Alan Baik, MD
Assistant Professor
I am a cardiologist with an expertise in cardio-oncology. Cardio-oncology is an emerging field in cardiovascular medicine that is focused on the cardiovascular care of cancer patients and survivors who have developed cardiovascular disease from their cancer-directed therapies. These therapies include traditional chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and radiation therapy, among others. Cancer patients are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and this can be further exacerbated by their cancer-directed therapies, which can cause a myriad of cardiovascular problems, such as cardiomyopathy, heart failure, arrhythmias, hypertension, pericardial disease, valvular disease, and metabolic syndrome. I work closely with oncologists and other providers in a multidisciplinary team to optimize the cardiovascular care of cancer patients.
As the Director of the UCSF Pericardial Disease Center, I specialize in inflammatory heart disease, with a particular focus on pericarditis and pericardial syndromes. My clinical and translational research integrates cardio-immunology, advanced cardiovascular imaging, and biomarker discovery to better define inflammatory disease mechanisms and develop more precise therapeutic approaches for patients with complex pericardial disorders.
I am also a physician-scientist whose research focuses on how cells and tissues adapt to alterations in oxygen availability and metabolic stress, particularly in the setting of cardiometabolic disease. My independent laboratory at the CVRI studies the cellular and systemic responses to chronic hypoxia, including mechanisms of lipid metabolism, inflammation, and tissue remodeling, with the goal of identifying adaptive and maladaptive pathways that contribute to cardiovascular disease.
As the Director of the UCSF Pericardial Disease Center, I specialize in inflammatory heart disease, with a particular focus on pericarditis and pericardial syndromes. My clinical and translational research integrates cardio-immunology, advanced cardiovascular imaging, and biomarker discovery to better define inflammatory disease mechanisms and develop more precise therapeutic approaches for patients with complex pericardial disorders.
I am also a physician-scientist whose research focuses on how cells and tissues adapt to alterations in oxygen availability and metabolic stress, particularly in the setting of cardiometabolic disease. My independent laboratory at the CVRI studies the cellular and systemic responses to chronic hypoxia, including mechanisms of lipid metabolism, inflammation, and tissue remodeling, with the goal of identifying adaptive and maladaptive pathways that contribute to cardiovascular disease.