Four UCLA physicians have been elected to the Association of American Physicians, an honor given to no more than 70 physicians per year.
UCLA’s 2022 honorees are neurologist Timothy Cloughesy, infectious disease specialist Judith Currier, primary care physician Carol Mangione and cardiologist Kalyanam Shivkumar. Their election brings to 38 the number of AAP members from UCLA and the David School of Medicine at UCLA.
Dr. Timothy Cloughesy is an innovator in treatment of brain tumors, working across basic and clinical domains to bring disease-altering therapies into the clinic. He has led seminal clinical trials increasing patient survival and is the co-founder, developer and global principal investigator for a revolutionary adaptive platform trial for cancer.
Dr. Judith Currier has helped to improve care for people with HIV. She played a leadership role in trials that defined when prophylaxis for opportunistic infections could be stopped, identified strategies to optimize antiretroviral therapy in adults and pregnant women, and identified risks and interventions to reduce long-term complications of HIV.
Dr. Carol Mangione is a pioneer in understanding how system-level interventions, benefit design and cost sharing affect quality and outcomes for people with diabetes. She has identified system and patient-level approaches that may mitigate health disparities for racial/ethnic minorities, older persons, and people with chronic diseases or visual disability.
Dr. Kalyanam Shivkumar is a physician-scientist specializing in interventional cardiac electrophysiology. His research deals with fundamental aspects of cardiac neural control. He has pioneered the field of clinical neurocardiology and the translation of neuromodulation therapies to the clinical setting. He has also promoted the concept of the “internet of the human body” to highlight key biological principles underlying control of all the organs by the nervous system.
“I am very pleased that these outstanding physician scientists have received this well-deserved honor,” said Dr. Steven Dubinett, interim dean of the Geffen School of Medicine.
The Association of American Physicians is an honorary society founded in 1885 for “the advancement of scientific and practical medicine.” Election to the organization is extended to physicians with outstanding credentials in basic or translational biomedical research. The AAP has about 1,300 active members and 700 emeritus and honorary members. Members of the AAP have included Nobel laureates and members of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.