Tara Sigdel – STAR Fellow

Dr. Tara Sigdel’s research is driven by two major factors. First, there is an unprecedented pressure to deliver new and improved diagnostic and treatment options to patients. Second, due to improved understanding of biological intricacies with ever improving molecular assays have placed us in a much better position to look for disease specific biomarkers that once validated can be used in the clinics in order to provide timely and accurate assessment of health status of patients.

Currently, Dr. Sigdel is serving as an Asst. Professor at University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Some of his research foci include non-invasive diagnostic Biomarkers Organ transplantation, kidney transplantation, kidney transplant tolerance, and kidney disease. His research objective is personalized/precision medicine in organ transplantation. Some of his patents are listed on the website of United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO): https://patents.justia.com/inventor/tara-sigdel. Dr. Sigdel has a PhD from Miami University of OHIO in Biochemistry before doing a postdoctoral research as a research scientist at Stanford University. He has published 78 research related articles in internationally ranked peer reviewed journals https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=sigdel+T.

Outside of his research focus, he has a deep positive impact in society. Some of his projects he had lead include

  • CHAUTARI – a movement that has started in the US (currently in San Francisco, CA). Community Harmony and Unity through all round interactions
  • PeeR Assisted Educational Enrichment and Mutual Mentoring (PREM) project through Health Foundation Nepal: I am working on PeeR Assisted Educational Enrichment and Mutual Mentoring (PREM) project as one of the coordinators to communicate and provide peer support to individual students of marginalized communities in Nepal. The goal is to enrich student learning and experience with peer support. This would also provide an opportunity for children to exchange information with peers who live in different parts of world, share experience and learn from each other.