Aartik Sarma, MD

Assistant Adjunct Professor

I am an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and Affiliate Faculty in the UCSF/UC Berkeley Joint Program in Computational Precision Health.

My research is motivated by two key questions I frequently encounter in my clinical practice as an intensive care physician and pulmonologist: 1) Why do patients with same disease have such different responses to the same treatments?; and 2) Why are so many promising preclinical treatments ineffective in large clinical trials?

To address these questions, I am building a research program to study critical illness syndromes using a variety of multi-omic and computational tools. My research spans a wide range of scientific domains from characterizing molecular features of preclinical disease models to predicting individualized treatment effects in ICU clinical trials and identifying algorithmic biases in large observational data sets.

I am supported by a K23 Career Development Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and received an Emerging Generation Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation. I serve as co-chair for the American Thoracic Society's Workshop on research standards for respiratory tract sampling and contribute as a site investigator for multiple clinical studies. I am a strong proponent of interdisciplinary team science to advance human health, and work with researchers across disciplines from cell biology to labor economics - if you have ideas for potential collaboration, please send me a message!

Education
MAS, 2023 - Clinical and Epidemiologic Research, UCSF
Fellowship, 2020 - Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine, UCSF
Residency, 2017 - Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital
MD, 2014 - , Harvard Medical School
ScB, 2008 - Public Policy, Biomedical Engineering, Brown University
Honors and Awards
  • Emerging Generation Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2023
Websites
Publications

  1. Spottiswoode N, Tsitsiklis A, Chu VT, Phan HV, DeVoe C, Love C, Ghale R, Bloomstein J, Zha BS, Maguire CP, Glascock A, Sarma A, Mourani PM, Kalantar KL, Detweiler A, Neff N, Haller SC, COMET Consortium, DeRisi JL, Erle DJ, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Krummel MF, Matthay MA, Woodruff PG, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Microbial dynamics and pulmonary immune responses in COVID-19 secondary bacterial pneumonia. Nature communications 2024. PMID: 39472555


  2. Neyton LPA, Patel RK, Sarma A, UCSF COMET Consortium, Willmore A, Haller SC, Kangelaris KN, Eckalbar WL, Erle DJ, Krummel MF, Hendrickson CM, Woodruff PG, Langelier CR, Calfee CS, Fragiadakis GK. Distinct pulmonary and systemic effects of dexamethasone in severe COVID-19. Nature communications 2024. PMID: 38942804


  3. Taenaka H, Wick KD, Sarma A, Matsumoto S, Ghale R, Fang X, Maishan M, Gotts JE, Langelier CR, Calfee CS, Matthay MA. Biological effects of corticosteroids on pneumococcal pneumonia in Mice-translational significance. Critical care (London, England) 2024. PMID: 38807178


  4. Valda Toro PL, Willmore A, Wu NE, Delucchi KL, Jauregui A, Sinha P, Liu KD, Hendrickson CM, Sarma A, Neyton LPA, Leligdowicz A, Langelier CR, Zhuo H, Jones C, Kangelaris KN, Gomez AD, Matthay MA, Calfee CS. Rapidly improving ARDS differs clinically and biologically from persistent ARDS. Critical care (London, England) 2024. PMID: 38649920


  5. Neyton LPA, Sinha P, Sarma A, Mick E, Kalantar K, Chen S, Wu N, Delucchi K, Zhuo H, Bos LDJ, Jauregui A, Gomez A, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Leligdowicz A, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Langelier CR, Calfee CS. Host and Microbe Blood Metagenomics Reveals Key Pathways Characterizing Critical Illness Phenotypes. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2024. PMID: 38190719


  6. Sinha P, Neyton L, Sarma A, Wu N, Jones C, Zhuo H, Liu KD, Sanchez Guerrero E, Ghale R, Love C, Mick E, Delucchi KL, Langelier CR, Thompson BT, Matthay MA, Calfee CS, NHLBI PETAL Network. Molecular Phenotypes of ARDS in the ROSE Trial have Differential Outcomes and Gene Expression Patterns That Differ at Baseline and Longitudinally Over Time. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2024. PMID: 38345571


