Department of Surgery News

It is our pleasure to announce this year's recipients of the annual Holly Smith Award for Exceptional Service to the School of Medicine. Please join me in congratulating the recipents from the Department of Surgery: Lucy Zumwinkle Kornblith, MD Kalpana Harish, MPH The award, which recognizes exceptional service to the School of Medicine, is the school's most prestigious honor, and provides an opportunity to celebrate our colleagues who embody the qualities and contributions exemplified by Holly Smith, MD, professor emeritus and former associate dean, who passed away in June [...]

  Visit the Parenting in Surgery website   Annie having a great time at the Mentorship event. Becoming a parent is hard work, especially when balancing the new role as a parent with surgical training. We have created a New Parent Mentorship Program in the UCSF Department of Surgery to provide a support network of trainees and faculty. The Mentorship program was successfully launched with a social gathering at Spark Social SF. The event included a kid's play area, an abundance of food, and the opportunity for medical students, trainees, faculty, and their families to meet, mingle, and [...]

We are pleased to announce that Johannes Kratz, MD has been selected as UCSF's first Medical Director of Robotic Surgery. Johannes has served as co-Director of the UCSF Health Robotic Executive committee from 2018-2022 and in 2022 became sole director of the same. Under his careful stewardship, robotic surgeries have grown year over year adding additional service lines and placing UCSF at the forefront of technological innovation in the use of robotic technology in surgery. Johannes has led the development of a robotics dashboard tracking both volume and key performance indicators important [...]

The Exceptional Physician Awards recognizes select physicians for exemplary demonstration of UCSF Health's values in their clinical practice and interaction with patients, faculty and staff. The Department of Surgery wants to congratulate Dr. Hillary J. Braun, one of our Chief Residents in General Surgery and future transplant surgeon, for receiving an Exceptional Physician Award for the academic year 2022-23.     Watch the 2023 Exceptional Physician Award Winner Hillary Braun Acceptance Video:

The UCSF Department of Sugery is very pleased to introduce our new General Surgery, Plastic Surgery, and Integrated Vascular Surgery residents! We warmly welcome this extraordinary, diverse group to UCSF Surgery and congratulate each incoming intern for matching into our programs. We are honored to partner with these future surgeons as they begin their training in June, and are thrilled that they will be joining the UCSF Surgery family.

Mandates May Help Reduce Health Care Inequities for Minorities, Low-Income Workers By Suzanne Leigh An estimated 300,000 additional employees received colorectal cancer screening in a two-year period, following mandated paid sick leave in 57 metropolitan areas across the U.S. And about 250,000 additional workers underwent breast cancer screenings in a two-year period after the mandate, according to a study led by UC San Francisco and headed by senior author Julie Ann Sosa, MD, of the Department of Surgery at the UCSF School of Medicine. The findings, published in the New England [...]

SOURCE: TODAY Dr. Amy Fiedler was finishing up a standard heart transplant surgery in December — putting the dressings on the patient and getting ready to transport her the intensive care unit — when she noticed something she'd never seen before. The room was entirely women. Behind all the surgical masks and gear, she saw the perfusionist (who runs the heart-lung machine), the nursing staff and even the patient were all female.  Dr. Charlene Blake, cardiac anesthesiologist, Fatou Gaye, Dr. Amy Fiedler, cardiac surgeon, and Ashley Risso, perfusionist, outside of UCSF. Courtesy [...]

On National Women Physicians Day, the Muriel Steele Society and the UCSF Department of Surgery honor the amazing team of women surgeons, scientists, learners, and staff that have made so many important contributions to improving the lives of our patients. About the Muriel Steele Society at UCSF The Muriel Steele Society is an inclusive community dedicated to inspiring, supporting, and promoting women surgeons so they can thrive at all stages of their careers. We will be hosting events throughout the year to foster a strong community of allies and to achieve the goal of continued [...]

The Department of Surgery is excited to announce that Joseph Cuschieri, MD, FACS, Professor of Surgery at UCSF and current Trauma Medical Director at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), will be the Division Chief of Surgery at ZSFG starting January 2023. Dr. Cuschieri has been serving as the interim Division Chief of Surgery since September 1, 2021.   Dr. Cuschieri earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan and his MD from Wayne State University in Detroit. He completed his general surgery residency and surgical critical care [...]

