Education August 13, 2026 3 mins read

RISE Symposium, August 2026

Congratulations to the 21 summer interns who presented their research projects at our annual symposium.

Since 2017, we've hosted cohorts of summer interns for practical, hands-on experience and mentoring as they work on basic science, translational, or clinical radiology research projects with our faculty and staff.

Students in RISE spend 8 weeks working with a faculty mentor on their research project. This year, we were delighted to host high school, undergraduate, and medical students from a number of institutions including UCLA, UCSD, UCSF, Morehouse, University of Texas, Cal State, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, University of Nevada-Reno, SUNY, St Louis University, Minerva College, University of Massachusetts, USC, and University of Missouri-Kansas City.

2026 Symposium Presentations

Rhea Raj
Trends in Diagnostic Medical Errors & Patient Outcomes: A Quantitative Analysis Using National Malpractice Data from 2004–2025
Supervisor: Vijay Yeluri, Chief of Integration - Sirona Imaging
Mentors: Lisa Wilmes, PhD, Wen Li, PhD

Andrea Liang
Optimization of the B0 and Eddy Current Distortion Correction Pipeline and q-Space Sampling for Crossing Fiber Detection on the NexGen 7T
Faculty Supervisor: An (Joseph) Vu, PhD

Alexandra (Sasha) Kiryakin
Cerebral Microbleeds: Advanced Detection and Clinical Significance
Faculty Supervisor: Salil Soman, MD

Keerthi Eraniyan
The Clinical Utility of Quantitative Oxygen Extraction Fraction (OEF) in Glioblastoma Imaging
Faculty Supervisor: Salil Soman, MD

Karly Mondaizie
Functional and Molecular Characterization of Therapy-Resistant Prostate Cancer Cell Models
Faculty Supervisor: Robert Flavell, MD, PhD
Mentor: Anil Parsram Bidkar, PhD

Monica Wu
Optimization of Synthesis for a PSMA-Targeted, Radiation-Cleavable Drug Conjugate (MMAE-RCL-ACUPA) to Improve Synergistic Efficacy in Prostate Cancer Therapy
Faculty Supervisors: Robert Flavell MD, PhD, Changhua Mu, PhD

Kora Ottun
Association Between Computational CT-Derived Imaging Phenotypes and Clinical Outcomes in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Faculty Supervisor: Jae Ho Sohn, MD, MS
Mentors: Masha Bondarenko, Ali Nowroozi, Tician Schnitzler

Ziad Kedkad
Initial Institutional Experience with Histotripsy Ablation
Mentor: Rajesh Shah, MD
Collaborators: Ryan Lokken, MD, Shin Mei, MD, Nicholas Fidelman, MD

Ethan Effendi
CT Assessment of Hepatic Vasculature for ChemoFilter Treatment Planning and Further Device Development
Faculty Supervisor: Steven Hetts, MD
Other Mentors/Collaborators: Colin Yee, Bridget Kilbride, Teri Moore

Lily Tran
From Report to Image: Validating AI for HCC Surveillance at UCSF and ZSFG
Faculty Supervisor: Kang Wang, MD, PhD
Other Mentors/Collaborators: Hanxue Gu, PhD

Michael Uretsky
From Data Collection to ROI Analysis: The PREFUL MRI
Faculty Supervisor: Peder Larson, PhD

Anshal Vyas
Enhancing Lu-177–PSMA Therapy in Prostate Cancer Through DNA Damage Response Inhibition
Faculty Supervisor Robert Flavell, MD, PhD
Other Mentors/Collaborators: Athira Raveendran, PhD

Nathan Kim
Automated MRI Analysis of Fetal Brain Volume in Ventriculomegaly
Faculty Supervisor: Elizabeth George, MBBS
Other Mentors/Collaborators: Siddharthasiva Anbu Rajan, Andreas Rauschecker, Minerva Zhou

Noah Sharbani
Free-Breathing, Non-Contrast Lung MRI for Evaluation of Pulmonary Function in a Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipient
Faculty Supervisor: Peder Larson, PhD
Mentors and Collaborators: Dante Capaldi, PhD, Jae Ho Sohn, MD, MS, Fernando Urrego, MD, MPH, Gabriel Salinas Cisneros, MD

Albert Tran
Retracted Infraspinatus Tear Following Landmark-Guided Subacromial Corticosteroid Injection: A Case Report
Faculty Supervisor: Kevin McGill, MD, MPH
Other Mentors/Collaborators: Jhanna Alyssa Moore, MD, Adia Reed, Harsh Shah, MD

Juhi Mehta
Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation on Whole-Brain Co-Activation Dynamics in Parkinson's Disease
Faculty Supervisor: Melanie Morrison, PhD

Natalie Hetts
Classifications of PAVMs: A Scoping Review
Faculty and Mentors: Isaac Kim, Miles Conrad, Teri Moore

Elijah Huang
Evaluating the Clinical Feasibility of Low-Field 0.55T MRI for Breast Imaging: A Comparative Study with High-Field 3T MRI
Faculty Supervisor: Bonnie Joe, MD, PhD
Mentors and Collaborators: Shirley Chou, MD, MPH, Eric Davis, MD, Lisa Wilmes, PhD, Nola Hylton, PhD, Pan Su (Siemens)

Aya Zayan
Quantitative ¹H NMR-Based Metabolomic Profiling of 22RV1 Cancer Cell Samples Using COLMAR1D and Manual qNMR Analysis
Faculty Supervisor: Renuka Sriram, PhD

Erin Halligan
Survival in Patients with Lung Cancer and CT-Detected Interstitial Lung Abnormalities or Interstitial Lung Disease
Faculty Supervisor: Jae Ho Sohn, MD, MS

Tiffany Chen
Edema-Adjusted Core Volume Obtained from Non-Contrast CT Predicts Infarct Growth and Final Infarct Volume in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Faculty Supervisor: Kambiz Nael, MD
Mentor: Mona Asghariahmadabad, MD

Rebecca Breen
Subsequent Mammography Adherence Following AI-Based Risk-Stratified Expedited Reading: A Retrospective Study
Faculty Supervisor: Maggie Chung, MD