  7. Bain W, Bastarache JA, Sarma A, McElvaney NG, Baron RM, McVerry BJ, Kitsios GD. Research Bronchoscopy Standards and the Need for Non-Invasive Sampling of the Failing Lungs. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2023. PMID: 37776282


  8. Hackney JA, Shivram H, Vander Heiden J, Overall C, Orozco L, Gao X, Kim E, West N, Qamra A, Chang D, Chakrabarti A, Choy DF, Combes AJ, Courau T, Fragiadakis GK, Rao AA, Ray A, Tsui J, Hu K, Kuhn NF, Krummel MF, Erle DJ, Kangelaris K, Sarma A, Lyon Z, Calfee CS, Woodruff PG, Ghale R, Mick E, Byrne A, Zha BS, Langelier C, Hendrickson CM, van der Wijst MGP, Hartoularos GC, Grant T, Bueno R, Lee DS, Greenland JR, Sun Y, Perez R, Ogorodnikov A, Ward A, Ye CJ, UCSF COMET Consortium, Ramalingam T, McBride JM, Cai F, Teterina A, Bao M, Tsai L, Rosas IO, Regev A, Kapadia SB, Bauer RN, Rosenberger CM. A myeloid program associated with COVID-19 severity is decreased by therapeutic blockade of IL-6 signaling. iScience 2023. PMID: 37810211


  9. Sinha P, Kerchberger VE, Willmore A, Chambers J, Zhuo H, Abbott J, Jones C, Wickersham N, Wu N, Neyton L, Langelier CR, Mick E, He J, Jauregui A, Churpek MM, Gomez AD, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Sarma A, Leligdowicz A, Delucchi KL, Liu KD, Russell JA, Matthay MA, Walley KR, Ware LB, Calfee CS. Identifying molecular phenotypes in sepsis: an analysis of two prospective observational cohorts and secondary analysis of two randomised controlled trials. The Lancet. Respiratory medicine 2023. PMID: 37633303


  10. Fragiadakis G, Neyton L, Patel R, Sarma A, Consortium UC, Willmore A, Haller SC, Kangelaris K, Eckalbar W, Erle D, Krummel M, Hendrickson C, Woodruff P, Langelier C, Calfee C. Distinct pulmonary and systemic effects of dexamethasone in severe COVID-19. Research square 2023. PMID: 37577607


  11. Maishan M, Sarma A, Chun LF, Caldera S, Fang X, Abbott J, Christenson SA, Langelier CR, Calfee CS, Gotts JE, Matthay MA. Aerosolized nicotine from e-cigarettes alters gene expression, increases lung protein permeability, and impairs viral clearance in murine influenza infection. Frontiers in immunology 2023. PMID: 36999019


  12. Calabrese DR, Tsao T, Magnen M, Valet C, Gao Y, Mallavia B, Tian JJ, Aminian EA, Wang KM, Shemesh A, Punzalan EB, Sarma A, Calfee CS, Christenson SA, Langelier CR, Hays SR, Golden JA, Leard LE, Kleinhenz ME, Kolaitis NA, Shah RJ, Venado A, Lanier LL, Greenland JR, Sayah DM, Ardehali A, Kukreja J, Weigt SS, Belperio JA, Singer JP, Looney MR. NKG2D receptor activation drives primary graft dysfunction severity and poor lung transplantation outcomes. JCI insight 2022. PMID: 36346670


  13. Kalantar KL, Neyton L, Abdelghany M, Mick E, Jauregui A, Caldera S, Serpa PH, Ghale R, Albright J, Sarma A, Tsitsiklis A, Leligdowicz A, Christenson SA, Liu K, Kangelaris KN, Hendrickson C, Sinha P, Gomez A, Neff N, Pisco A, Doernberg SB, Derisi JL, Matthay MA, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Integrated host-microbe plasma metagenomics for sepsis diagnosis in a prospective cohort of critically ill adults. Nature microbiology 2022. PMID: 36266337


