This story is part of a series celebrating the recipients of the 2024 Chancellor Awards for Diversity, given to faculty, staff and learners for their leadership advancing diversity, equity and inclusion on campus and in our communities.
Carolyn Sangokoya, MD, PhD, grew up in a household where science and medicine were part of everyday life.
But while her father was a chemist and her mother was a nurse, Sangokoya didn’t know any physician-scientists until college. She drew inspiration from early experiences inside her father’s chemistry laboratory to eventually launch her own lab at the UCSF Broad Stem Cell Center.
Sangokoya – the only daughter of Nigerian immigrants and the first in her family born in the U.S. – started as an undergraduate studying human biology at Stanford University in 1999, followed by obtaining her MD and PhD at the Duke University School of Medicine before she landed at UCSF as a resident in anatomic pathology in 2015.
After completing her clinical fellowship in liver pathology and postdoctoral studies in stem cell biology at UCSF, the UCSF Department of Pathology assistant professor is finding ways to inspire others as the founder and executive director of the UCSF Women Physician-Scientists Supergroup (WPSS).
“I’d really like to be a beacon and an inspiration to others who want to pursue these careers,” she said.
The group, founded in 2020 during Sangokoya’s time as a postdoc, is a professional network of physician-scientists now spanning more than 14 clinical departments and many research fields across UCSF.
“Coming together allows us to essentially collaborate across fields,” Sangokoya said. “This group exists because we were really stars in our silos, and when we do these things together, we’re greater than the sum of our parts.”
The WPSS mission? To #SeeHER, #BridgeHER and #AdvanceHER.
The three areas are meant to help identify, engage, support and address the limited advancement of women physician-scientists.
The group’s ongoing efforts include rotating professorships, independent research supplements, and networking and collaborating opportunities, among other initiatives. Members also enjoy access to programming built by UCSF career stages designed for both independent investigators and mentored researchers.
“We want to allow people to find the resources they need to build their labs (and) build their careers here,” Sangokoya said. “We want to see people going from junior faculty to senior faculty leading our research institutes and being resources and mentors for the next generation.”
Sangokoya was recently honored with the 2024 Chancellor Award for the Advancement of Women. The award is given annually to those in the UCSF community who have demonstrated outstanding commitment and service to the advancement of women beyond the scope of their job, area of research or training.
Honoring Our Community
We salute members of our UCSF community for their leadership advancing diversity, equity and inclusion on campus and in our communities.