Fellow Spotlight: James Salazar, MD

James Salazar, MD, MAS, earned bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and computational biology in his hometown at the University of Texas at Austin, then completed his medical degree, master’s degree in clinical research, and internal medicine residency at UCSF.

During residency, he received a National Institutes of Health-funded research fellowship to work with UCSF cardiologist Zian Tseng, MD, MAS. Dr. Salazar helped discover more about patients who experience sudden arrhythmic death. He developed a model to distinguish patients who actually die of an arrhythmia and might have benefitted from receiving a defibrillator from those who die suddenly from non-cardiac causes, such as stroke. “Zian and his unique autopsy study has shown me the importance of thinking outside of the box in clinical research,” he said.

He also served as an editorial fellow with JAMA Internal Medicine, working with editor-in-chief Rita Redberg, MD, MSc, a UCSF cardiologist, to review manuscripts and develop editorial content. Dr. Salazar led a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine finding that Black and Latinx editors were underrepresented among leading scientific and medical journals. “Diverse representation is essential to the pursuit of equity, excellence and innovation,” he said.

Dr. Salazar is interested in exploring procedural subspecialties such as electrophysiology and interventional cardiology, and looks forward to a career combining clinical care, research and educating trainees. His hobbies include tennis, soccer and reading the New Yorker.