Dr. Hoftman is a senior Psychiatry Resident at UCLA and plans to start the UCLA Neurogenetics T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship after completing residency. He received his MD and PhD degrees from University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon University Medical Scientist Training Program and finished the majority of his adult psychiatry residency training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Western Psychiatric Hospital. He also completed his Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship training at Western Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Hoftman's research aims to integrate genetic, molecular, and neuroimaging approaches to understand typical brain development and psychosis risk. In his Friends Scholar project, Dr. Hoftman will use imaging transcriptomics to define the relationship between MRI and molecular markers that characterizes clinical high risk youth who subsequently develop psychosis. This study will be foundational for starting a research program at UCLA dedicated to identifying early biological risk factors and their underlying mechanisms to serve as novel intervention targets and to develop biomarkers to predict illness onset, course, and intervention response. The Friends of Semel Fellowship will facilitate launching a successful career as a physician scientist dedicated to advancing understanding, investigation, and treatment of psychiatric disorders until they are eliminated as a cause of human suffering.