ASCI / Young Physician-Scientist Awards, 2022
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
Aaron Carlin, MD, Ph.D, is an infectious disease specialist and scientist. He is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego. He attended the University of California Los Angeles for his undergraduate studies followed by the Medical Scientist Training (MD/PhD) Program at the University of California San Diego. As a graduate student in the laboratories of Drs. Victor Nizet and Ajit Varki, Dr. Carlin demonstrated that group B Streptococcus (GBS) utilizes molecular mimickry and direct protein interactions to engage Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-type lectins (Siglecs) on human innate immune cells. This interaction impairs antimicrobial functions increasing GBS pathogenesis. Dr. Carlin was then selected for the Physician-Scientist Training Program (PSTP) and completed an internal medicine residency, infectious disease fellowship, and served as chief-fellow of infectious diseases at the University of California San Diego. During his fellowship, he performed postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Christopher Glass where he developed innovative unbiased genome-wide approaches to investigate host-viral interactions. In 2019, Dr. Carlin joined the faculty as a tenure track Assistant Professor and started his independent research laboratory where he investigates emerging and reemerging infectious diseases and their interactions with the immune system. The overarching goal of Dr. Carlin’s research is to improve current therapeutic and diagnostic strategies by identifying the specific mechanisms that drive infectious disease pathogenesis. He has received several honors, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists and an NIAID K08 award.