News & Events

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 [...]

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 [...]

UCSF general surgery resident Elizabeth Lancaster, M.D. received the APDS (Association of Program Directors in Surgery) Best Resident Paper Award for presentation of her paper, Residents as Key Effectors of Change in Improving Opioid Prescribing Behavior, at Surgical Education Week 2019 in Chicago, IL. With mentors Dr. Kenzo Hirose and Dr. Liza Wick, Dr. Lancaster developed a quality improvement program focused on improving post-operative analgesia prescribing patterns amongst general surgery residents. Her paper highlights the important role of residents in the quality improvement process [...]

UCSF Medical Center earned "high performance" ratings – the highest ratings possible – in eight common conditions and procedures in the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Survey for 2017-2018, seven within the UCSF Department of Surgery: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair Aortic Valve Surgery Colon Cancer Surgery Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Heart Bypass Surgery Heart Failure Lung Cancer Surgery U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals to determine how well they performed using data on patient survival, nurse staffing, volume and more. Within the [...]

The Winter-Spring 2016 issue of Inside Surgery focuses on how the new Mission Bay hospitals are enhancing surgical care. New surgical suites, for example, feature advanced technologies and resources that are optimal for patients. The move is also fostering research collaborations as our surgeons work in close proximity to many basic scientists that share the campus. The issue also highlights advancement in clinical care and research for several Department of Surgery programs including: colorectal surgery, surgical oncology, pediatric surgery, and breast care surgery. Carlos U. Corvera, [...]

Jennifer Kaplan, M.D., a research resident in the UCSF General Surgery Residency Program, received the award for Best Trainee Poster Presentation from the Academy for Healthcare Improvement (AHI) at the organization's 2015 annual meeting.  The presentation, "Health Coaching By Health Professions Students for Frail Older Adults Scheduled for High Risk Elective Surgery", was developed by members of a multidisciplinary research group in the UCSF Center for Surgery in Older Adults (CSOA). In addition to lead presenter Jennifer Kaplan, MD, collaborators in the development of the presentation [...]

U.S. News & World Report Healthday reports on research at UCSF showing that stopping cholesterol-lowering statins before non-cardiac surgery is unnecessary and may increase the risk of death after surgery. Stopping cholesterol-lowering statins before non-cardiac surgery is unnecessary and may increase the risk of death following the operation, researchers report. In their study, doctors from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), found that although the practice of stopping statins before an operation is no longer recommended, many patients are still being told to do [...]

A research team at the UCSF Center for Surgery in Older Adults (CSOA)  including faculty, research residents, staff and students, gave a poster presentation about the UCSF Surgery Wellness Program entitled, Get Fit for Surgery: An Interdisciplinary Geriatric Surgery Wellness Program, at the 5th Annual Quality and Safety Symposium hosted by the UCSF Department of Medicine on May 28, 2015. The presentation reported on early results on this new clinical intervention, which launched in February 2015 at UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay  The goal of the Quality and Safety Innovation Challenge [...]

An abstract by UCSF General Surgery research resident Dr. Jessica Cohan, "Surgical Decision Making in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis: The Patient Perspective", was recently selected for the category  "Best of DDW" (Digestive Disease Week) by the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT). Dr. Cohan will be presenting during the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract's Plenary Session on May 18th from 8:00am to 9:30am. Click here for more information on DDW 2015! In addition, it will be highlighted as part of the Best of DDW session on Tuesday, May 19th from 2:00-4:00 pm in [...]

The Department of Surgery has launched a new program, the UCSF Center for Surgery in Older Adults (CSOA). Led by Emily Finlayson, M.D., M.S., an Associate Professor of Surgery and Health Policy, the program seeks to discover and implement patient-centered best practices in geriatric surgery that will help older patients achieve their treatment goals and maintain independence and vitality. The UCSF Center for Surgery in Older Adults Research Collaborative includes investigators from a broad range of disciplines – surgery, anesthesia, rehabilitation services, geriatrics, palliative care, [...]

"A landmark 1984 study published in Science found that patients recovering from gall bladder surgery recovered more quickly if they were in hospital rooms with a view of trees, as compared to a view of only a brick wall", reports UCSF News in a recent story on the art of healing. "The patients were in the same suburban hospital with the same nurses in rooms that were close to identical, but those who could view nature required less potent painkillers and had shorter postoperative stays. This set the stage for a flurry of other research on design variables in health care settings that posed [...]

The Depatment of Surgery has launched the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) program. Led by Ankit Sarin, M.D., MHA, Assistant Professor of Surgery and Lee-Lynn Chen, M.D. Associate Professor of Anesthesia, ERAS is focused on the improvement of surgical outcomes, development of best practices in perioperative surgical care, and an engaging, proactive patient experience.  ERAS is a pilot program currently focused on colorectal surgery. The expectation is for it to expand to other areas of general surgery, and later to specialties such as thoracic and vascular surgery. The ERAS program [...]

The University of California has awarded 11 grants totaling $5.4 million for multi-site projects designed to improve patient care and reduce the risk of clinical harm to UC surgery patients. About 110,000 patients undergo surgery each year at UC medical centers. The risk fellowship grants include projects to improve outcomes for neurosurgical patients, increase the quality of care for high-risk colorectal surgery patients, and decrease surgical site infections in patients undergoing procedures such as knee and hip replacements throughout UC Health. The UCSF Colorectal Surgery Program is a key [...]

The New York Times reports in its "The New Old Age - Caring and Coping Blog" on the high-risk of performing surgery in older adults, even for otherwised routine operations. Even operations considered fairly routine in younger patients, like appendectomies, become high-risk for nursing home residents. "Something about undergoing anesthesia, the surgery's physiological assault on the body, impacts older people much more than we think," said Dr. Emily Finlayson, an Associate Professor of Surgery at University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of a recent study published in The [...]