research experience evaluating the relationship between sociocultural background, behavioral practices and heath outcomes. read more
Email: joshua.woolley@ucsf.edu
Dr. Woolley received his Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University. Following graduation, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship at the Karalinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. During this year, he studied the neurophysiology of the isolated lamprey (a primitive fish) spinal cord. read more
Allison W. Xu, PhD
Assistant Professor
UCSF Diabetes Center
Email: axu@diabetes.ucsf.edu
Research in my laboratory focuses on understanding how body weight and glucose homeostasis are regulated by the central nervous system. Homeostatic control of body weight depends on the ability of the brain to sense and respond to changes in peripheral energy stores. read more
Irene H. Yen, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine, UCSF
Email: irene.yen@ucsf.edu
Dr. Yen is a social epidemiologist with research expertise in survey design and development and qualitative research methods. Her research focuses on the social determinants of health, with emphases on how neighborhood environment influences health behaviors and health status. read more
COAST Staff Member
Marin Thompson, MS
Program Coordinator
Email: ThompsonME@chc.ucsf.edu