Tamer Sallam, MD, PhD Appointed as Vice Chair for Research Training and Executive Director of STAR Program

The department of medicine is pleased to announce that Tamer Sallam, MD, PhD has been appointed as vice chair for research training and executive co-director of Specialty Training and Advanced Research (STAR). Dr. Sallam currently serves as co-director of the UCLA Lipid Center and associate director of the STAR Program. He is a member of the Atherosclerosis Research Unit, Molecular Biology Institute and Cardiovascular Theme Initiative at UCLA. Dr. Sallam contributed to shaping the training environment for physician-scientists at UCLA. In his new role, alongside Linda Demer, MD, PhD, professor & vice chair for research training and executive co-director of STAR, Dr. Sallam will oversee the growth and promotion of physician-scientist training programs and career development activities within the DoM.

A cardiovascular physician-scientist, Dr. Sallam is a national leader in cardiometabolic disease research discovering a number of key pathways controlling lipid homeostasis, obesity and atherosclerosis. In particular, his work has shown that long noncoding RNAs, previously referred to as “junk DNA”, may impact health and disease states. Dr. Sallam published in leading journals including NatureNature Medicine, CellCell Metabolism, and JCI. He serves on the editorial board for Circulation ResearcheLife, and Journal of Lipid Research and was named most outstanding reviewer by the American Heart Association's journal Circulation in 2018. In addition, Dr. Sallam reviews routinely for leading research organization including the NIH Center for Scientific Review, UK Medical Council and the European Commission.  Dr. Sallam’s lab is currently funded by multiple NIH and foundational grants.

Dr. Sallam is a graduate of University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He completed residency and chief residency training in internal medicine at Yale, followed by cardiology fellowship training at UCLA. Dr. Sallam graduated from the STAR program at UCLA earning a Ph.D. in molecular, cellular and integrative physiology in the HHMI Lab of Peter Tontonoz. After joining the faculty at UCLA, Dr. Sallam was named the Lauren B. Leichtman and Arthur E. Levine Cardiovascular Discovery Investigator. Dr. Sallam is the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists, American College of Cardiology Presidential Career Development Award, Gilead Cardiovascular Research Scholar Award, American Heart Association Transformational Project Award, and American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) Young Investigator Award. In 2022, Dr. Sallam was inducted into ASCI. Through his leadership role on STAR and national reputation, Dr. Sallam has been a key voice in identifying creative platforms to navigate some of the challenges facing physician-scientists and participated with multiple organizations on the issue including the National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and American Physician Scientists Association.


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