3 UCSF Faculty Honored for Advancing Science and Society
AAAS Fellows are among the world’s most distinguished scientists, engineers, and innovators.
Three UC San Francisco faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals.
The 2025 AAAS Fellows are recognized for outstanding contributions to science and its impact on society. The honor is among the most prestigious in the scientific community.
The newly elected UCSF fellows are:
Elissa Epel, PhD
Elissa Epel, PhD, is the Sarlo-Ekman Chair of Human Emotions and professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. She is the director of the UCSF Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center and the UC-wide Climate Mental Health Initiative. She is the associate director of the UCSF Center for Health and Community and the UCSF Nutrition Obesity Research Center, affiliated with the NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
At UCSF, Epel studies how chronic stress affects the body at the cellular level, including its impact on aging, inflammation, and metabolism. Her work helps explain how mental and physical health are connected.
Epel has also developed programs based on behavioral and contemplative science to reduce stress and improve wellbeing. Through her interdisciplinary collaborations at UCSF, she promotes a more integrated view of how psychological and environmental factors influence long-term health. She teaches courses on resilience and advocacy — including a class open to UCSF patients, faculty, learners, and staff — and co-leads a long-standing postdoctoral program in Health Psychology.
Donald Ganem, MD
Donald Ganem, MD, is a professor emeritus of microbiology and immunology at UCSF. His research focused on viruses that cause human disease, especially herpesviruses linked to cancer.
At UCSF, Ganem led more than three decades of research in virology while also practicing medicine. During the height of the AIDS epidemic, his laboratory helped identify the virus responsible for Kaposi’s sarcoma, a cancer closely associated with HIV/AIDS. This virus is now known as human herpesvirus 8, or Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). Ganem’s discovery advanced understanding of virus-driven cancers and informed future research on diagnosis and treatment.
Ganem also shaped UCSF’s virology community, mentoring trainees and fostering collaborations across basic and clinical science. His leadership of the virology program at UCSF helped strengthen interdisciplinary research in infectious diseases and contributed to UCSF’s prominence in the field.
Geeta Narlikar, PhD
Geeta Narlikar, PhD, is Kuo Family Professor and chair of the UCSF Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics and previously served as co-director of the UCSF Tetrad Graduate Program. Her research focuses on how DNA is organized and how that organization controls gene activity.
Narlikar is an expert in the study of genome regulation. Her work examines how DNA structure influences how genes are turned on and off, which helps determine how different cell types develop. Her lab has pioneered advanced biophysical methods to study these processes.
At UCSF, Narlikar has also been a leader in graduate education, guiding the Tetrad Program’s interdisciplinary training in cell biology, genetics, and biochemistry. Through her research and mentorship, she supports the next generation of scientists in applying rigorous, cross-disciplinary approaches to tackle fundamental biological questions.
A prestigious scientific honor
AAAS Fellows are elected by their peers for extraordinary contributions to science and its applications. This year’s class includes scientists, engineers, and innovators from around the world whose work advances knowledge and addresses critical global challenges.
Founded in 1848, AAAS is dedicated to advancing science, engineering, and innovation for the benefit of all people.