MD-PhD physician-scientist focused on translating biomedical research into clinical impact.
MD Candidate | Physician-Scientist
Bridging translational research and clinical medicine to advance patient care.
10+ years in biomedical research with a focus on immunology, molecular systems, and clinical translation.
10+ years in biomedical research
4 peer-reviewed articles
113 citations
Training and research environments
Mission
Translational research with direct clinical relevance.
Current focus
General physician-scientist development with flexible specialty direction.
Open to residency programs, research collaborators, and academic mentors who value translational medicine.
Research Focus
Each focus area is tied to the same standard: the work should help explain disease more clearly and move biomedical insight closer to better patient care.
Positioning
General physician-scientist profile with a research identity rooted in immunology, translational systems, and clinical relevance.
Bridging mechanistic discovery in the lab to questions that can improve diagnosis, therapy, and patient outcomes.
The strongest biomedical research earns its value when it changes what clinicians can measure, explain, or offer at the bedside.
Studying immune signaling, microRNA regulation, and cellular decision-making across complex disease states.
Understanding how cells switch between activation, tolerance, and dysfunction helps reveal where intervention can be most effective.
Using medical training to keep research aligned with real patients, real systems, and real unmet needs.
Clinical context sharpens scientific judgment and makes translational work more honest, relevant, and actionable.
Building platform thinking through diagnostics, biomaterials, organoids, and systems-based approaches to disease.
Future-facing medicine will depend on tools that connect biological complexity to faster, smarter decisions in care and research.
Current Work
My present work is about connecting clinical training, translational judgment, and long-term academic direction so each next step strengthens the full physician-scientist platform.
Current priority
Building bedside perspective through medical education while staying focused on the long-term role of physician-scientist leadership.
Current priority
Remaining flexible on specialty choice while seeking environments with strong research infrastructure, mentorship, and academic collaboration.
Current priority
Carrying forward prior work in immunology, molecular systems, and translational platforms toward future clinically meaningful investigations.
Selected Publications
Representative publications in translational immunology, molecular signaling, and platform-oriented biomedical research.
Demonstrated that immune-instructive biomaterials can capture bacterial signals in vivo and generate protection against sepsis, highlighting a path from materials engineering to clinically relevant infection control.
Ureña F, et al. · Nature Biomedical Engineering · 10.1038/s41551-021-00756-3
Showed that activation-driven loss of miR-15a/16 releases the MEK1-ERK-Elk1 pathway and expands T-cell proliferative capacity, clarifying a tractable lever in immune regulation.
Ureña F, et al. · Journal of Biological Chemistry · 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101639
Defined selenoprotein I as a regulator of T-cell fate, linking metabolic control to tolerant versus inflammatory immune phenotypes in ways that matter for immune-mediated disease.
Ureña F, et al. · Journal of Leukocyte Biology · 10.1002/JLB.1A0122-080R
Built a rapid molecular diagnostic assay for field detection, reflecting a broader interest in translational platforms that shorten the distance between measurement and action.
Ureña F, et al. · Scientific Reports · 10.1038/s41598-022-22023-4
Experience
This is not just a record of roles. It is the sequence that built a durable physician-scientist identity across pathology, preclinical systems, doctoral research, postdoctoral work, and medicine.
2023 - Present
Grenada and U.S. clinical rotations
Clinical training that keeps future research grounded in real patient questions, real workflows, and real outcome gaps.
Postdoctoral training
2022 - 2023
Boston, MA
Extended translational training into cancer biology, organoid systems, and the immune microenvironment in human disease models.
Doctoral research
2019 - 2023
Honolulu, HI
Built a mechanistic immunology program around microRNA control of T-cell proliferation and signaling.
2019
Pullman, WA
Supported gene-editing workflows that turned experimental questions into tractable biological models.
Approach to Medicine and Research
I view medicine as a system that extends beyond individual patient encounters - one that requires integration of research, data, and clinical insight.
My goal is to contribute as a physician-scientist who not only treats disease but helps redefine how we understand and approach it.
Contact
Whether you are reaching out about residency fit, translational research, mentorship, or academic collaboration, this site is built to make the next conversation easy.
Preferred contact
Please use the contact form for all inquiries, including residency outreach, research collaboration, mentorship, and academic opportunities.
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