Aartik Sarma, MD

Assistant Adjunct Professor

Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine

I am a physician-scientist at UCSF and affiliate faculty in the UCSF/UC Berkeley Joint Program in Computational Precision Health. My NHLBI-funded research focuses on applying computational methods to understand the biology of critical illness and develop precision treatments for the patients I take care of in the medical and neurological ICUs at UCSF Parnassus.

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. 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 and Humans. Research square 2024. PMID: 38464245


  2. 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


  3. 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


  4. 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


  5. 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


  6. 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


  7. 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


  8. 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


  9. 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


  10. 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. TO REMOVE 2022. PMID: 35670478


  11. 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:


  12. 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. TO REMOVE 2022. PMID: 35026177


  13. 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


  14. 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


  15. 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


  16. 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


  17. 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


  18. 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


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


  20. 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


  21. 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


  22. 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:


  23. 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:


  24. 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


  25. 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


  26. 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


  27. 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


  28. 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