News & Events

We are pleased to announce the appointment of three new Associate Residency Program Directors for our general surgery residency program: Rita Mukhtar, MD as Associate Residency Program Director for Curriculum; Wen Shen, MD, MA as Associate Residency Program Director for Resident Professional Development; and Lan Vu, MD as Associate Residency Program Director for Assessment. All three appointments will be effective January 1, 2021. As the Associate Residency Program Director for Curriculum, Dr. Mukhtar will be primarily responsible for the curriculum of the general surgery residency program. [...]

Hueylan Chern, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of the UCSF Surgical Skills Center, has been inducted into The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators Class of 2020. The Academy's core value is "supporting the people who advance the education mission of UCSF by fostering an organizational culture that values education and accelerates advances in teaching and learning to improve health with an emphasis on community, diversity, advocacy, service, and innovation." Dr. Chern follows in the footsteps of past Department of Surgery inductees into the Academy including Drs. [...]

We are excited to announce that Tom C. Nguyen, MD, FACS, FACC has been named the new Chief of the Division of Adult Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Helen and Charles Schwab Distinguished Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.  Dr. Nguyen comes to UCSF from the University of Texas Houston (UT-H), where he is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Director of Minimally Invasive Valve Surgery, and Co-Director of Structural Heart Disease.    At UT-H, Dr. Nguyen flourished in a productive practice, with more than [...]

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Ryutaro Hirose has been named the inaugural Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Value in the Department of Surgery. In his new role, Dr. Hirose will foster excellence and integration of our clinical practices within the UCSF Health System and its partners, and he will work together with surgical leaders at ZSFGH and the SFVA for clinical program development. He will promote efficient, cost effective, and accessible patient care, working to maximize revenues and ensure that faculty and staff have the systems and support they need to do their jobs [...]

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Elizabeth Wick will serve as the inaugural Vice Chair of Quality and Safety for the Department of Surgery. As Vice Chair, Dr. Wick will be responsible for oversight of the Department's quality and patient safety enterprise, focused in the perioperative space. She will collaborate with UCSF Health and the School of Medicine, managing interactions with other departments, centers and programs to promote collaboration that is focused on quality and patient safety.  Dr. Wick is a professor of surgery and Co-Chair for our Department's Research Committee.  She [...]

It is with deep gratitude that we announce Dr. Hobart Harris will be stepping down as Chief of the Division of General Surgery, effective August 31, 2020. Dr. Harris has served as Chief of General Surgery with distinction since 2002. He also served in the capacity of Vice-Chair of the Department from 2002-2008 and 2013-2018. He will continue as a Professor of Surgery and active faculty member.  Dr. Harris has received regional and national recognition for his clinical expertise, as evidenced by his leadership roles and reputation in the clinical field of surgery.  Nationally, he has a robust [...]

Nichole Starr, M.D., MPH, a general surgery research resident, was awarded an NIH Fogarty Global Health Scholars Fellowship for the 2020-21 year. Dr. Starr will spend her fellowship year at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the mentorship of Milliard Derbew, M.D., Tom Weiser, M.D., MPH, Andi Tenner, M.D., MPH, and Doruk Ozgediz, M.D., MSc. Her research will focus on building and implementing trauma quality improvement programs in Ethiopian public hospitals. Dr. Starr's team will establish trauma registries at three hospitals in the city of Addis Ababa to collect and [...]

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has announced that Linda M. Reilly, M.D. and Julie Ann Sosa, M.D., M.A. will be inducted into its prestigious Academy of Master Surgeon Educators. Dr. Reilly is Professor of Surgery in the Division of Vascular & Endovascular Surgery and Director of the UCSF General Surgery Residency Program. Dr. Sosa is Chair of the Department of Surgery at UCSF and Leon Goldman, MD Distinguished Professor of Surgery.  The  Academy of Master Surgeon Educators is a landmark program of the American College of Surgeons Division of Education created to recognize the [...]

      Mark Barry, M.D. Zachary Matthay, M.D.  Adam Wallace, M.D. Ava Yap, M.D.. M.H.Sc.  UCSF Surgery residents were well-represented as awardees of the UCSF CTSI Spring 2020 Resident Research Funding Award. Mark Barry, M.D., Zachary Matthay, M.D. (General Surgery research residents), Adam Wallace, M.D. (Plastic Surgery research resident), and Ava Yap, M.D.. M.H.Sc. (General Surgery PGY3 resident) were all recipients of this highly competitive award. Dr. Barry's award will support his project, "Mitigating Vascular Dysfunction and Lung Injury in Trauma with Human [...]

We are pleased to announce that Willieford Moses, MD will be joining our faculty in the fall as a pediatric surgeon based at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital – Oakland (BCHO). Dr. Moses graduated from Duke University in 2006 with a BS in Psychology, and received his MD from UCSF School of Medicine in 2011. He completed his general surgery residency at UCSF, graduating in 2018. During his resident research years, Dr. Moses worked in the BioDesign Lab of Dr. Shuvo Roy as a Surgical Innovations Fellow, part of a collaboration between the DoS and the Department of Bioengineering & [...]

