Endowed Chair in Circadian Biology and Medicine Established at UC San Diego

Story by:

• Stephanie Healey- [email protected]

Topics covered:

• Philanthropy and Giving

Share This:

Article Content

The University of California San Diego has announced that Amir Zarrinpar, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the Stuart and Barbara L. Brody Endowed Chair in Circadian Biology and Medicine.

The newly created chair, established with a gift from Irwin and Joan Jacobs, honors the legacy of Stuart Brody, an internationally recognized UC San Diego expert in circadian biology and his wife Barbara, a leading public health and community medicine researcher. The endowed chair, which is a joint appointment between UC San Diego School of Medicine and School of Biological Sciences, was designed to accelerate UC San Diego's research at the intersection of circadian biology and patient care.

"UC San Diego has a longstanding tradition of turning groundbreaking basic science into real-world health solutions," said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. "The Stuart and Barbara L. Brody Endowed Chair in Circadian Biology and Medicine will empower Dr. Zarrinpar to accelerate that translation, bringing the power of our body's internal clocks and the gut microbiome to the bedside and broadening our impact on patient health and the communities we serve."

Zarrinpar is a professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, co-director of the Center for Circadian Biology and the Center for Microbiome Innovation, and director of the Physician-Scientist Training Pathway in the Department of Medicine. He is also a practicing gastroenterologist at UC San Diego Health and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.

"UC San Diego has always been an inspiring place to pursue circadian biology, where basic discoveries have already impacted patient care. This endowment will help us push that translational mission even further, turning laboratory insights into tangible improvements in care, the patient experience and long-term health," said Zarrinpar.

A recognized leader in his field, Zarrinpar investigates how circadian biology, gut physiology and the gut microbiome interact to influence diseases such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, infertility and cognitive disorders. His current work examines the relationship between the gut microbiome and the circadian rhythms of cells in the intestine (enterocytes) and liver (hepatic cells) to uncover how microbial fluctuations contribute to metabolic and inflammatory disorders. By viewing the gut microbiome as a dynamic, ever-changing system, he is working to identify when microbial fluctuations occur enterocytes and hepatic cells to distinguish which fluctuations drive disease from those that are consequences of disease, laying the foundation for microbiome-based diagnostics, prevention strategies and targeted therapies.

"I had the privilege to know Dr. Zarrinpar since his early days and have followed his scientific impact and passion for mentorship for many years," said Barbara Jung, M.D., associate vice chancellor and dean of UC San Diego School of Medicine. "His career epitomizes the School of Medicine's mission to translate innovative scientific discovery into compassionate patient care. The Brody Endowed Chair will give him the resources to expand his pioneering studies and train the next generation of physician-scientists who will reshape how we prevent and treat metabolic and inflammatory disease."

"Congratulations to Dr. Zarrinpar for being named the inaugural holder of this visionary endowed chair," said School of Biological Sciences Dean Kit Pogliano. "This endowed chair builds upon advances in our understanding of circadian biology, many achieved here at UC San Diego and led by founding Biology faculty member Stu Brody, and deploys this knowledge to improve the health outcomes for debilitating illnesses. I'm thrilled that Dr. Zarrinpar will lead this new effort to bring together scientific discovery and clinical practice to improve human health."

Zarrinpar is a graduate of the UC San Diego School of Medicine's Medical Scientist Training Program, earning a M.D. degree and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Neurosciences. Following medical school, he completed an internal medicine residency in and fellowship in gastroenterology, both at UC San Diego, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Salk Institute for Biological Studies.