Welcome Belinda Tang and Aditya Jalihal!

Please join us in welcoming Belinda Tang (Clinical Research Coordinator) and Aditya Jalihal (Research Program Assistant) to the UCSF Division of Geriatrics!

Belinda started this Monday and will be supporting Drs. Anna Chodos and Natalie Young on their research projects.  Belinda graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Minors in Gerontology and Nutrition & Health Sciences.  Prior to her new role as CRC at UCSF, Belinda worked at the Silicon Valley Adult Day Health Care Center as an Activity Coordinator, where she worked with a team of healthcare professionals such as RNs, PTs, nutritionists, and social workers to care for the wellbeing of 150 low-income seniors.  She also led a team of six program aides to provide physically enriching and mentally stimulating activities for seniors with various mental and physical limitations.  While in college, Belinda worked at the Healthy Aging Lab as a Lab Manager and Undergraduate Research Assistant, where she managed a team of eleven undergraduate research assistants with two other lab managers and gained much experience recruiting subjects and administering baseline & daily surveys.  Not so new to UCSF, Belinda was a Summer Intern for the UCSF Department of Rheumatology several years ago working closely with Dr. Jonathan Graf to develop a personal summer project examining the predictors of functional status in rheumatoid arthritis patients taking anti-Tumor necrosis factor therapy.  Belinda also has “bench science” experience (I like this one a lot personally 😊) when she worked as a Head Research Assistant for the Rat Training Team at the Affect and Cognition Lab – where she trained rats in cognitive flexibility tasks and assisted in brain surgeries.  I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help myself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBkT19uH2RQ.  But seriously, we are absolutely thrilled that Belinda has decided to join our team to support the very important work that her PIs are leading, including Dr. Chodos’ Hellman Project - Ethical Dilemmas in the Care of Unrepresented Adults in the Safety Net and Dr. Young’s Mt. Zion Project - Novel Housecalls Curriculum for Primary Care Internal Medicine Residents (just to name two).  Last but not least, Belinda hopes to become a geriatrician in the future, so what a great way to leap closer to that goal by joining our amazing Division and team!!  Welcome Belinda!

Aditya also started this morning and will be supporting the also very important (and groundbreaking) work on the Amend team to radically transform the culture in U.S. corrections so that health and wellbeing, dignity, humanity, and rehabilitation define the experiences of those living and working in American jails and prisons.  Aditya has a Major in Economics and Minor in Government and Public Policy from the University of Arizona.  He also has an Associate of Arts Degree in Humanities from Diablo Valley College.  He is passionate about improving the criminal justice system and hopes to be a part of this positive change through continued research and advocacy by joining the Amend team.  Prior to joining UCSF, Aditya was a Law Clerk at the Law Offices of Maria Belyi where he provided legal and administrative aid through writing motions and court communications, serving as a liaison for the offices in court settings, and establishing best practices.  There, he also created and managed business development goals and identity through marketing performance analysis.  Before his Law Clerk role, Aditya served as the Director of Partnerships at The Lens, a role that required him to oversee, create, produce, and curate digital media for short form documentaries centered on human rights and socio-political content.  With the expansion of Amend, our “new normal” working remotely and the greater demand for digital contents, Aditya’s skillset and experience is exactly what we need!  He is also knowledgeable in SQL, HTML, R, and Python languages and a capable administrator of cross-social media platform engagements.  Last but not least, Aditya was (is?) a Swim Coach for the YMCA responsible for coaching 5 different age groups from 5 years old to adult-level swimmers.  He manages Dry Land and Swim workouts to develop competitive, determined young athletes.  I won’t try and make that relevant to Amend (maybe Cyrus can), but that’s just really cool!  😊

We are so excited for Aditya to join our ever growing team!  He is in great company and we can’t wait for both Aditya and Belinda to be fully-onboarded.  They attended our Division Staff Onboarding/Orientation this morning (hosted by Karen Yuan) and already have their UCSF emails ([email protected] & [email protected]).  Feel free to reach out and welcome them privately!  Go team!