Aleksandar Rajkovic, PhD, MD

Aleksandar Rajkovic, MD, PhD

Stuart Lindsay Distinguished Professor in Experimental Pathology, UCSF

Chief Genomics Officer, UCSF Health; Professor, Dept. of Pathology, Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, UCSF

Cancer Center Program Membership

Cancer Control

Phone: (415) 502-4961

Box 0794, UCSF
San Francisco, CA 94143-0794

Physician Biography

UCSF Profiles

Research Summary

My work focuses on implementing precision medicine tools across UCSF and evaluate its clinical significance and validity. UCSF envisions a future where we will be able to predict and prevent disease in everyone and where every person has access to comprehensive molecular screening that includes genomics and other measurements in order to precisely predict, prevent, and treat their specific health conditions, including susceptibility to pandemics such as COVID-19, childhood and adult diseases which include cancer, diabetes, heart and neurological diseases. It is our vision that preventive precision medicine that incorporates genomics, epigenomics, metabolomics and other advanced molecular tools can predict and prevent vast majority of human disease. To this end we are building computational, analytical, and other tools to implement our vision.

As a first step, we have launched the pilot Whole Genome Sequencing Program for all to evaluate its utility in clinical and research setting. By integrating data from the electronic health record, biological samples stored in our biobank, and other data sets for approximately 1,000 volunteers from the UCSF, we will immediately provide our patients with their predisposition to cancer and other actionable diseases as well as build analytics for continuous re-analysis to refine and provide novel predictions.

The UCSF genomic database will strive to match the diversity of UCSF patient population to ensure that precision medicine at UCSF serves our entire community and we have engaged community leaders to better understand cultural and racial barriers to our precision medicine efforts.

UCSF established first nationwide Preventive Genomics clinic to counsel and test individuals interested in learning about their genomes. UCSF is now one of the first institutions to offer whole genome sequencing in quest to return actionable results and better understand how the unknown 99% of the genome contributes to health. This clinic will serve as the nidus for our efforts to build molecular preventive care.

Research Funding

  • May 15, 2021 - March 31, 2026 - Trio Analysis of Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Integrated Bioinformatics Genomics Study (TRIOS) , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01HD105256
  • April 1, 2019 - March 31, 2024 - Project 2 PI: The Origin and Cellular Heterogeneity of Uterine Leiomyomas , . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: P50 HD098580-01
  • April 1, 2019 - March 31, 2024 - The Origin and cellular heterogeneity of uterine leiomyomas , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NICHD, Sponsor Award ID: P50 HD098580 01
  • July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2022 - Med12 mechanisms of uterine leiomyoma formation , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01HD088629

Education

The Johns Hopkins University, BA, 05/85/ Chemistry
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, PhD, 01/91, Molecular Biology
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, MD, 05/92/ Doctor of Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • 1985
    Phi Beta Kappa
  • 1983
    American Chemical Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry
  • 1997
    First Place Award, Research Day, Cleveland Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • 1997
    Peter Adam Research Award, Metrohealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio
  • 2013
    Elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigators (ASCI)
  • 2018
    Elected to American Association of Physicians (AAP)
  • 2020
    Elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)

