Nina Djukic, MS

Research Interests  

• Integrative psychiatry

• Mental health equity

• Climate health

• Medical humanities

Experience and Current Work  

Nina Djukic is a medical student at UCSF and the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program. As an undergraduate studying environmental health at UC Berkeley, she studied the biopsychosocial effects of pesticide exposure in California farmworkers, the use of traditional botanical medicine in Costa Rica, and the impacts of environmental racism on indigenous communities. After university, seeking more exposure to patient care and research, she took a position at the UCSF Memory & Aging Center, where she spent three years supporting lifestyle-focused clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and healthy aging and promoting brain health literacy through community education and workshops around San Francisco. She had the fortune to continue this interdisciplinary approach to health as a dual masters student at the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program, where she led a study on moral injury in physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic, supported research assessing the pandemic’s impact on indigenous farmworkers, published and edited work in arts and medical humanities journals, and collaborated on efforts to promote psychological resilience for the climate crisis.  

In addition to her work with the Osher Center, she is a tutor and small-group instructor for medical students and is a fellow with the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, supporting projects on healthcare decarbonization and community preparedness for the health effects of climate change. She is committed to an integrative and equity-focused lens to medicine, mental health, and wellness, and hopes to promote an ethic of connection and care in her professional, personal, and interdisciplinary work.  

Education and Training  

•  BS, UC Berkeley

• MS, UC Berkeley School of Public Health (Joint Medical Program)

• MD Candidate at UCSF  

Publications

Djukic, N. A., Ranney, R. M., & Maguen, S (accepted). Physician moral injury during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of General Internal Medicine.    

Paolillo, E. W., Lee, S. Y., VandeBunte, A., Saloner, R., Gaynor, L.S., Djukic, N., Tsuei, T., Kramer, J. H., & Casaletto, K. B. Data-driven physical actigraphy patterns relate to cognitive and vascular health in older adults. Experimental Gerontology, 2023.    

Saloner, R. , Fonseca, C., Paolillo E. W., Asken B.M, Djukic, N., Lee S., Nilsson J., Brinkmalm A., Blennow K., Zetterberg H., Kramer J.H., and Casaletto K.B. Combined effects of synaptic and axonal integrity on longitudinal gray matter atrophy in cognitively unimpaired adults. Neurology, 2022.    

Paolillo, E. W., Lee, S. Y., VandeBunte, A., Djukic, N., Fonseca, C., Kramer, J. H., & Casaletto, K. B.  Wearable use among older adults: Adherence, feasibility, and effects of clinicodemographic factors. Frontiers in Digital Health, 2022.    

A. M. Vandebunte, E. Gontrum, L. Goldberger, C. Fonesca, N. Djukic, M. You, J. Kramer PsyD, and K.B. Casaletto, PhD. Defining Physical Activity in Older Adults: A Comparison of Actigraphy Monitoring and Self-Report Measures. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 2021.    

K.B. Casaletto, H. Zetterberg, K. Blenno, A. Brinkmalm, W. Honer, J. Schneider, D. Bennett, N. Djukic, M. You, S. Weiner-Light, C. Fonseca, B. L. Miller, and J.H. Kramer (2021). Tripartite Relationship Among Synaptic, Amyloid and Tau Proteins: An In Vivo and Post-Mortem Study. Neurology, 2021.    

D. Cotter, S. Walters, C. Fonseca, A. Wolf, Y. Cobigo, E. Fox, M. You, M. Altendahl, N. Djukic, A. Staffaroni, F. Elahi, J. H. Kramer, K. B. Casaletto, and the Hillblom Aging Network. Aging and Positive Mood: Longitudinal Neurobiological and Cognitive Correlates. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2020.  

S. Weiner-Light, S. Walters, N. Djukic, M. You, D. Cotter, M. Altendahl, F. Elahi, A.M. Staffaroni, C.A. Lindbergh, J.H. Kramer, and K.B. Casaletto.  Step Count and Psychological Health in Older Adults. Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, 2019.