News & Events

The 31st Annual J. Engelbert Dunphy Resident Research Symposium will be held Wednesday, April 25, 2018 at UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay beginning at 9:00 a.m. The Department of Surgery is honored to have Stanford professor Carla M. Pugh, MD, PhD, FACS as this year's visiting Dunphy Professor. The J. Engelbert Dunphy Resident Research Symposium showcases the laboratory research of residents, fellows and medical students in the Department of Surgery, and honors the life and accomplishments of J. Engelbert Dunphy, M.D., a legendary surgeon and a former chair of the UCSF Department of [...]

Simon N. Chu, M.S., has been awarded the 2018 Dean's Prize in Research and Scholarship by the UCSF School of Medicine for his molecular medicine research. Chu, a senior medical student in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Fellow, will present his research on the immune response following transplantation in the HIV infected recipient at the upcoming 2018 Inquiry Symposium on Wed. May 2nd at the Milberry Gym on the Parnassus campus between 10:00 am and 11:30 am.  The symposium showcases award-winning research from the four UCSF [...]

The UCSF Department of Surgery now ranks No. 3 nationally in NIH research funding among all academic surgery programs, a stunning rise from 6th the last time the survey was done. Three Department of Surgery faculty also ranked in the top 20 of all NIH-funded principal investigators nationally in the category of surgery. The highly respected Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research utilized data from the Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT) to survey U.S. medical schools for their NIH funding levels between October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. UCSF was the top public recipient [...]

Michael Zobel, M.D, a third-year (PGY-3) general surgery resident at UCSF, has been awarded a prestigious two-year resident research scholarship by the American College of Surgeons for 2018-2020. The scholarships are supported by the generosity of Fellows, Chapters, and friends of the College, to encourage residents to pursue careers in academic surgery. Dr. Zobel's research is focused on targeting novel genes to suppress metastasis in neuroblastoma, as well as the role of the tumor micro-environment and the immune system in this process.  Beginning in summer 2018, Dr. Zobel will be a [...]

The Thoracic Oncology Program proudly announces the launch of the Kratz Lab, which will focus on understanding the genetic and immunological mechanisms that drive early-stage, surgically resectable thoracic malignancies, most notably non-small cell lung cancer. The translationally-focused Kratz Lab will use the knowledge gained from investigating these mechanisms to identify novel therapeutic targets and treatments for this group of patients.  Johannes R. Kratz, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery and Van Auken Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology, is the [...]

The Department of Surgery warmly welcomes our seven new categorical residents comprising the Class of 2025. We congratulate them in matching with our program. This is a diverse group of highly accomplished individuals that bring a wide array of life experiences and academic excellence to UCSF. We look forward to these newly minted residents' arrival and to providing them an enriching and rewarding experience over the next seven years as they train to become future leaders in academic surgery.   UCSF DEPARTMENT OF SURGERYPGY-1 Categorical General Surgery Residents (2018-19)

Renowned breast surgeon Laura J. Esserman, MD, MBA gave a captivating talk about her richly textured life and innovative research at a Staff Engagement Event hosted by the Department of Surgery on February 9th at UCSF Mount Zion. The research portion of her talk focused on two landmark clinical trials she serves as principal investigator on. The first, the WISDOM Study (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk (WISDOM), is a pragmatic, adaptive, randomized clinical trial comparing a comprehensive risk-based, or personalized approach to traditional annual breast cancer [...]

Quan-Yang Duh M.D., professor and chief of the section of endocrine surgery at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and outgoing President of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, told a rapt audience of attendees at the organization's annual meeting of his journey as an immigrant, his rescue by a Greek family in 1971, and his work as endocrine surgeon, encapsulated in an inspirational story spanning multiple cultures. Dr. Duh was warmly introduced by fellow UCSF endocrine surgeon and medical historian Wen T. Shen, MD, MA. Below are thoughts and reactions of Dr. Duh's friends, [...]

An article commentary recently published in NPJ Breast Cancer, a Nature Research journal, discusses the WISDOM Study (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk (WISDOM), a groundbreaking clinical trial recruiting 100,000 women from throughout California that will compare annual breast cancer screening with personalized risk-based breast cancer screening. The study is led by Laura J. Esserman, MD, MBA (pictured), professor of surgery and director of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. She and the other Wisdom Study [...]

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D, the universally acclaimed mediation instructor and Professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, recently gave the "Second Annual Ellen Hughes Lectureship" in Herbst Hall at UCSF Mount Zion, "The Key to Clinician Wellbeing through Mindfulness: Embodied Practice, Embodied Presence". Kabat-Zinn is world-renowned for developing the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course, a fixture of integrated medicine, and the founding director of Stress Reduction Clinic at UMass.  During the Q&A following his talk, Kabat-Zinn lauded the research [...]

