Department of Medicine Newsletter

Welcome to our new DOM faculty members! There are 107 of them, with 90 based at UCSF Health, 15 at ZSFG, and two at the VA. Our new faculty are a vital source of energy and innovation, and we are confident that they will take UCSF and our department to even greater heights. See the list of new faculty and orientation dates.

Our fellows make extraordinary contributions to our department. Each year, our internal medicine residents honor a fellow in every division. This year, Shannon Walker, cardiology fellow (top left), was selected as the overall Fellow of the Year. Awardees in each of the divisions were:
(Top row, left to right): Allen Chao (Nephrology), Colette Dejong (Core Cardiology), Timothy Dyster (Pulmonary), Tina Hu (Endocrinology), Shadi Kalantarian (Cardiac Electrophysiology), and Nathan Karp (Rheumatology)
(Bottom row, left to right): Alexander Kazberouk (Geriatrics), Vipul Kumar (Hematology/Oncology), Hedieh Matinrad (Hospice and Palliative Care), Daniel Minter (Infectious Diseases), Surabhi Nirkhe (Addiction Medicine), Akshay Ravi (Clinical Informatics), and Chelsea Xu (Gastroenterology)

Michelle Albert appeared on a Medscape podcast discussing the Association of Black Cardiologists' diversity scorecard for cardiovascular training programs.

Judith Auerbach was quoted in STAT News cautioning that messaging on how monkeypox spreads can be misinterpreted.

Neal Benowitz was featured in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal describing how his research prompted the Biden administration to propose reducing the nicotine in cigarettes.

Stephanie Cheng was quoted in the Washington Post explaining that a cancer diagnosis can challenge a patient’s sense of identity.

Peter Chin-Hong was quoted in the AP News saying that travel restrictions haven't prevented new variants from spreading. He also appeared on ABC News warning that meningococcal disease can be deadly and on On Air with Ryan Seacrest explaining Justin Bieber’s diagnosis, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome.

Monica Gandhi wrote op-eds for Medscape and the Atlantic urging vaccinations against monkeypox. She was also quoted in Healthline saying that Covid vaccinations are more effective than mask mandates.

Timothy Henrich was interviewed by the BBC explaining that PET scanning can find persistent viruses like HIV and possibly Covid in the body.

Lekshmi Santhosh was interviewed on the New York Times' Ezra Klein podcast clarifying what is known and not known about long Covid.

Bob Wachter wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post about the risk of developing long Covid. He was also interviewed on ABC7 News discussing his family's experience with long Covid and on KQED explaining who should take Paxlovid. He and Peter Chin-Hong were quoted in the SF Chronicle about whether getting Covid is inevitable for everyone.

RECENT GRANTS OF NOTE

Steven Yukl and team: a grant of over $7.8M over 5 years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project entitled, “The heterogeneous HIV expressing reservoir: dynamics, persistence mechanisms, tissue distribution, and contribution to rebound.”

Edward Gerstenfeld and team: a grant of $4M over 5 years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a project entitled, “Elucidating mechanistic relationships between atrial ectopy, atrial remodeling and atrial fibrillation.”

Uma Mahadevan and team: a grant of $1.5M over 3 years from the Helmsley Charitable Trust for a project entitled, “Pregnancy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease And Neonatal Outcomes (PIANO).”