A Monthly Digest of Noteworthy Activities and Achievements

DOM saw continued growth in sponsored research funding in 2023. Pictured above (left to right, top to bottom) are six faculty — Julia Adler-Milstein, Jennifer Lai, Jackie Maher, Urmimala Sarkar, Priya Shete, and Maya Vijayaraghavan — who were awarded the largest grants and California DPH contracts in the department. Read about our funding, publications, faculty demographics, and more in this year’s DOM Research Metrics Report.

Honors and News

Diane Havlir received the Chancellor Award for Public Service.

Payam Nahid was named executive director of the Institute for Global Health Sciences.

Delphine Tuot was named chief of the Division of Nephrology at ZSFG.

Other Honors and News

Kara Bischoff and Carly Zapata were named Emerging Leaders in Palliative Medicine by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM).

Timur Durrani was appointed medical director at ZSFG Occupational Health Services and associate chief for Clinical Services in the Division of Occupational, Environmental and Climate Medicine (OECM).

Alicia Fernandez and Rebecca Sudore received the Distinction in Mentoring Award from the UCSF Academic Senate.

Timothy Judson was appointed chief clinical and innovation officer for Canopy Health.

Suneil Koliwad presented the annual Guenther C. Boden Memorial Award Lecture at Temple University.

Nynikka Palmer was elected vice president of Research for the Academy of Communication in Healthcare.

Steven Pantilat and Michael Rabow were named Visionaries in Palliative Medicine by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM).

Wagahta Semere was awarded the UCSF Multiethnic Health Equity Research Center Emerging Health Equity Scholar Award.

Neil Shah received the Rowley Prize from the International Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) Foundation.

UCSF Health Exceptional Physician Awards

Emily Bergsland, Lauren Linett, Rebecca Olin, and Stephanie Rogers (pictured left to right) received Exceptional Physician Awards from UCSF Health.

2024 DOM Master Clinicians

Joan Addington-White, Jonathan Davis, Rena Fox, Jeff Kohlwes, Andrew Lai, Marlene Martin, and Eric Widera (left to right, top to bottom) are this year’s DOM Master Clinicians. The Council of Master Clinicians honors DOM faculty members distinguished by their commitment to clinical medicine and superb clinical skills.

DOM in the News

Louise Aronson highlighted the shortage of geriatricians and the dangers of overtreatment and undertreatment (Washington Post; NPR). Along with Teva Brender, she also challenged the notion that age alone should determine suitability for leadership roles (Wall Street Journal).

Peter Chin-Hong highlighted the growing risk of measles outbreaks and the need for vaccination (Scripps News). He also explored COVID-19’s impact and lessons (KCBS Radio). Finally, he discussed the first successful genetically modified pig kidney transplant in humans (LiveNOW from Fox).

Steven Deeks recalled banking samples in the early days of Covid (STAT News).

Monica Gandhi reflected on the need for more HIV testing, prevention, and treatment in Native American populations (KCBS Radio). She also explained possible reasons behind the rise in measles cases (WAMU; KTVU; NBC Bay Area).

Timothy Henrich voiced concern that persistent viral antigens could be responsible for some cases of long Covid (Mercury News).

Salomeh Keyhani highlighted the health risks associated with cannabis, noting that research links it to an increased risk of myocardial infarction (KCBS Radio).

Margot Kushel asserted that collecting data about how many people die while unhoused is critical (KQED).

Ana Velazquez Manana explained how Kate Middleton’s cancer might have been found after surgery, although this is unusual (NBC Bay Area).

Suzaynn Schick noted the similarities between tobacco and cannabis compounds and emphasized comparable health risks when exposed to secondhand smoke (Washington Post).

Phyllis Tien reflected on how the use of monoclonal antibodies provided insights into the Covid virus and subsequent treatments, just as the NIH takes down its Covid treatment guidelines (NPR).

Diana Thiara spoke about the safety, success, and patient compliance associated with currently available weight-loss drugs (ABC7; New York Times).

Alan Venook described a new colorectal cancer blood test as an “early effort” that has some value, and predicted that such tests are likely to become more common (UPI).

