“Through my interests in research and patient care, I saw a need for a tool that could streamline a critical gatekeeper process,” said Ella Tetrault, who has worked at Cedars-Sinai for two years and is earning a master of science in health systems at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University.

Her tool is designed to save staff time and help patients receive faster access to care by flagging missing details, drafting justification letters, and creating a checklist with action items for staff before they submit the request to insurers.

Tetrault’s tool also is a perfect example of how Cedars-Sinai is empowering employees to use AI to solve common healthcare problems and improve patient care, said Mouneer Odeh, MA, chief data and artificial intelligence officer at Cedars-Sinai.

“We see artificial intelligence as an opportunity to rethink how we deliver care and run our operations,” Odeh said. “Our employees are our first step in identifying how new technologies can become part of our workflows, and their willingness to adopt these technologies drives our innovation.”

During Cedars-Sinai’s “Prompt-A-Thons,” employees compete to develop AI tools to solve operational, clinical and administrative challenges. Nearly 80 groups submitted proposals at the summer competition. Topics ranged from personalizing patient education to assessing patients’ risk for pharmaceutical side effects.

Ten employee teams were then selected to present their AI solutions at a final showcase in front of a panel of judges. Second- and third-place presentations aimed to streamline the Emergency Department trauma documentation auditing process and provide faster, more integrated reporting for medical center data.

During her winning presentation, Tetrault estimated that her pre-authorization tool could save 450 hours per year per authorization staff member.

“According to the American Medical Association, prior authorizations take up roughly 13 hours a week of any given employee’s time,” Tetrault said. “Unfortunately, many of these authorizations are denied due to missing information or submissions not matching the payer’s policy. Most appealed denials get overturned.”

Chain Insights: Turning Prompt-A-Thon Experience Into Action

The Cedars-Sinai Supply Chain Department won a 2025 Prompt-A-Thon for designing an app to help streamline nursing paperwork and give nurses more time for direct patient care. The app, Chain Insights, monitors supplies, tracks back orders, and flags approved substitutes for items that might become unavailable.

Chain Insights, built by a Cedars-Sinai team from Supply Chain Operational Excellence, Enterprise Information Services and Nursing, was first tested as a pilot on an inpatient floor at Cedars-Sinai. Early data shows that it reduced nurses’ supply-ordering time by 1 1/2 minutes per call.

“This time savings adds up to roughly seven hours each day once fully rolled out for the nursing team,” said Nausheen Ahmed, executive director of Supply Chain Operational Excellence. “With approximately 300 calls to our supply chain team each day, this modest but important efficiency means nurses can reclaim time to focus on their most important role, patient care.”

For supply chain staff, knowing how much inventory is available and where it is housed is critical, especially when a nurse calls with a need for supplies. Each call requires a detailed discussion including when the supplies must be in hand and possible substitutions if an item is on back order.

Chain Insights replaces the phone call with an app that precisely locates inventory. The app also identifies unnecessary items to help clear space, a “quieter win” but one that compounds over time.

Regina Chung, MSN, RN, CMSRN, a nurse at Cedars-Sinai, uses Chain Insights every shift.

“Chain Insights has made it easy to quickly order the supplies I need while on the go, even while I am walking in the halls between patients,” Chung said. “I always receive the correct product and quantity, and when items are out of stock, it tells me immediately, so I am not aimlessly waiting. These efficiencies allow me to focus on providing exceptional care to our patients.”

Leaders from Supply Chain Operational Excellence designed data models, decision frameworks and inventory intelligence that tell the tool how to think about supply risk and priorities.

Cedars-Sinai employees from Enterprise Information Services wrote the code and built the infrastructure, turning that back-end logic into a working application. Nursing colleagues provided continuous frontline input, including real-world testing of the tool to ensure it solved the right problems.

“This effort stands as an example of what happens when teams build something together to solve a real problem,” Odeh said. “It's also a signal of what's possible when the people closest to the work are empowered to build the solution, and there's more to come. There is nothing more motivating than seeing knowledge be translated into solutions.”