Selected Publications

  1. Vanderschelden RK, Rodriguez-Escriba M, Chan SH, Berman AJ, Rajkovic A, Yatsenko SA. Heterozygous TP63 pathogenic variants in isolated primary ovarian insufficiency. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2023 Sep; 40(9):2211-2218.  View on PubMed
  2. Rajkovic A. Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine for Neonatal Care. J Pediatr. 2023 Jun 21; 113575.  View on PubMed
  3. Aminbeidokhti M, Qu JH, Belur S, Cakmak H, Jaswa E, Lathi RB, Sirota M, Snyder MP, Yatsenko SA, Rajkovic A. Preconception Genetic Carrier Screening for Miscarriage Risk Assessment: A Bioinformatic Approach to Identifying Candidate Lethal Genes and Variants. medRxiv. 2023 Jun 03.  View on PubMed
  4. Rodríguez-Escribà M, Rodríguez-Alonso B, Belur S, Rajkovic A. Sohlh1 loss of function male and female infertility model impacts overall health beyond gonadal dysfunction in mice†. Biol Reprod. 2023 04 11; 108(4):619-628.  View on PubMed
  5. Roger J, Xie F, Costello J, Tang A, Liu J, Oskotsky T, Woldemariam S, Kosti I, Le B, Snyder M, Giudice L, Torgerson D, Shaw G, Stevenson D, Rajkovic A, Aghaeepour N, Glymour M, Cakmak H, Lathi R, Sirota M. Leveraging electronic health records to identify risk factors for recurrent pregnancy loss across two medical centers: a case-control study. Res Sq. 2023 Mar 31.  View on PubMed
  6. Goad J, Rudolph J, Zandigohar M, Tae M, Dai Y, Wei JJ, Bulun SE, Chakravarti D, Rajkovic A. Single-cell sequencing reveals novel cellular heterogeneity in uterine leiomyomas. Hum Reprod. 2022 09 30; 37(10):2334-2349.  View on PubMed
  7. Aarabi M, Yoest JM, Farah R, Rajkovic A, Swerdlow SH, Yatsenko SA. A Novel Integrated Approach for Cytogenomic Evaluation of Plasma Cell Neoplasms. J Mol Diagn. 2022 10; 24(10):1067-1078.  View on PubMed
  8. Schmitz MJ, Aarabi M, Bashar A, Rajkovic A, Gregg AR, Yatsenko SA. Carrier frequency of autosomal recessive genetic conditions in diverse populations: Lessons learned from the genome aggregation database. Clin Genet. 2022 08; 102(2):87-97.  View on PubMed
  9. Yatsenko SA, Gurbuz F, Topaloglu AK, Berman AJ, Martin PM, Rodrigue-Escribà M, Qin Y, Rajkovic A. Pathogenic Variants in ZSWIM7 Cause Primary Ovarian Insufficiency. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2022 05 17; 107(6):e2359-e2364.  View on PubMed
  10. Rajkovic A. Primordial follicle activation: to be or not to be takes another twist. Biol Reprod. 2022 04 26; 106(4):639-641.  View on PubMed
  11. Rydze RT, Patton BK, Briley SM, Salazar Torralba H, Gipson G, James R, Rajkovic A, Thompson T, Pangas SA. Deletion of Gremlin-2 alters estrous cyclicity and disrupts female fertility in mice†. Biol Reprod. 2021 11 15; 105(5):1205-1220.  View on PubMed
  12. Gregg AR, Aarabi M, Klugman S, Leach NT, Bashford MT, Goldwaser T, Chen E, Sparks TN, Reddi HV, Rajkovic A, Dungan JS, ACMG Professional Practice and Guidelines Committee. Correction to: Screening for autosomal recessive and X-linked conditions during pregnancy and preconception: a practice resource of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). Genet Med. 2021 Oct; 23(10):2015.  View on PubMed
  13. Gregg AR, Aarabi M, Klugman S, Leach NT, Bashford MT, Goldwaser T, Chen E, Sparks TN, Reddi HV, Rajkovic A, Dungan JS, ACMG Professional Practice and Guidelines Committee. Screening for autosomal recessive and X-linked conditions during pregnancy and preconception: a practice resource of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). Genet Med. 2021 10; 23(10):1793-1806.  View on PubMed
  14. Verdoni A, Hu J, Surti U, Babcock M, Sheehan E, Clemens M, Drewes S, Walsh L, Clark R, Katari S, Sanfilippo J, Saller DN, Rajkovic A, Yatsenko SA. Reproductive outcomes in individuals with chromosomal reciprocal translocations. Genet Med. 2021 09; 23(9):1753-1760.  View on PubMed
  15. Liao J, Coffman KA, Locker J, Padiath QS, Nmezi B, Filipink RA, Hu J, Sathanoori M, Madan-Khetarpal S, McGuire M, Schreiber A, Moran R, Friedman N, Hoffner L, Rajkovic A, Yatsenko SA, Surti U. Deletion of conserved non-coding sequences downstream from NKX2-1: A novel disease-causing mechanism for benign hereditary chorea. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2021 04; 9(4):e1647.  View on PubMed
  16. McKinzey DR, Gomathinayagam S, Griffin WC, Klinzing KN, Jeffries EP, Rajkovic A, Trakselis MA. Motifs of the C-terminal domain of MCM9 direct localization to sites of mitomycin-C damage for RAD51 recruitment. J Biol Chem. 2021 Jan-Jun; 296:100355.  View on PubMed
  17. Goad J, Rudolph J, Rajkovic A. Female reproductive tract has low concentration of SARS-CoV2 receptors. PLoS One. 2020; 15(12):e0243959.  View on PubMed
  18. Yatsenko SA, Aarabi M, Hu J, Surti U, Ortiz D, Madan-Khetarpal S, Saller DN, Bellissimo D, Rajkovic A. Copy number alterations involving 59 ACMG-recommended secondary findings genes. Clin Genet. 2020 12; 98(6):577-588.  View on PubMed
  19. Yatsenko SA, Quesada-Candela C, Saller DN, Beck S, Jaffe R, Kostadinov S, Yanowitz J, Rajkovic A. Cytogenetic signatures of recurrent pregnancy losses. Prenat Diagn. 2021 01; 41(1):70-78.  View on PubMed
  20. Goad J, Rudolph J, Rajkovic A. Female reproductive tract has low concentration of SARS-CoV2 receptors. bioRxiv. 2020 Jun 22.  View on PubMed

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