UCSF general surgery research fellow Courtney A. Green, M.D. was recently interviewed by Daniel Seeger of Surgical Products Magazine about changes in the surgical instruction model heralded by the advent of robotic surgery in the operating room.  It's well understood that robotic-assisted surgical systems are transforming the work that happens in the operating room. But does the increasing prominence of the devices in the healthcare field also require a transformation in how surgical instruction takes place? Courtney Green, MD, a research fellow in the general surgery program at the [...]

Johannes R. Kratz, M.D. has been named the new Van Auken Endowed Chair in Thoracic Oncology. Kratz is an assistant professor in the Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery, a member of the Thoracic Oncology Program, and director of Advanced Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery.  The Van Auken Endowed Chair supports research, teaching and service in the field of thoracic oncology. Kratz has excelled in all three areas. As a research fellow at UCSF, he was instrumental in the development of a prognostic assay for early-stage lung cancer, working on a team led by David M. Jablons, [...]

The Department of Surgery has launched a new website for its Surgical Skills Center. The program is led by director Edward Kim, M.D., associate director Hueylan Chern, M.D., both associate professors in the Division of General Surgery. The goal of the Center is to maximize learning in the operating rooms by allowing trainees to master basic technical skills and practice operative techniques and principles outside of the operating room. This is accomplished by providing a structured and robust curriculum including inanimate and tissue models that simulate challenges that occur to novices in [...]

Julie Ann Sosa, MD, MA, FACS will be the new chair of the UCSF Department of Surgery, effective April 1, 2018. She will also hold the Leon Goldman, MD, Distinguished Professorship in Surgery. Dr. John P. Roberts, who has led the department as interim chair since October 2016, will continue in his leadership role until Dr. Sosa's arrival.  Dr. Sosa is currently a professor of Surgery and of Medicine (Oncology) and chief of Endocrine Surgery at the Duke University School of Medicine. She also serves as director of the Surgical Center for Outcomes Research (SCORES), leads the Endocrine [...]

A new research study shows that patient frailty should be assessed in preoperative planning for surgery in older adults, even for common ambulatory general surgery operations. The study, led by principal investigator and lead author, Carolyn D. Seib, M.D., MAS, a general and endocrine surgeon at UCSF, was reported on in the journal JAMA Surgery and highlighted by the NY Times in a subsequent article. Importantly, the study found that frailty is more closely associated with the risk of complications than  chronological age. It has implications for both treatment planning and informed consent [...]

Courtney A. Green, M.D., research fellow in the General Surgery Residency program, has been awarded a CSERT (Center for Excellence in Surgical Education, Research and Training) grant from the Association for Surgical Education (ASE) Foundation. Her research project is entitled, "Investigation into the Perceptual Expertise of a Robotic Surgeon: How do we learn to feel what we see?" Surgical education grants are among the most difficult to obtain. Moreover, this grant has historically been awarded to faculty affiliated with academic institutions, underscoring Dr. Green's achievement here as a [...]

The Department of Surgery proudly welcomes our new clinical fellows for the 2017-18 academic year. Clinical fellows receive state-of-the-art subspecialty training, an enriching mentorship experience, and the opportunity to work as integral members of a multidisciplinary clinical team led by world-class attending surgeons. This training supports the Department's threefold mission to develop the next generation of leaders in surgery, provide outstanding quality clinical care, and to make significant advances in scientific knowledge and clinical practice through basic and clinical research. New [...]

Sandhya Kumar, M.D., MIS/Bariatric Surgery clinical fellow at UCSF, presented her "Top 10" paper, Is laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy safer than laparoscopic gastric bypass? A comparison of complications and mortality using the MBSAQIP data registry, at the 34th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) during "Obesity Week". Kumar was the lead-off presenter in the ASMBS abstracts 2017 paper sessions on October 31st. Dr. Kumar's paper headlined a strong overall showing by UCSF Bariatric Surgery during "Obesity Week", evidencing the program's strong [...]

UCSF News reports on the results of study led by Carter Lebares, M.D., assistant professor and director the UCSF Center for Mindfulness in Surgery, to assess burnout in general surgery residents. An online survey was distributed in September, 2016, to all ACGME-accredited general surgery programs. Stress, anxiety, depression, resilience, mindfulness, and alcohol use were assessed and analyzed for prevalence. The results, published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons on Oct. 26, 2017, were stunning, finding that "7 of 10 trainee surgeons in the survey experienced burnout [...]

Kevin L. Hiler, M.D., associate clinical professor in the UCSF Department of Surgery and Lawrence Sue, M.D., assistant clinical professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of California San Francisco, Fresno, are recipients of 2017 Distinguished Teaching Awards from the UCSF Center for Faculty Educators (CFE), part of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators. The awards were presented at a ceremony hosted by the UCSF School of Medicine on October 18th in Cole Hall Auditorium at UCSF Parnassus.  Hiler received a Special Recognition Award, presented to members of the [...]