UCSF Hosts First Lady Jill Biden to Discuss Breast Cancer Research By Elizabeth Fernandez First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden visits UCSF to speak with patients, researchers, and doctors as part of President Biden's Cancer Moonshot program. From left to right: Alan Ashworth, MD, Paola Betancur, MD, Monica Bertagnolli, MD, First Lady Jill Biden, Ed.D, Kami Pullakhandam. Photo by Noah Berger First Lady Jill Biden, Ed.D, met with top UC San Francisco cancer leaders during a visit Friday to hear about UCSF's breast cancer research and progress on the National Cancer Moonshot. The visit was [...]

The Department of Surgery is excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Lucy Z. Kornblith as the Department's inaugural Director for Gender Equity!   Lucy Zumwinkle Kornblith, M.D., is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Her clinical practice includes trauma surgery, surgical critical care, and acute care surgery. Dr. Kornblith received a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her medical degree from the University of Colorado. In addition, she completed her General [...]

Fetal Therapy Offers Hope for Patients with Rare Genetic Disorders Toddler Thrives with Same Disease That Ended Siblings' Lives When Zahid and Sobia Bashir discovered their fetus had the same genetic disease that took the lives of two of their young children, they didn't hesitate to sign up for a promising but experimental new therapy. "I found out (the therapy) was a possibility and I was kind of in shock; I couldn't believe it," said Zahid Basir. "I only really started believing it when meetings were being set up to move it forward." The disease, [...]

Committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion UCSF and the Department and Surgery are committed to building a broadly diverse community, nurturing a culture that is welcoming and supportive, and engaging diverse ideas for the provision of culturally competent education, discovery, and patient care. Chancellor Awards for Diversity Chancellor Awards for Diversity recognize the outstanding efforts of individuals who demonstrate a strong dedication to diversity. Individuals recognized are leaders and pioneers in their respective fields and to the communities in which they serve. We are proud [...]

Three UC San Francisco faculty members are among the 100 new national members elected this year to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Membership in the NAM recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievements and commitment to service in the medical sciences, health care and public health. "This extraordinary class of new members is comprised of exceptional scholars and leaders who have been at the forefront of responding to serious public health challenges, combatting social inequities and [...]

The UCSF Department of Surgery is profoundly saddened to announce the passing of Dr. Orlo Herrick Clark. Dr. Clark was a beloved member of the UCSF Surgery Family and an internationally renowned endocrine surgeon. He completed his general surgery residency at UCSF in 1973 and spent his entire faculty career as a member of the UCSF Department of Surgery. In 1991 he was named Chief of Surgery of the UCSF/Mt. Zion Medical Center.   Dr. Clark was one of the founding members of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons and was the recipient of countless awards and accolades throughout his [...]

The UCSF Department of Surgery has partnered with The Association of Out Surgeons and Allies (AOSA) as the inaugural institutional supporter/member of AOSA. The AOSA is a newly formed organization of LGBTQ+ Surgeons and allies that promote acceptance, inclusion, and equity in the surgical specialties to further learner engagement, support individual clinicians and researchers, and build a community.    At UCSF Surgery, we have worked together to make diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority, expanding our Department through recruitment in many areas, including faculty, staff, and [...]

Muriel Steele Society's own co-chair, Dr. Lucy Kornblith, was nominated and selected as one of the Association of Women Surgeons Top 40 Under 40! This award recognizes outstanding women surgeons who are trailblazers in their field or who are making a significant impact with their actions. Congratulations, Dr. Kornblith!

A new UC San Francisco study sheds light on the diversity within the most common type of pediatric liver tumor and suggests a way forward for more precise chemotherapy treatment. The study, publishing in Nature Communications on August 25, used single-cell transcriptomic techniques to analyze hepatoblastoma specimens from infants and children under age four. From nine samples, the researchers identified five hepatoblastoma tumor signatures that may account for the heterogeneity in this cancer, and that may predict responses to chemotherapy treatments.

Congratulations to Dr. Adnan Alesidi who has been selected as a new member of The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators. He will be inducted into the distinguished Academy on September 21, 2022 at the Sandler Neurosciences Center Auditorium.

The Muriel Steele Society congratulates Dr. Ashley Campbell, one of the General Surgery categorical interns, on her Dr. Patricia Numann Medical Student Award from the Association of Women Surgeons. The mission of the Patricia Numann Medical Student Award is to encourage and support an outstanding female medical student who is pursuing a career in surgery and recipients have demonstrated leadership potential or made significant contributions to surgery.   Dr. Campbell graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in June 2022. She has extensive global health [...]