Bob Wachter said that he will stop using “pandemic” to describe the current state of Covid-19, but highlighted the ongoing, albeit limited, threat from Covid (Time; San Francisco Chronicle).

DOM DEIB Showcase

The Second Annual DEIB Showcase, held on April 2, featured three impactful programs from across the Department of Medicine that advance our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Watch the recording and learn about all the other submitted programs here.

SPIRIT of DOM Awards: Nominate Staff Colleagues

The SPIRIT of DOM Award recognizes staff members who exemplify the UCSF PRIDE Values and make the DOM and UCSF a better place to work. Submit your nominations by Friday, May 10.

Recent Grants of Note

Krista Harrison and team: a grant of $3.9M over five years from the National Institute on Aging for a project entitled, “Improving hospice care for racial and ethnic minoritized older adults with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD).”

Rebecca DeBoer and team: a grant of $1.3M over five years from the National Cancer Institute for a project entitled, “Validation of quality measures for patient-centered cancer communication in Rwanda.”

Jimmie Ye: a grant of $1.1M over five years from the Arc Institute for a project entitled, “Arc Institute innovation investigator.”

Recent Publications of Note

Adler-Milstein J, Redelmeier DA, Wachter RM. The limitations of clinician vigilance as an AI safety bulwark. JAMA. 2024 March 14. Epub ahead of print. PubMed Citation

Alipanah-Lechner N, Hurst-Hopf J, Delucchi K... Willmore A, LaCombe B... Liu KD... Matthay MA, Calfee CS; I-SPY COVID Consortium. Novel subtypes of severe COVID-19 respiratory failure based on biological heterogeneity: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. Crit Care. 2024; 28:56. PubMed Citation

Allegretti AS, Patidar KR, Ma AT, Cullaro G. From past to present to future: Terlipressin and hepatorenal syndrome-acute kidney injury. Hepatology. 2024 Feb 14. Epub ahead of print. PubMed Citation

Calthorpe L, Chiou SH, Rubin J, Huang CY, Feng S, Lai J. A modified Hospital Frailty Risk Score for patients with cirrhosis undergoing abdominal operations. Hepatology. 2024 Feb 19. Epub ahead of print. PubMed Citation

Carneiro BA, Cavalcante L, Mahalingam D... Munster P. Phase I study of elraglusib (9-ING-41), a glycogen synthase kinase-3β inhibitor, as monotherapy or combined with chemotherapy in patients with advanced malignancies. Clin Cancer Res. 2024; 30:522-531. PubMed Citation

Chambers HF, Zhang S, Evans S. Duke infective endocarditis criteria 3.0 for the clinician: Defining what is possible. Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Feb 8:ciae037. Epub ahead of print. PubMed Citation

Gutierrez A, Moslehi JJ. B-cell immune checkpoints come of age in cardio-oncology. Circ Res. 2024; 134:569-571. PubMed Citation

Holmgren AJ, Oakes AH, Miller A, Adler-Milstein J, Mehrotra A. National trends in billing secure messages as e-visits. JAMA. 2024; 331:526-529. PubMed Citation

Kato Y, Ambale-Venkatesh B, Naveed M, Shitole SG... Tien PC... Kizer JR. HIV, HIV-specific factors and myocardial disease in women. Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Feb 13:ciae077. Epub ahead of print. PubMed Citation

Marcus GM, Ovbiagele B. Anticoagulation for atrial cardiopathy in cryptogenic stroke. JAMA. 2024; 331:564-566. PubMed Citation

Rosenthal PJ, Asua V, Conrad MD. Emergence, transmission dynamics and mechanisms of artemisinin partial resistance in malaria parasites in Africa. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2024 Feb 6. Epub ahead of print. Erratum in: Nat Rev Microbiol. 2024 Feb 27. PubMed Citation

See all 204 DOM-authored publications from last month.

Featured Events

Division of Palliative Medicine 25th Anniversary Symposium
Friday, May 3 | 8:30 am-5:30 pm
Celebrate the Division of Palliative Medicine’s contributions to the field of palliative care. Keynote address by Irene Higginson, director of the Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s College, London.
More information and registration

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