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

The allied health school prepares students—particularly those from Southern California’s underserved communities and Cedars-Sinai employees—for healthcare careers.

Jessica Chung, 29, is one of five students graduating from the allied health program, established with a $30 million gift from the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. She is completing the Clinical Laboratory Scientist Program, which prepares students with the innovative skills, clinical practices and procedural techniques needed for a successful career in a hospital laboratory.

“The training experience has been challenging but highly rewarding,” said Chung, a Pasadena resident. “Working as a clinical laboratory technician inspired me to grow professionally and make a greater difference in patient care.”

Chung, who holds a bachelor of science degree in molecular, cell and developmental biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, praised the instruction she received throughout the program.

“My Cedars-Sinai instructors generously shared their knowledge and gave me a deeper appreciation for how every part of the laboratory works together to support patients,” Chung said. “I look forward to developing my skills further and mentoring new specialists entering the field.”

The graduating class also includes students receiving a doctorate in biomedical and translational sciences, a master of science in health systems, and a master of science in magnetic resonance in medicine. The graduate programs combine scientific and translational medicine curricula with dedicated mentorship from scientists and clinicians.

Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Health System, will serve as a commencement speaker.

“This year’s ceremony marks a significant milestone in the continued growth of our health sciences university,” Slavin said. “With this graduating class and the ones that follow, our university will expand its contribution to biomedical science, clinical care, practitioner advancement and a rich variety of healthcare careers.”

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University was established in 2024 to prepare generations of academic scientists, physician leaders and allied health professionals for the future of healthcare and biomedical science.

Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, executive vice president of Academic Affairs and dean of the Medical Faculty at Cedars-Sinai, said graduates will use their training to shape healthcare delivery and scientific advances.

Melmed played a foundational role in establishing the Cedars-Sinai Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the health sciences university.

“Our graduates immersed themselves in basic and translational research and helped spur innovation, discovery and creative scholarship at Cedars-Sinai and beyond,” Melmed said. “We are delighted to watch the many ways they bring their training to myriad disciplines.”  

Melmed will be honored during the ceremony for 46 years of extraordinary service to Cedars-Sinai. He transitions to the role of dean emeritus of the Medical Faculty and executive advisor to the president and CEO at the end of 2026.

Melmed and other commencement speakers said the university’s students gain a better understanding of human disease and how best to treat individuals and populations, enhance disease prevention and elevate the overall health of communities.

“Our university brings an energy and enthusiasm unique to Cedars-Sinai,” said Jeffrey A. Golden, MD, executive vice dean of Research and Education who also helped found the health sciences university.  “This energy is best exemplified by the graduates we get to recognize at commencement—innovators in healthcare delivery, pioneers of medical technologies and forward-thinking leaders who are now equipped to solve the many mysteries of medicine.”

The first graduates from the Chuck Lorre Allied Health School include clinical laboratory scientists Melissa Amy Casillas and Jessica Chung, and pharmacy technicians Mehdi Allahbakhsh, Fariba Fazeli and Jayson Flores.

The class of 2026 of master of science in health systems graduates includes Brianna Garcia; Claudia Carrillo; Alexa Schroer; Elisa M. Ditman; Fiorella Agredas; Ayako Ikenouchi; Elizabeth LeeAnn Jackson; Jigna Dhyani, MSHS; Katherine Eckert; LaShon Heidelberg; Michael Fine; Michelle E. Riley, PA-C; Rainier Francisco Pizarro; Ranjalika Aashna Devi; Rongsen Li; Samaneh Samadi; Julio Silvestre, MD; Jenna Mattinson; Sheree Wynn; Ta'Nia J. Harris, BSBA, CIIP; Thomas J. Hoffmann; and Harmon Arthur Clarke Jr.

