The CREST Program offers education and mentoring to help HDFCCC staff explore the differences between the roles of nurse practitioner, physician assistant, and MD (Career Exploration Track) and to support their application process (Application Track). All HDFCCC staff are eligible to register, although the Application Track requires you are planning on applying with in one year. You must first register for the entire CREST Program here , and then for each individual event you want to attend.

For more information on the CREST tracks and upcoming events, click here. HDFCCC Health Center Staff may use their education hours to attend CREST events. They must be approved in advance by the employee's manager and recorded in MyTime.

Upcoming CREST Program Events:

• Career Panel - MD/PA/NP: October, will repeat next year
• Characteristics of Successful Applicants - 12/8/25, 4pm - 5:30pm, Register
• Finding Research Opportunities While Working at UCSF - Register
• Nuts & Bolts of the Application Process - 1/28/26, 12-1pm Register
• CREST Speaker Series, Steve Braunstein, MD/PhD Radiation Oncology - 2/26/26, 12-1pm - See below Register
• Application Essay Mentoring - February - April 2026 - Apply
• Mock Interviews - August 2026

The Finding Research Opportunities While Working at UCSF Panel will feature panelists who found and participated in research projects while working as current clinical research coordinators. They will discuss how they found the projects, how they managed their time, and lessons learned from the whole process.

Panelists:

• Miriam Perales, Clinical Research Coordinator, UCSF Division of Hematology/Oncology at ZSFG - Miriam Perales is a Clinical Research Coordinator at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where she has worked for the past three years. Miriam was recently accepted into UC Berkeley’s Online Master of Public Health (MPH) program. Through this program, she hopes to strengthen her capabilities in study design, statistical analysis, and epidemiologic methods. Passionate about bridging the gap between research and practice, she aspires to develop culturally tailored cancer screening programs, collaborate with local health departments, and contribute to national initiatives aimed at reducing disparities in cancer care. Miriam is deeply committed to improving health outcomes and advancing equity for underserved populations.
   
• Mira Semaan, Clinical Research Coordinator, UCSF - Mira is a Clinical Research Coordinator with the genitourinary medical oncology group, and coordinates 6 trials in the kidney and prostate cancer space. She has experience with a range of trials, leading late stage kidney cancer trials and an investigational MRI study. She also coordinates a cognition trial and a radioligand therapy trial in the prostate cancer space. Outside her duties as a CRC, she works with a radiation oncologist to do retrospective patient chart review research and submit abstracts. She recently presented a Trial in Progress poster at the Annual Prostate Cancer Retreat for the UPLIFT study, which she leads.

Open to all HDFCCC staff. If you work in another department at UCSF and still want to join, please email Jennifer Seuferer.