We are pleased to announce that Marissa A. Boeck, MD, MPH, currently a clinical fellow in Trauma and Emergency Surgery at ZSFG, will be joining our faculty in the fall.  Dr. Boeck has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Surgery. She will serve as an acute care surgeon at Parnassus and as an acute care and trauma surgeon and surgical critical care intensivist at ZSFG. She will also serve as a member of the core leadership team of the new UCSF Center for Global Surgery and Health Equity.  Dr. Boeck earned her BA in Philosophy from the Macaulay Honors College at [...]

UCSF Surgeon-scientist Lucy Kornblith, M.D. (PI) and her mentee, Zachary Matthay, M.D. (Co-PI) were awarded two grants for their proposed COVID-19-related research by the UCSF COVID-19 Rapid Response Pilot Grant Program, supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, and National Institutes of Health (sponsored by the UCSF Academic Senate, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and the Research Development Office). The first award will support their proposed prospective study entitled "CO-ACIT: COVID-19 Associated Coagulopathy, Inflammation, and [...]

The Department of Surgery is pleased and honored to welcome our new class of incoming residents to the UCSF family! This outstanding group of doctors, drawn from diverse backgrounds, includes (49) surgical interns and one new PGY-3 resident. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, resident orientation was predominantly virtual. Nonetheless, despite the challenges, our residents navigated these unchartered waters with creativity and resourcefulness. We are truly inspired by their boundless enthusiasm and can-do spirit as they hit the ground running! We are thrilled to have them aboard with their [...]

The Department of Surgery is pleased to announce the selection of Shareef Syed, MBChB, MRCS, assistant professor in the division of Transplant Surgery, as the new Associate Director of the UCSF Surgical Skills Center.  Dr. Syed is a general surgeon specializing in abdominal transplantation. After earning his medical degree at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, Dr. Syed completed 3 years of medical and surgical residency in the UK National Health Service (NHS). During this time, he was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons, UK.  Dr. Syed completed his general surgery residency [...]

The Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society recently announced new inductees and award winners. Sanziana A. Roman, M.D., FACS, Professor of Surgery in the Division of General Surgery, Section of Endocrine Surgery, was honored as a "Faculty Inductee"; Alexa Glencer, M.D., a General Surgery Resident, was honored as a "Housestaff Inductee"; and Kian Mostafavi, M.D., a vascular surgeon at San Leandro Medical Center and Department of Surgery Volunteer Clinical Faculty member, was honored with the Society's "Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award" that recognizes community physicians who contribute to [...]

"Leaders at a 150-bed community hospital in California partnered with a collective of human-centered designers to rapidly address a sudden drop in emergency department visits after a statewide stay-at-home order was issued. The initiative developed targeted messaging to assuage patient fears about safety and remind patients not to ignore heart and stroke symptoms." Coauthors of this NEJM Catalyst paper include plastic surgery resident Dr. Laura Wong (first author), trauma surgeon & Exec. Dir. of TheBetterLab, Dr. Amanda Sammann and trauma and critical care fellow Dr. Simone Langness.     [...]

Eva Gillis-Buck, UCSF School of Medicine Class of 2020 and incoming general surgery resident, was awarded the UCSF 2020 Long-Term Dean's Prize in Research.  The Long-Term Dean's Prize is available to all UCSF graduating medical students. Finalists were selected based on the submission of a one-page abstract, letter of nomination, and 5-minute presentation to the faculty review committee. Five prizes for long-term research were awarded and all winners presented a virtual pre-recorded video at the virtual Inquiry Symposium on April 29th, 2020. Ms. Gillis-Buck's research work has been [...]

The UCSF Department of Surgery is accepting applications for the Haile T. Debas Diversity Fellowship. All eligible medical students are invited to apply no later than June 1, 2020*. The Fellowship is offered to fourth year medical students as a sub-internship, providing the opportunity to experience first-hand the Department's multi-faceted environment of clinical excellence, inquiry, and investigation. The Fellowship provides a stipend of $2,500.00 to defray the cost of tuition, transportation, housing, and incidental expenses. Recipients of the fellowship award will be selected based on [...]

The UCSF Department of Surgery mourns the passing of F. William Blaisdell, MD. Dr. Blaisdell was a true giant of American surgery and one of the most influential figures in the history of our Department.  F. William Blaisdell was born in 1927 and grew up in nearby Watsonville, California. He came from a family of physicians: both of his grandfathers, as well as his father and uncle were doctors. Blaisdell attended Stanford University for his undergraduate and medical school education. He completed his internship at Philadelphia General Hospital and 2 years of military service with the U.S. [...]

Mark Barry, M.D., a soon to be general surgery research resident, has received a UCSF Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) award. Dr. Barry has been mentored and supported in his work by Shibani Pati, MD, PhD and Deborah Stein, MD. Dr. Barry will begin his dedicated research years in July 2020.  The StARR Program seeks to recruit, support and train outstanding clinical residents with the potential to become successful clinical and translational researchers. With funding from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), StARR supports UCSF residents for a contiguous [...]