Doctor of philosophy in biomedical and translational sciences graduates include Alicia Gamboa, Sehrish Javed, Arati Naveen, Michael Edison P. Ramos, Fardad Serry, Vaishnavi Devarakonda and Jianhang Zhou.

Master of science in magnetic resonance in medicine graduates include Dante Rigo de Righi, Angel Liu, Yimeng He, Sophia Katherine Mostowy, Chen Wang and Yufeng Wang.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

These are among the most common questions patients ask when they consider joining a clinical trial at Cedars-Sinai, where more than 700 such studies are currently underway.

Those trials are essential to advancing medical care and offer patients access to emerging new therapies while helping researchers better understand diseases and improve future treatments, said Michael Farkouh, MD, vice dean for Research and Clinical Trials at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University.

“A clinical trial is the final step in translating research innovations into clinical practice—the bridge from research discovery to the patient,” Farkouh said. “As an academic medical center, Cedars-Sinai provides excellent clinical care alongside access to novel therapies that can enhance that care.”

To mark Clinical Trials Awareness Month, the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom spoke with Farkouh about how patients can decide whether a clinical trial is right for them.

What is a clinical trial?

A clinical trial is a carefully designed study that evaluates new drugs, devices or care strategies in eligible patients who choose to participate. A clinical trial typically compares a new approach with the current standard of care to determine whether it leads to better outcomes. If it does, it may become part of routine medical practice.

What are the phases of clinical trials?

Each phase serves a distinct purpose. Phase I focuses on safety, helping researchers determine whether a new treatment can be used safely in people.

Phase II evaluates whether the treatment shows signs of effectiveness, often by comparing before and after images or blood test results.

Phase III tests whether the treatment improves patient outcomes—such as reducing heart attacks, lowering mortality or improving quality of life—and is required for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.

Phase IV trials occur after FDA approval and involve larger populations to monitor long-term safety and effectiveness, including the identification of any side effects.

Are clinical trials safe?

Patient safety is a top priority. Participants must provide informed consent, meaning they fully understand the study and agree to participate. Studies follow strict ethical standards and are closely monitored by our Institutional Review Board to protect patient wellbeing. Patients enrolled in clinical trials often benefit from enhanced care because they are monitored more closely, with ongoing visits, tests and follow-up.

Who can participate in a clinical trial?

Each study has specific eligibility criteria to make sure the treatment is appropriate and safe for participants. For example, some trials may exclude patients with certain underlying conditions if they may be at increased risk or if they have little probability for benefit.

Because of these criteria, trial results apply most directly to the group of patients who were studied. Doctors then use their clinical judgment to decide how those findings may apply to patients in real-world settings.

What is a placebo, and do clinical trials always involve a placebo?

Some trials use a placebo, an inactive treatment designed to resemble the real one. In these studies, the patient and the doctor are often unaware of who receives the actual treatment, a process known as “blinding.” Placebo-controlled trials are considered the most reliable way to understand whether a treatment truly works because they help reduce bias, ensuring that expectations don’t influence the results.

A placebo is not possible in some clinical trials. An example is when surgical procedures are being compared. In those cases, researchers rely on other methods to evaluate outcomes.

Are clinical trials free?

Yes—in most cases, tests, treatments or procedures that are part of the study are provided at no additional cost to participants.

How are patients benefiting from clinical trials at Cedars-Sinai?

Up to half of clinical trials at Cedars-Sinai focus on cancer, and the others are specific to other conditions. Participation tends to be higher in trials for serious or life-threatening diseases, where patients may seek access to innovative therapies that could improve or extend their lives.

Beyond the potential individual benefit, participants play an important role in advancing medical knowledge. Many of today’s standard treatments are the result of clinical trials made possible by patients who volunteered to participate. They’re the true heroes.

How can patients find a clinical trial?