  14. Wick KD, Fang X, Maishan M, Matsumoto S, Spottiswoode N, Sarma A, Simoneau C, Khakoo M, Langelier C, Calfee CS, Gotts JE, Matthay MA. Impact of E-Cigarette Aerosol on Primary Human Alveolar Epithelial Type 2 Cells. 2022. PMID: 35670478


  15. Aartik Sarma, Stephanie A. Christenson, Beth Shoshana Zha, Angela Oliveira Pisco, Lucile P.A. Neyton, Eran Mick, Pratik Sinha, Jennifer G. Wilson, Farzad Moazed, Aleksandra Leligdowicz, Manoj V. Maddali, Emily R. Siegel, Zoe Lyon, Hanjing Zhou, Alejandra Jauregui, Rajani Ghale, Saharai Caldera, Paula Hayakawa Serpa, Thomas Deiss, Christina Love, Ashley Byrne, Katrina L. Kalantar, Joseph L. DeRisi, David J. Erle, Matthew F. Krummel, Kirsten N. Kangelaris, Carolyn M. Hendrickson, Prescott G. Woodruff, Michael A. Matthay, COMET Consortium, Charles R. Langelier, Carolyn S. Calfee. Hyperinflammatory ARDS is characterized by interferon-stimulated gene expression, T-cell activation, and an altered metatranscriptome in tracheal aspirates medRxiv 2022. PMID:


  16. Maddali MV, Churpek M, Pham T, Rezoagli E, Zhuo H, Zhao W, He J, Delucchi KL, Wang C, Wickersham N, McNeil JB, Jauregui A, Ke S, Vessel K, Gomez A, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Sarma A, Leligdowicz A, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Ware LB, Laffey JG, Bellani G, Calfee CS, Sinha P, LUNG SAFE Investigators and the ESICM Trials Group. Validation and utility of ARDS subphenotypes identified by machine-learning models using clinical data: an observational, multicohort, retrospective analysis. 2022. PMID: 35026177


  17. Tsitsiklis A, Zha BS, Byrne A, Devoe C, Levan S, Rackaityte E, Sunshine S, Mick E, Ghale R, Jauregui A, Sarma A, Neff N, Serpa PH, Deiss TJ, Kistler A, Carrillo S, Ansel KM, Leligdowicz A, Christenson S, Jones N, Wu B, Darmanis S, Matthay MA, Lynch SV, DeRisi JL, COMET Consortium+ , Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Krummel MF, Woodruff PG, Erle DJ, Rosenberg O, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Impaired antibacterial immune signaling and changes in the lung microbiome precede secondary bacterial pneumonia in COVID-19. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2021. PMID: 33791731


  18. Sarma A, Christenson SA, Byrne A, Mick E, Pisco AO, DeVoe C, Deiss T, Ghale R, Zha BS, Tsitsiklis A, Jauregui A, Moazed F, Detweiler AM, Spottiswoode N, Sinha P, Neff N, Tan M, Serpa PH, Willmore A, Ansel KM, Wilson JG, Leligdowicz A, Siegel ER, Sirota M, DeRisi JL, Matthay MA, COMET Consortium , Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Krummel MF, Woodruff PG, Erle DJ, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Tracheal aspirate RNA sequencing identifies distinct immunological features of COVID-19 ARDS. Nature communications 2021. PMID: 34446707


  19. Sinha P, Delucchi KL, Chen Y, Zhuo H, Abbott J, Wang C, Wickersham N, McNeil JB, Jauregui A, Ke S, Vessel K, Gomez A, Hendrickson CM, Kangelaris KN, Sarma A, Leligdowicz A, Liu KD, Matthay MA, Ware LB, Calfee CS. Latent class analysis-derived subphenotypes are generalisable to observational cohorts of acute respiratory distress syndrome: a prospective study. Thorax 2021. PMID: 34253679


