Past Research Pathway Residents

Nicole Coufal, MD, PhD

Where are they are now:

• UCSD/Radys Pediatrics Resident 2011-2014
• UCSD/Radys Pediatric Critical Care Fellow 2014-2017
• Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UCSD 2017-present
• NIH/NINDS K08 2018-2023 mentored by Christopher Glass (UCSD) and Fred (Rusty) Gage

Testimonial

Dr. Coufal is a physician-scientist interested in the intersection between neuroimmunology, pediatric neurocritical care, neurodevelopment and aging. She completed her MD-PhD at the University of California, San Diego in medicine and in neuroscience. She undertook her clinical training in pediatrics and pediatric critical care, becoming interested in the contribution of neuroimmunology to both rare and common neurodevelopmental disorders. Her postdoctoral work with Christopher Glass mapped the transcriptome and epigenome of primary microglia and generated predictions about regulators, pathways, and mechanisms underlying microglial biology. To understand and model microglial biology, her lab utilizes patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells and genome-wide approaches to identify transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms to model genetic and idiopathic neuro disease in vitro and in vivo. Current directions in the lab query the ontogeny and environmental responses of microglia, and the contribution of neuroimmunology to rare and common neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.

Phillipp Hartmann, MD, MAS

Where are they are now: I am now a physician-scientist and assistant professor in pediatric gastroenterology at UCSD/Rady Children's Hospital, dedicating 75% of my time to basic science and translational research on the role of the gut microbiome in liver diseases and dedicating the remaining 25% of my time to clinical duties including the inpatient gastroenterology service and fatty liver clinics.

Testimonial

Besides the robust clinical training that I received during my residency, many doors for my research interests and training as a physician-scientist were opened. I was matched with experienced mentors who successfully transitioned from residency and fellowship into research careers. Further, I was able to take advantage of prolonged periods solely dedicated to research during my residency. Also, I was allowed to attend national and international conferences to advance my research further. With this support from the pediatrics department and from my principial investigator, I was able to remain productive with multiple publications during residency. Thanks to this support and productivity, I was able to submit a successful K12 grant application during my residency program, which was the first of various other grants since then. So I am very glad that I carried out my pediatric residency in San Diego and I strongly recommend to medical students who are interested in a career as a physician-scientist to do the same!