Cedars-Sinai offers an online registry where patients can search for studies by condition. Physicians are also informed about available studies and can help determine whether a trial may be a good fit. For most patients, the best first step is a conversation with their healthcare provider to explore whether a clinical trial is an appropriate option.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

The study shows that the same brain neurons are activated when we imagine something and when we perceive something. The research, led by Cedars-Sinai, is the first to provide a detailed understanding of the shared mechanism that underlies visual perception and creation of mental images in the human brain. It was published in the journal Science.

“We generate a mental image of an object that we have seen before by reactivating the brain cells we used to see it in the first place,” said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, director of the Center for Neural Science and Medicine and professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University, and the study’s joint senior author. “Our study revealed the code that we use to re-create the images.”

The findings provide a biological basis for visual imagination, a process that is also critical for creative arts.

“Further insight into this neural process has the potential to open pathways toward developing new therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other mental conditions that involve uncontrolled vivid imagery,” said Adam Mamelak, MD, director of the Functional Neurosurgery Program and professor of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai, and co-author of the study.

To conduct the study, investigators asked 16 adults with epilepsy, who had electrodes temporarily implanted in their brains for diagnosing their seizures, to view a series of images of faces and objects. After viewing them, a subset of the participants were asked to imagine those same images from memory. Meanwhile, researchers recorded the electrical activity of hundreds of individual neurons in each participant’s brain.

When the patients viewed the images, neurons were activated in their fusiform gyrus, an area of the brain essential for high-level visual processing, particularly for faces. For 80% of the visually responsive neurons recorded in the study, the researchers uncovered the aspects of the images they reacted to, thereby revealing their neural code. When the patients later imagined the images, about 40% of these neurons reactivated using the same code, thereby recreating the pattern of activity that occurred during the initial viewing of the images.

“Advanced artificial intelligence tools were critical to our investigation at all stages,” said Varun Wadia, PhD, a postdoctoral scientist in Rutishauser’s laboratory and first author of the study. “We used deep visual neural networks to create numerical descriptions of objects so that we could understand the neurons’ code. We then verified the code by using generative AI to create never-before-seen images and correctly predict the brain’s responses to these images.”

The research builds on the work of Doris Y. Tsao, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, who is co-senior author on the study. She identified the neural code for object recognition in nonhuman primates. The current study reveals that the same neural code is present in humans and that it explains visual imagination.

“These findings support the idea that imagining and seeing share a common neural code and may have important implications for understanding psychiatric disorders marked by disruptions in mental imagery and reality discrimination,” said Hermon Gebrehiwet, DrPH, program officer at the National Institutes of Health.

Still to be determined are what triggers the neural reactivation the investigators found, and how memories lead to reactivation of just the right subset of neurons needed, the investigators said.

Other Cedars-Sinai authors include: C. M. Reed, J. M. Chung, and L. M. Bateman

Funding: The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative® (U01NS117839 to UR), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (DYT), the Simons Foundation Collaboration on the Global Brain (UR and DYT) and the Chen Center for Systems Neuroscience at Caltech (DYT).

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

“This new academic alliance between these premier Los Angeles institutions will advance scientific and academic achievements for the broader Los Angeles community and beyond,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Health System.

The partnership features joint translational discovery grants, as well as co-hosted symposia, shared training opportunities, and joint student and faculty appointments.

“Our partnership with Cedars-Sinai provides an important new pathway to clinical impact,” said Caltech Provost David A. Tirrell, PhD, the Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and the Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair.

Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, executive vice president of Medicine and Health Sciences and dean of the Medical Faculty at Cedars-Sinai, said the goal of the partnership is to reshape patient care and biological understanding, together.

“Recognizing the unique strengths of each institution, we feel confident this partnership will benefit the greater field of science,” Melmed said.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University combines a robust basic, translational and clinical sciences enterprise with a large and diverse patient population, along with an expanding biospecimen repository. Caltech brings exceptional expertise in engineering, computational modeling, chemistry, and quantitative biosciences, along with advanced research in molecular, cellular and systems biology.

