Caitlin Calhoun Named 2025 UCSF-Genentech Clinical Development Fellow

Caitlin Calhoun, PharmD, a pharmacist and scientist with experience in basic science and clinical research, has been named the 2025 UCSF-Genentech Clinical Development Fellow.

Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Caitlin Calhoun, PharmD

A staff scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Calhoun has worked on pre-clinical studies for rare diseases such as Hurler syndrome and biomaker discovery for oncology studies involving graft-versus-host disease and chimeric antigen receptor T cells, striving to help optimize and develop new cellular therapies.

Pharmacists breaking into cell and gene therapy

“With rare diseases, there's such a need and it's so novel. I like putting things together, finding those gaps and trying to find solutions,” Calhoun said. “I want to understand the next steps we need to make better treatments happen for patient populations who currently do not really have adequate treatment.”

Managed jointly by the UCSF School of Pharmacy and Genentech, the two-year UCSF-Genentech Clinical Development Fellowship Program provides an immersive, mentored experience that combines academic clinical investigation with pharmaceutical industry training for PharmDs in their early postdoctoral years.

The program aims to better prepare pharmacists to properly conduct clinical trials, perform safety surveillance and risk management, develop research methodologies, and manage scientific and ethical issues in research and drug development.

Bridging the communications gap between scientists and clinicians

Calhoun, who earned her PharmD degree in 2022 from Chapman University, will join the program in July. Fellows split their time each week with UCSF and Genentech, participating in clinical research and patient care at the university while gaining experience in clinical development through Genentech.

This combination of clinical, research and industry components drew Calhoun to apply for the fellowship.

“I have some experience but I have so much more to learn,” she said. “I’m excited to enter a new world at UCSF and Genentech and see how these can meld together. I’m interested in what it looks like on the clinical development side, but I also really like that I’ll be able to also engage on the patient side. Putting patients first and understanding the human experience is especially important when thinking about new therapeutics.”

Upon completing the fellowship, she hopes to apply her skills as a pharmacist and scientist to improve communications and collaboration.

“I’ve seen a gap where scientists and clinicians may not always speak the same language because we are coming from different worlds.,” she said. “With experience in both areas, I hope to help bridge that gap to overcome some of the communication barriers. We all want the best for the people we care for.”

Ultimately, she seeks to uncover more effective treatments for patients of rare diseases or who have unmet needs. Pharmacists have a unique role to play in this area, she said.

“We are considered the medication experts, but we don't really have a huge presence in the  cell and gene therapy yet. How can pharmacists be of service in this field?” Calhoun said. “How do we safely bring these personalized yet complex treatments to patients in the future? I hope to be a part of a team that helps to bring novel therapeutics to patients with current unmet needs.”