Department of Medicine Newsletter

Julia Adler-Milstein (left) and Diane Havlir were elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Adler-Milstein is associate professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF Health and director of Center for Clinical Informatics and Improvement Research (CLIIR). Havlir is professor and chief of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at ZSFG, and associate chair for clinical research for the Department of Medicine. Their election raises the UCSF representation in the NAM to a total of 110 members, of whom 20 are DOM faculty. See the announcement here.

The Stupski Foundation awarded $2.5 million to the Palliative Care Program at ZSFG and $1.5M to the Division of Palliative Medicine at UCSF Health to enhance outpatient services, advance care planning, caregiver support, psychosocial needs assessment, and community links for patients with serious illness.

POP-UP, the new medical program at ZSFG's Ward 86 serving homeless patients living with HIV, received a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Paula Lum received the Norman E. Zinberg Award for Achievement in the Field of Medicine at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference.

John Balmes was quoted in a U.S. News and World Report article explaining the impact of green spaces on stress and cardiovascular health.

Neal Benowitz was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article and a New York Times article regarding his concerns about the use of vaping products.

Chris Cassel was quoted in a Washington Post article discussing how systemic changes are needed to alleviate physician burnout. Cassel co-chaired a major National Academy of Medicine report on clinician burnout and well-being.

Steven Deeks was quoted in a Science magazine article discussing in vivo gene editing as a potential cure for HIV.

Nisha Parikh was interviewed on KQED News discussing research on the health effects of lowering red meat consumption.

Emily Silverman wrote an op-ed in the New York Times describing how it feels when your electronic health record is constantly reminding you of your "deficiencies."

Maya Vijayaraghavan wrote a poignant Washington Post perspective describing her grief process after her husband's (a UCSF radiologist) passing from a form of ALS.

NEWLY AWARDED GRANTS

Elaine Ku and team: a grant of $3.5M over 5 years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for a project entitled, “Reaching equity for adults and children in transplant.”

Laurence Huang, Susan Lynch, Prescott Woodruff, Stephanie Christenson, and team: a grant of $3M over 4 years from the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute for a project entitled, “Integrated analysis of microbial and genomic data in obstructive lung disease study.”

Kathleen Liu and team: a grant of $2.7M over 5 years from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for a project entitled, “Code-AKI: Conservative dialysis to enhance AKI recovery.”