“Better healthcare for all requires bold innovation. This partnership brings together Cedars-Sinai’s clinical leadership and Caltech’s scientific excellence to deliver it,” said  Viviana Gradinaru, PhD, the Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and director and Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of the Merkin Institute for Translational Research.

The official partnership has been years in the making, with investigators like Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, director of the Center for Neural Science and Medicine and professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai, holding faculty appointments at both institutions. Those joint faculty positions opened the door for thoughtful discussions on how the two entities could increase their collaborations.

Ophir Klein, MD, PhD, executive director of Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, executive vice dean of Children’s Health and the David and Meredith Kaplan Distinguished Chair in Children’s Health, recognized the potential synergy when he joined Cedars-Sinai in 2022.  Klein then initiated co-hosted programs to foster greater collaboration.

The first joint symposium, in 2024, concentrated on developmental and stem cell biology. The second, in 2025, focused on computational and experimental neuroscience. Both events sparked enthusiasm and spurred the impetus for further collaborations.

“The opportunity to engage regularly through these events will lead to a more profound partnership between the two institutions and deeper connections among faculty and trainees,” Klein said. “There’s a unique energy in the room when two complementary forces have a shared desire for the best in science and accelerated application.”

Another element of the strengthened partnership involves a pilot grant program to catalyze research that unites clinical insight, engineering and fundamental biological discovery.

The joint grant program will award up to four recipients with support for a one-year project and an opportunity for a second year. Funds will be split between investigators at Cedars-Sinai and Caltech.

“We are eager to stimulate interdisciplinary collaborations that support research and integrate biomedical, clinical, computational and engineering approaches,” said Jeffrey A. Golden, MD, executive vice dean of Research and Education and director of the Burns and Allen Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai. “Leveraging the scientific and technological ecosystems of both institutions will help advance the broader research landscape and bring advances in healthcare to individuals in our community and beyond.”

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

Melmed has decided to transition to the role of dean emeritus of the Medical Faculty and executive adviser to the president and CEO at the end of 2026, or after a new dean is recruited. He will continue to serve as a distinguished professor of Medicine, conduct research and maintain his clinical practice as co-director of the Cedars-Sinai Pituitary Center. He also will continue to hold the Helene and Philip Hixon Distinguished Chair in Investigative Medicine.

“Cedars-Sinai has emerged as an international leader in medical innovation and translational scientific discovery under Dr. Melmed’s leadership,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Health System. “His trailblazing contributions have helped turn Cedars-Sinai into a major force in academic medicine.”

Since being named dean in 1998, Melmed has steadily grown the size of Cedars-Sinai’s faculty—expanding it from about 100 to more than 900 currently. During this nearly three-decade period, he raised annual research expenditures from about $30 million to $580 million. Cedars-Sinai now ranks among the top 10 non-university hospitals nationwide receiving research funding from the National Institutes of Health. At the same time, research space at Cedars-Sinai has grown from 90,000 square feet to 670,000 square feet. A new research building under construction on the Cedars-Sinai campus will add to this extraordinary growth.

Melmed has fostered major advances in interdisciplinary research, expanded clinical programs by creating new departments and institutes and strengthened graduate medical and research education. He established Cedars-Sinai Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and more recently, Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University.

“We are a stronger and more focused organization because of Dr. Melmed’s influence,” Slavin said.

Melmed is an internationally recognized physician-scientist whose research has transformed the understanding of pituitary biology and endocrine disease. His laboratory has been consistently funded by NIH since 1980. He has published and lectured on pituitary disease internationally and led the top professional societies in his field while mentoring dozens of trainees now holding prominent positions of their own.

He is a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science, Master of the American College of Physicians and recipient of prestigious national and international endocrinology awards. He edits the major endocrinology textbooks and was editor-in-chief of the widely respected Endocrinology and Pituitary journals.

Melmed also is an elected member of the Association of American Physicians and American Society for Clinical Investigation. He served on the Endocrine Society Council, as president of the International Society of Endocrinology and as president and a founding member of the Pituitary Society. Additionally, he is a member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine’s Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee.

