Four UCLA physicians have been elected to the Association of American Physicians, an honor given to no more than 70 physicians per year. The four new members bring the number of AAP members from UCLA and the David School of Medicine at UCLA to 45.
The UCLA physicians elected in 2023 are: Arleen Brown, MD, PhD, Patricia A. Ganz, MD, Tzung Hsiai, MD, PhD, and Antoni Ribas MD, PhD.
Here are details about the UCLA Health physician scientists newly-elected to the AAP.
Arleen Brown, MD, PhD Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research (GIM and HSR) at the University of California, Los Angeles. She serves as Chief of GIM and HSR at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Brown’s research focuses on improving health outcomes, enhancing health care quality, and reducing disparities for adults with chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and stroke, particularly those with complex medical and social needs. Her research has included studies to improve diabetes care for older adults and minority patients and studies to understand clinical, socioeconomic, and health system influences on chronic disease management in under-resourced communities.
Patricia A. Ganz, MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine and Professor of Health Policy & Management, Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA; Associate Director for Population Science, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Dr. Ganz is a pioneer in the assessment of quality of life in cancer patients and has focused much of her clinical and research efforts in the areas of breast cancer and its prevention. At the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, she leads Cancer Control and Survivorship Program. Her major areas of research include cancer survivorship and the late effects of cancer treatment, measurement of patient reported outcomes in clinical treatment trials, and quality of care for cancer patients. From 2017-2022 she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and she is the current editor of the Survivorship Section of UpToDate.
Tzung Hsiai, MD, PhD The Maud Cady Guthman Endowed Chair and a professor of medicine and bioengineering at UCLA. His research focuses on integrating advanced imaging, computation, and mechanobiology to address cardiovascular injury and repair. In collaboration with UCLA Health’s Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, he directs the American Heart Association’s Strategic Focused Research Network (SFRN) in Science of Diversity in Clinical Trials (iDIVERSE). The study is conducted in partnership with the UCLA Center Human Nutrition, University of Hawaii, and Washington State University.
Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD Professor of medicine, surgery, and molecular and medical pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He serves as director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) Center at UCLA. His research has focused on the use of immunotherapy to treat melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. He has been instrumental in the clinical development of several agents approved by the FDA, including pembrolizumab (Keytruda), vemurafenib (Zelboraf), cobimetinib (Cotellic), dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist).
The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for “the advancement of scientific and practical medicine.” Election to the AAP is an honor extended to physicians with outstanding credentials in basic or translational biomedical research. The AAP includes about 1300 active members and 700 emeritus and honorary members. Members of the AAP have included Nobel laureates, and members of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. Living members of the AAP who have also been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine include Michael S. Brown, Joseph L. Goldstein, William G. Kaelin, Jr, Robert J. Lefkowitz, Barry J. Marshall, Stanley B. Prusiner, Peter Ratcliffe, and Gregg L. Semenza.