  20. Ditz B, Sarma A, Kerstjens HAM, Liesker JJW, Bathoorn E, Vonk JM, Bernal V, Horvatovich P, Guryev V, Caldera S, Langelier C, Faiz A, Christenson SA, van den Berge M. The sputum transcriptome better predicts COPD exacerbations after the withdrawal of inhaled corticosteroids than sputum eosinophils. ERJ open research 2021. PMID: 34235210


  21. Tsitsiklis A, Zha B, Byrne A, DeVoe C, Levan S, Rackaityte E, Sunshine S, Mick E, Ghale R, Jauregui A, Neff N, Sarma A, Serpa P, Deiss T, Kistler A, Carrillo S, Ansel KM, Leligdowicz A, Christenson S, Jones N, Wu B, Darmanis S, Matthay M, Lynch S, DeRisi J, Consortium C, Hendrickson C, Kangelaris K, Krummel M, Woodruff P, Erle D, Rosenberg O, Calfee C, Langelier C. Impaired immune signaling and changes in the lung microbiome precede secondary bacterial pneumonia in COVID-19. Research square 2021. PMID: 34013247


  22. Sarma A, Calfee CS. Prone Positioning in Awake, Nonintubated Patients With COVID-19: Necessity Is the Mother of Invention. JAMA internal medicine 2020. PMID: 32584940


  23. Sarma A, Calfee CS, Ware LB. Biomarkers and Precision Medicine: State of the Art. Critical care clinics 2019. PMID: 31733677


  24. Gubin TA, Iyer HP, Liew SN, Sarma A, Revelos A, Ribas J, Movassaghi B, Chu ZM, Khalid AN, Majmudar MD, Lee CX. A Systems Approach to Healthcare Innovation Using the MIT Hacking Medicine Model. Volume 5 of Issue 1. Cell systems 2017. PMID: 28750199


  25. Angione SL, Sarma AA, Novikov A, Seward L, Fieber JH, Mermel LA, Tripathi A. A novel subtyping assay for detection of Clostridium difficile virulence genes. Volume 16 of Issue 2. The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD 2014. PMID: 24434086


  26. Aartik Sarma, Sharon-Lise T Normand, Laura A Hatfield, Michael E Matheny, Frederic S Resnic. Abstract 344: Interoperator Variability and Physician Learning with Medical Devices: Experience with Three New Vascular Closure Devices. Circulation Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes 2013. PMID:


  27. Aartik Sarma, Sharon-Lise T. Normand, Laura A. Hatfield, Michael E. Matheny, Frederic S. Resnic. THE LEARNING CURVE FOR MEDICAL DEVICES: EXPERIENCE WITH VASCULAR CLOSURE DEVICES IN MASSACHUSETTS. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2013. PMID:


  28. Lu C, Liu Q, Sarma A, Fitzpatrick C, Falzon D, Mitnick CD. A systematic review of reported cost for smear and culture tests during multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment. Volume 8 of Issue 2. PloS one 2013. PMID: 23457502


  29. McCalla SE, Ong C, Sarma A, Opal SM, Artenstein AW, Tripathi A. A simple method for amplifying RNA targets (SMART). Volume 14 of Issue 4. The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD 2012. PMID: 22691910


  30. Ong C, Tai W, Sarma A, Opal SM, Artenstein AW, Tripathi A. Ligation with nucleic acid sequence-based amplification. Volume 14 of Issue 3. The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD 2012. PMID: 22449695


  31. Mou D, Sarma A, Sethi R, Merryman R. The state of health policy education in U.S. medical schools. Volume 364 of Issue 10. The New England journal of medicine 2011. PMID: 21345091


  32. Kerby MB, Sarma AA, Patel MS, Artenstein AW, Opal SM, Tripathi A. Early in vitro transcription termination in human H5 influenza viral RNA synthesis. Volume 164 of Issue 4. Applied biochemistry and biotechnology 2011. PMID: 21207185