He said he looks forward to transitioning into his new role assisting Slavin and Cedars-Sinai leadership.

“Serving Cedars-Sinai and our community have been the highlight of my career in academic medicine,” he said. “I am truly honored and excited to open the next chapter.”

Read More From Cedars-Sinai Newsroom: Cedars-Sinai’s Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, Elected AAAS Fellow

During the daylong event, students extracted DNA from strawberries, saw CPR demonstrations and ambulance simulations, and talked about science and medicine with physicians, pharmacists, nurses, professors and researchers at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University.

“Early exposure to STEAM is critical, especially for students who may not always see themselves represented in science or healthcare careers,” said Christina Harris, MD, vice president and chief health equity officer at Cedars-Sinai. “By partnering with the Rams and bringing Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University into this experience, we are helping students see that careers in medicine, research and innovation are exciting—and attainable.”

Participating students also explored behind-the-scenes areas of SoFi Stadium, connecting STEAM concepts to the innovation and engineering behind one of the world’s most advanced sports and entertainment venues.

“I liked that we actually got to try things ourselves,” said Elias Rivera, a fourth grader from Normont Elementary School in Harbor City who wants to one day become a doctor. “Math is my favorite subject, and my favorite part today was throwing the football into a small hole on the field.”

Through its involvement, Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University helped students see themselves reflected in the future of healthcare and science, reinforcing its commitment to education, research and advancing health equity.

“What’s powerful about a day like this is that students can see how many different career opportunities exist in healthcare,” said Michael Farkouh, MD, vice dean for Research and Clinical Trials at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University. “You don’t have to leave Los Angeles to receive world-class training and education. Right here at Cedars-Sinai and our Health Sciences University, there are pathways in research, artificial intelligence, pharmacy technician, respiratory therapy and so much more.”

The Health Sciences University was established in 2024 to prepare generations of academic scientists, physician leaders and allied health professionals for futures in healthcare and biomedical science.

“Our goal is to spark a passion that goes beyond a job—and to show students they can build meaningful careers while staying rooted in their communities,” Farkouh said.

S.T.E.A.M. Field Day is part of a broader educational initiative to introduce Los Angeles youth to career pathways in sports, entertainment and healthcare. Cedars-Sinai helps shape the program’s educational content, spotlighting professionals whose work reflects each STEAM discipline, including:

• Science – Casey Batten, MD
  Co-director of Nonoperative Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine at Cedars-Sinai, head team physician for the Los Angeles Rams and chief medical officer for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Batten represents how scientific research and evidence-based medicine support both elite athletes and everyday patients.
• Technology – Tiffani Bright, PhD
  An assistant professor of Computational Biomedicine and co-director of Cedars-Sinai’s Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education, Bright leads efforts to develop AI tools to improve clinical decision-making and advance health equity.
• Engineering – Hector Melara
  An engineer and architect at Cedars-Sinai, Melara helps design and build healthcare spaces that support patients, families and caregivers. His work blends engineering, technology and math to create safe, functional environments where care happens.
• Art – John Lange
  Curator of Cedars-Sinai’s art collection and manager of the Cedars-Sinai Arts Program, Lange leads initiatives that integrate art into healthcare settings to support healing and wellbeing.
• Math – Joycelyn Frederick, BSHCM, CPhT-Adv 
  Program director for the Pharmacy Technician Program at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University, Frederick prepares the next generation of pharmacy technicians for careers that rely on math, science and technology to ensure medication safety and accuracy for patients.

Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.

“Innovation is the engine that drives our health system,” said Jeffrey A. Golden, MD, executive vice dean of Research and Education and director of the Burns and Allen Research Institute. “This engine is powered by the learners training in our Health Sciences University and the faculty delivering exceptional medical care and conducting groundbreaking research.”

A Year of Impact and Growth

In 2025, the university—which houses 16 residency programs and 76 fellowship programs—demonstrated the power of combining education and research.

