Aylin Ulku, MD, PhD

HS Clinical Professor

Aylin Ulku joined the faculty at UCSF in July 2012 as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine. After completing her Combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, she continued as Chief Resident in the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency at Waterbury/Yale-New Haven Hospitals. In 2010, she began work in Kigali, Rwanda, as an Assistant Clinical Professor for Yale School of Medicine, to assist in medical education capacity building within the National University of Rwanda (NUR) School of Medicine. Her work included direct teaching and clinical care supervising Rwandese medical students and residents in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics as well as collaboration with NUR and the Rwanda Ministry of Health in revising undergraduate and graduate curricula and training programs. Her clinical and research interests focus on global health education and training in non-communicable diseases in limited-resource settings.

Education:
- Princeton University, Chemistry (BA)
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (MD-PhD - pharmacology)
- Yale-New Haven Hospital (intership, residency, chief resident)

Board Certifications:
- Internal Medicine (2010)
- Pediatrics (2010)

Education
2018 - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training, University of California
06/2009 - Combined Medicine-Pediatric Residency, Yalen New Haven Hospital
MD PhD, 06/2005 - MD, PhD in Pharmacology, UNC Chapel Hill
Honors and Awards
  • Hugh Dwyer Award for Clincal Excellence, Yale-New Haven Hospital, 2010
Publications

  1. Campbell PM, Singh A, Williams FJ, Frantz K, Ulkü AS, Kelley GG, Der CJ. Genetic and pharmacologic dissection of Ras effector utilization in oncogenesis. Methods in enzymology 2006. PMID: 16757325


  2. Pruitt K, Ulkü AS, Frantz K, Rojas RJ, Muniz-Medina VM, Rangnekar VM, Der CJ, Shields JM. Ras-mediated loss of the pro-apoptotic response protein Par-4 is mediated by DNA hypermethylation through Raf-independent and Raf-dependent signaling cascades in epithelial cells. The Journal of biological chemistry 2005. PMID: 15831492


  3. Collette J, Ulku AS, Der CJ, Jones A, Erickson AH. Enhanced cathepsin L expression is mediated by different Ras effector pathways in fibroblasts and epithelial cells. International journal of cancer 2004. PMID: 15352030


  4. Eckert LB, Repasky GA, Ulkü AS, McFall A, Zhou H, Sartor CI, Der CJ. Involvement of Ras activation in human breast cancer cell signaling, invasion, and anoikis. Cancer research 2004. PMID: 15231670


  5. Ulkü AS, Schäfer R, Der CJ. Essential role of Raf in Ras transformation and deregulation of matrix metalloproteinase expression in ovarian epithelial cells. Molecular cancer research : MCR 2003. PMID: 14707291


  6. Vos MD, Ellis CA, Elam C, Ulku AS, Taylor BJ, Clark GJ. RASSF2 is a novel K-Ras-specific effector and potential tumor suppressor. The Journal of biological chemistry 2003. PMID: 12732644


  7. Ulkü AS, Der CJ. Ras signaling, deregulation of gene expression and oncogenesis. Cancer treatment and research 2003. PMID: 12613198


  8. Fiordalisi JJ, Johnson RL, Ulkü AS, Der CJ, Cox AD. Mammalian expression vectors for Ras family proteins: generation and use of expression constructs to analyze Ras family function. Methods in enzymology 2001. PMID: 11305105