Alex Pérez, MD, PhD Named 2026-2028 Severinghaus Assistant Professor

We are pleased to announce that the department has recognized Alex Pérez, MD, PhD, with the title of Severinghaus Assistant Professor for academic years 2026-2028. Named for the late John Severinghaus, MD, this title honors Assistant Professors in the department whose research shows exciting promise and relevance to problems in human medicine.

Our newest Severinghaus Assistant Professor, Dr. Alex Pérez, joined the department as a Research Track (now AIRR) resident in 2019. During his residency, he developed a novel software that adjusts for off-target effects of CRISPR Guide RNAs as well as developed a method to use individual-specific CRISPR Guide RNAs to deplete a patient’s cancer. He became faculty in 2024 and continues his research as a member of the department’s Pathway to Scientific Independence (PSI). Supported by an NIH career development award (K08), his research focuses on understanding and manipulating genomic instability to advance and develop genetic based clinical therapies in cancer and critical illness.

John Severinghaus, Pioneer of Anesthesia and Medicine

As one of our first recruits and longest standing faculty members, Dr. John W. Severinghaus had an enormous impact on the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care. Originally a physicist, the man his friend Ted Eger called a “master tinkerer” was behind some of the most significant advances in anesthesiology and medicine, including the invention of the first 3-function blood gas analysis machine, a system for mass spectrometry in the OR, and critical discoveries about the mysteries of acclimatization. His lab was a virtual petri dish for leading researchers and important research, where Robert Mitchell and Hans Loeschke made their discovery of the medullary area that regulates blood PCO2, keeping spinal fluid pH constant, and where, at Dr. Severinghaus’ behest, Ted Eger developed the concept for minimum alveolar concentration, or “MAC.”

Recipients:
•    Mark Schumacher: 1996-1999
•    Pamela Pierce Palmer: 1999-2001
•    Dhanesh Gupta: 2001-2002
•    Claus Niemann: 2002-2003
•    Helge Eilers: 2003-2004
•    Jae Woo Lee: 2005-2006
•    Benjamin Houseman: 2008-2009
•    Zhonghui Guan: 2014-2015
•    Jonathan Pan: 2014-2015
•    Angela Lipshutz: 2015-2016
•    Philip Kurien: 2016-2017
•    Wei Zhou: 2016-2017
•    Catherine Chen: 2018-2020
•    Elizabeth Whitlock: 2018-2020
•    Gregory Chinn: 2021-2023
•    Odmara Barreto Chang: 2022-2024
•    Danielle Williamson: 2025-2027
•    Alex Pérez: 2026-2028