Cedars-Sinai ranked No. 1 in California among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding in 2025. The funding helped support investigators and teams who published more than 2,500 peer-reviewed papers and collaborated on more than 2,600 research projects.

“We are proud of how our scientists,  academic physicians and allied health professionals have integrated clinical, basic and translational research with education in our academic medical center,” said Golden, the Linda and Jim Lippman Distinguished Chair in Academic Medicine.

Here, the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom spotlights major Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University achievements during 2025.

Shaping Future Leaders

More than 860 students, postdoctoral researchers, medical residents and fellows enrolled in university programs last fall:

• The first learners enrolled in the Chuck Lorre Allied Health School, Health Artificial Intelligence PhD program and the Master of Science in Regenerative Medicine program.
• The Health AI PhD program—the first to combine interdisciplinary training with hands-on clinical data experience—earned accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Senior College and University Commission.
• The new Center for Space Medicine Research began offering space biomedicine courses as part of the regenerative medicine curriculum.

Driving Research Breakthroughs

Investigators uncovered vital health insights:

• Men whose prostate cancer returns after surgery or radiation therapy may benefit from a new drug combination shown in clinical trials to reduce the risk of death by more than 40%.
• People who underwent a minimally invasive procedure to have their aortic valve replaced had similar health outcomes years after treatment compared with people who had surgery.
• Patients with advanced liver cancer who receive immunotherapy to shrink their tumors have seen improved outcomes after liver transplant or tumor removal.
• Investigators provided new evidence that thyroid cancer continues to be overdiagnosed and that aggressive screening and treatment of thyroid cancer have not led to higher survival rates.
• An artificial intelligence program trained to review images from a common medical test can detect early signs of tricuspid heart valve disease and may help doctors diagnose and treat patients sooner.
• Using stem cells from patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Cedars-Sinai has created a lifelike model of the mysterious and fatal disease that could help identify a cause of the illness as well as effective treatments.
• The Center for Advanced Gerotherapeutics found that aged blood vessels may play a key role in the development of metabolic diseases like diabetes.

Securing Critical Funding

The university received 379 federal grants totaling $150 million to support future discoveries. These grants include:

• $8 million for an international study led by Cedars‑Sinai to investigate how the placenta affects the heart health of mothers and babies—and whether this knowledge can predict risk of cardiovascular disease
• $6.5 million from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging for Cedars-Sinai, UCLA and USC to establish a Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center in Los Angeles
• More than $20 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute to study potential treatments for heart failure and an inherited type of heart disease
• A $26 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study whether people born with a common heart condition have better outcomes from open-heart surgery or a minimally invasive procedure

Honoring Leadership and Quality  

Faculty members continue to earn national recognition for their contributions in medicine:

• Ravi Thadhani, MD, MPH, an internationally respected expert in nephrology and preeclampsia, was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
• The American Association for the Advancement of Science elected Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, a leader in the field of endocrinology, as a Fellow.
• Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, Jennifer Van Eyk, PhD, and Ananth Karumanchi, MD, from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai earned prestigious honors from the American Heart Association, recognizing their achievements in cardiovascular and hypertension research.
• Prominent cancer investigator Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, received the Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute, and pioneering surgical oncologist  Armando E. Giuliano, MD, received the William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture Award.
• Pedro Sanchez, MD, a pediatric geneticist, was named Physician of the Year by the National Hispanic Medical Association.
• Cedars-Sinai welcomed its first chief genomics officer and medical director of the newly established Center for Genomic Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s: Joyce So, MD, PhD.
• Cedars-Sinai was named a Center of Excellence in Rare Neuroimmune Disorders and its Blood and Marrow Transplant Program became one of 12 among 172 adult transplant programs where patient survival one year after transplant exceeded expectations.
• Through its Biobank and Research Pathology Resource, Cedars-Sinai became one of only six medical centers in California to earn international accreditation from the College of American Pathologists.

Read More From Cedars-Sinai: 2026 Report to the Community