UCSD establishes Institute for Applied Health Intelligence
UC San Diego recently announced the establishment of the Institute for Applied Health Intelligence, a multidisciplinary hub designed to leverage the latest digital technology to improve health care delivery and patient outcomes. Health intelligence is an approach that turns large amounts of health data into practical insights that help people live healthier lives.
The institute will unify experts from UC San Diego Health and faculty across six academic schools: the School of Medicine, Jacobs School of Engineering, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Rady School of Management, Halıcıoğlu School of Data Science and Computing, and the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. The goal is to unite more than 50 faculty and empower 750 trainees through the Institute.
“The convergence of computational power and biological insight represents the next frontier of medicine,” said John Carethers, MD, vice chancellor for Health Sciences at UC San Diego, in a press release. “By erasing the traditional boundaries between engineering, medicine, business and data science, we are creating a collaborative ecosystem where the most complex health challenges are met with a unified, university-wide response.”
Congressman Peters introduces veteran mental health care resolution
La Jolla resident and Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA), working with Congressman Jack Bergman (R-MI), recently reintroduced a bipartisan resolution to reduce the stigma that prevents veterans and servicemembers from seeking mental health care.
U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) speaks during a House Budget Committee meeting in May in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
The resolution calls on Armed Forces leadership to promote access to appropriate treatment and support for servicemembers experiencing post-traumatic stress. The legislation would also designate June as National Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) Awareness Month and June 27 as National PTS Awareness Day.
“Ask any veteran about the toll of their service, and many will show you the physical scars left behind. But often unseen is another kind of damage: psychological trauma that can be just as devastating, even when hidden from view,” Peters said. “San Diego is home to over 72,000 veterans, one of the largest concentrations in the country. Each of them should feel empowered and unafraid in reaching out for support. We must keep fighting to end the stigma surrounding mental health treatment and make sure our troops have the care and support they deserve.”
The resolution is currently undergoing committee review.
La Jolla restaurants among 28 Wine Spectator Awards winners
The wine selection at 28 San Diego County restaurants — including a handful in La Jolla — recently won 2026 Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine.
Launched in 1981, the Wine Spectator awards are judged on the quality, breadth and depth of restaurants’ wine programs, as well as the how the wines harmonize with the menu and how they’re presented to guests. There are three levels of awards, based on the number of wine selections.
Ten local restaurants earned the Best of Award of Excellence, which honors eateries with 350 or more wine selections. Among them are The Marine Room in La Jolla Shores and Nine-Ten in The Village.
The Marine Room, situated on the sand at La Jolla Shores beach, is was recognized alongside La Jolla’s Nine-Ten and a handful of others for the Wine Spectator Awards’ Best of Award of Excellence. (The Marine Room)
Seventeen restaurants earned the Award of Excellence, which recognizes wine programs with at least 75 selections, including La Jolla’s A.R. Valentien, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood and Marisi.
Computational biologist joins SBP
Mathematician and computational biologist Jill P. Mesirov, PhD, whose work has broadened and deepened the use of advanced computing tools to develop and implement new cancer strategies and treatments, recently joined Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute as a distinguished professor and Senior Vice President for Computational Science.
Mesirov’s duties at Sanford Burnham Prebys will include working with institute leadership to develop overall computational science strategies; coordinating projects among the institute’s four disease-specific centers and two technology-enabling centers; and advancing overall progress and implementation of computational sciences, including the rapid development and use of artificial intelligence.
Mesirov’s work is regarded as groundbreaking, having produced open-access platforms such as GenePattern, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis with its Molecular Signature Database, and the Integrative Genomics Viewer, which allow researchers worldwide to analyze and visualize complex and massive genomic datasets without needing advanced programming skills. It is estimated that more than 1 million users in 100 countries employ her software in cancer research.
She previously served as the associate vice chancellor for computational health sciences at UC San Diego and co-lead of the Structural and Functional Genomics Program at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.
La Jolla Shores Heights holds July 4 celebration
About 80 families and friends gathered on Nottingham Place in La Jolla Shores Heights on the Fourth of July for a neighborhood celebration.
Activities included a bike and trike parade, residents dressed in historical costumes, a visit from San Diego Fire-Rescue firefighters, a potluck lunch and games.
Young residents of Nottingham Place in La Jolla Shores Heights gathered with local firefighters on July 4 during a neighborhood celebration. (Catherine Ivey Lee)
UC San Diego professor, innovator receives 2026 Kyoto Prize
Last month, marine microbiologist and UC San Diego distinguished professor emeritus Farooq Azam was selected as the 2026 Kyoto Prize laureate in Basic Sciences.
The Kyoto Prize is presented by the Inamori Foundation and represents Japan’s highest private award for global achievement. Azam is the second UCSD faculty member to receive the prize, with the first being famed oceanographer Walter Munk.
Azam’s accomplishments include proposing the concept of microbial loops — that dissolved organic carbon is recycled by bacteria and protists — in 1983. He also served as the co-principal investigator of the Scripps-Ocean-Atmosphere Research Simulator.
He will be honored during the 41st annual Kyoto Prize ceremony on Nov. 10 in Kyoto, Japan. Azam also will receive a diploma, monetary award of $600,000 and a 20-karat gold medal. The 26th annual Kyoto Prize Symposium will follow at UCSD in March 2027.
Orchids & Onions nominations now open
Nominations are now open for the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s 2026 Orchids & Onions Awards, which seeks to recognize the best (Orchid) and worst (Onion) in local architecture and urban design. Nominations close at midnight July 31.
The UC San Diego Brian & Nancy Malk Sunset Overlook off La Jolla Shores Drive is now open with a viewing deck, benches and more. (Erik Jepsen / UC San Diego)
Although nominations are still open, several La Jolla projects have already made the list, including the restoration of the Coast Walk Trail bridge, the Viterbi Family Vision Research Center on the UC San Diego campus, the UC San Diego Brian and Nancy Malk Sunset Overlook in La Jolla Shores, Dora Ristorante on the UC San Diego campus, Lucien restaurant in The Village, and more.
The awards will be presented in October.
Learn more about Orchids & Onions or nominate a project at: sdarchitecture.org/programs/orchids-onions
UCSD professor awarded $5.6M to develop disease/overdose AI model
Natasha Martin, professor and vice chief of Global Public Health in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the La Jolla-based UC San Diego School of Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $5.6 million Avant-Garde Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The grant is considered one of the most prestigious and competitive NIH research awards, and is given to only one to three researchers each year and is intended to support innovative ideas that could open new areas of scientific inquiry.
The funding will support the development of innovative artificial intelligence tools designed to improve public health responses to HIV, hepatitis C virus and overdose among people who use drugs across the United States.
Martin’s project aims to create realistic, community-informed “digital twins” — AI-powered simulations that reflect the intervention preferences and decision-making patterns of people who use drugs. Using data from multiple cohorts and a community-based participatory approach, the research team will train large language models to generate digital twins that can represent people in different regions and circumstances across the country.
The digital twins will then be integrated into sophisticated models that simulate HIV and HCV transmission, overdose and related health outcomes. Researchers will use these models to test different prevention and treatment strategies before they are implemented in the real world, helping public health leaders identify approaches that deliver the greatest benefit at the lowest cost for their communities.
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