Microglia are emerging as critical regulators of brain homeostasis with an expanding array of functions beyond their established roles as immune sentinels such as synaptic remodeling, neuronal excitability, and myelin plasticity. These highly dynamic cells continuously monitor their microenvironment for alterations, and distinct populations and activation states have been identified based on brain anatomical location, sex, and age.

I co-lead the Torgerson-Hernandez Lab (THeLab) along with Dr. Ryan Hernandez at UCSF. Our group is focused on developing computational approaches to study the interplay between human evolutionary history and environmental contributions to complex disease in the context of genetic ancestry. My background is in population genetics and bioinformatics, and I have specific expertise in integrative genomic and metabolomic studies of respiratory disease in diverse human populations.

POSITIONS:
Chief of Clinical Hepatology, San Francisco General Hospital
Director, Clinical and Translational Research in Hepatology, San Francisco General Hospital
Director, Investigator Development Unit, UCSF Research Coordinating Center to Reduce Disparities in Multiple Chronic Diseases (Health Equity Action Network)
Co-Director, UCSF Mentor Training Program
Co-Director, UCSF T32 Hepatology Training Program
Editorial board member, Hepatology Journal

Dr. Karin Wu is Assistant Professor of Medicine at UCSF and Staff Physician at the San Francisco VA Health Care System. She is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in the subspecialty of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. Her work centers on improving care for patients with osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. Her research uses both clinical and translational methods to understand the interactions between nutrition, the gut microbiome, and skeletal health, and to create new approaches for fracture prevention.

The Halkias lab studies the cellular and molecular signals that drive human immune development with a focus on understanding how early life host-microbe interactions influence adaptive immune responses to perinatal inflammatory disorders such as preterm birth. Early life is a critical time in immune development marked by rapid exposure to environmental antigens. Microbial colonization of mucosal tissues plays a key role in the development and education of the host immune system and influences the susceptibility to immune-mediated disease later in life.

I'm a K08 funded physician scientist studying impact of gut microorganisms on human health and applying multi-omic technologies to the study of chronic diseases with clinical focus in pulmonary medicine.

As a pediatric gastroenterologist and physician scientist, I am keenly aware of the challenges faced by our pediatric population. The intestinal epithelium comprises the human body’s greatest environmentally exposed surface and is the largest sensory and endocrine organ. My research utilizes human intestinal organoids and animal models to understand how the intestine senses and responds to both regular and inflammatory stimuli.