Shyam K. Akula

About Shyam K. Akula

Shyam K. Akula, MD, PhD, is a resident physician at UCSF completing his training in neurology, with a clinical and research focus on complex conditions, neuro-genetics, immunology, and neuro-oncology.

Shyam was born in Arcadia, California, to Maya and Rao Akula, immigrants from India who fell in love in Kuwait but were forced to leave in 1990 during the Gulf War. Leaving everything behind, they started anew in Southern California to give their family the stability their own lives had lacked. Their resilience and support remain the foundation for all of Shyam’s endeavors.

Shyam graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in neurobiology, earning the Dean Quatrano Prize for his research with Professor Joseph Dougherty on risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders. He then completed his medical and doctoral training at Harvard University and MIT. As a Harvard Stem Cell Institute MD/PhD Fellow, his PhD research in Professor Christopher Walsh’s lab investigated the genetic control of neural stem cell function and how developmental signaling pathways shape the cortex in normal development and disease, work that won the James Tolbert Shipley Prize.

In 2024, Shyam returned to his home state to join the University of California, San Francisco for his clinical training in neurology, with plans to pursue a neuro-oncology fellowship. Outside the clinic and lab, Shyam is a passionate medical educator and mentor. He actively champions curriculum design and advocates increasing educational access for first-generation and low-income students.