Alumni Awards

Alumni Awardee Mini Profiles

Humanitarian Award

Sophia Fang, M.D.

Sophia Fang is a board-certified ophthalmologist at Child Eye Care Associates, serving the greater Portland, Oregon area. She specializes in caring for children with vision-threatening conditions such as amblyopia, cataracts, and glaucoma, as well as children and adults with strabismus. Fang studied biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California, where she spent six years working on innovative medical technologies, including microsurgical instrumentation, the Argus II retinal prosthesis, and stem cell engineering. Fang earned her master’s and medical degrees from UC Davis, where she also completed her ophthalmology residency. She completed two fellowships at the Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah: pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus and global ophthalmology outreach. Fang has cared for patients in underserved areas in the U.S., including the Navajo Nation, and around the world, including Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, Trinidad, Peru, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and the Federated States of Micronesia. She has been deeply committed to building sustainable programs in these settings through teaching, mentoring and advocacy that empowers local communities with the long-term ability to provide effective eye care on their own.

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Peter Igarashi, M.D.

Peter Igarashi is a Professor of Medicine and the Knapp Dean of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University on Long Island, New York. Igarashi studied biomedical sciences at UC Riverside and earned his M.D. from the UCLA School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at UC Davis, followed by a nephrology fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine where he began his career in academic medicine. As an internationally recognized nephrologist and active NIH-funded physician-scientist with research interests in polycystic kidney disease, Igarashi has received more than $25 million in NIH grant support. He has published more than 130 articles and chapters and served on numerous editorial and scientific advisory boards. In addition to being elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, Igarashi is the recipient of an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, an NIH MERIT Award, and the Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize for Advancement in the Understanding of Polycystic Kidney Disease. As Knapp Dean, Igarashi has expanded biomedical research at Stony Brook and improved care to patients and communities on Long Island.

Transformational Leadership Award

Saul Levin, M.D.

Saul Levin was born in South Africa and educated at University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa’s School of Medicine. He began an internship at South Rand Hospital, but left South Africa due to the apartheid. He completed his internship at UC Davis, followed by a residency at UC Davis Medical Center. As a medical student, he started the first hospice in South Africa, and later was part of the team that started the UC Davis Medical Center Hospice. Levin received his Master’s of Public Administration from Harvard University and served as CEO and Medical Director of Medical Education for South African Blacks, a non-profit organization which helped fund scholarships for more than 20,000 students to enter health care professions in South Africa. He also served as the CEO and Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association. During his tenure there he spearheaded many key initiatives, including helping the association create a mental health registry to foster data collection to further research and clinical care advancements. He retired earlier this year and serves as the Secretary General of the World Psychiatric Association, representing over 126 psychiatric associations worldwide.