ASCI / Young Physician-Scientist Awards, 2021
The Young Physician-Scientist Awards (YPSA) recognize physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research.
About the awardee
Michael G. Kattah, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, physician-scientist, and gastroenterologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Kattah’s clinical work and translational research focus on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
Dr. Kattah obtained his MD and PhD from the Stanford University School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) under the mentorship of Dr. Paul J. Utz. His PhD in Immunology involved leveraging several new high-throughput proteomics technologies to interrogate immune responses at the protein level. He completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital followed by gastroenterology fellowship at UCSF where he was mentored by Dr. Averil Ma and Dr. Ophir Klein. His postdoctoral work centered around the role of two IBD-associated genes in intestinal epithelial cell death.
Dr. Kattah’s clinical focus is in IBD, with a particular interest in the transition of young adults from pediatric to adult GI clinic. He also cares for cancer patients with immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced colitis.
Dr. Kattah’s laboratory studies the role of intestinal epithelial cells in IBD pathogenesis using single-cell methodologies, intestinal biopsies, patient-derived organoid cultures, and mouse models. The ultimate goal is to develop patient-tailored treatment strategies that maximize efficacy and minimize toxicity for individual patients.