Department of Surgery News

SF Wraparound Director, Dr. Rochelle Dicker provides insight into the growth of hospital intervention programs for patients who are injured as a result of violence.  The following Washington Post article reports that patients with gunshot or stab wounds are more likely to be re-injured, especially if their circumstances do not change after injury. In addition to being more likely to face issues of domestic violence, mental illness, and substance abuse, a lack of stable housing and poverty are stressors that can result in health problems. Research finds that the need for intervention is [...]

Innovative research by Professor David M. Young, MD is featured in a special report in The Chronicle of Higher Education examining the extent to which universities can actually transform their discoveries into tangible solutions benefiting society at large. The Chronicle report highlights a UCSF Department of Surgery effort led by Dr. Young, in collaboration with UC Berkeley engineers, to develop an electronic "smart bandage" that will prevent bedsores and warn of dangerous infections. The report highlights the growing efforts by universities to translate discoveries into marketable [...]

In his 33-year career as a conceptual artist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, John Maduell illustrated futuristic technologies few others could imagine. But he never envisioned the toll diabetes and vascular disease would take on his body—or that one day he might lose his legs because of these problems.  Maduell's troubles started two years ago when he developed a diabetic ulcer on his left foot. "Before I knew it, I was in the hospital, with three toes amputated," he says. Still, the wound didn't heal, and Maduell, who now lives and paints in Modesto, was told removing the [...]

Jennifer Kaplan, M.D., a research resident in the UCSF General Surgery Residency Program, won the John Halverson Young Investigator Award at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery held in conjunction with "ObesityWeek", for the abstract and presentation: "The Benefit and Cost Effectiveness of Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass Stems Largely From Resolution of Metabolic Disease, Not Just Weight Loss", co-authored by Dr. Kaplan and UCSF faculty in the Departments of Surgery and Medicine.   The Haverson award is given for "demonstrated excellence in [...]

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 [...]

Department of Surgery research fellows recently gave presentations at Grand Rounds (December 2nd and 9th) in conjunction with general surgery resident interviews for the Class of 2016-2017. Peter G. Stock, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Surgery, and Chair of the Research Committee moderated the sessions. The list of presenters providing updates from their labs included: December 2, 2015 Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion - Rehabilitating Marginal Donor Lungs, Barbara Hamilton, MD The Benefit and Cost Effectiveness of Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass Stems Largely From Resolution of Metabolic Disease, [...]

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports on legendary coach John Madden's open-heart surgery performed at UCSF Medical Center on November 30, 2015:  Pro Football Hall of Fame coach John Madden is "fine and feisty" and already well along the road to a full recovery from open-heart surgery at the UCSF Medical Center on Nov. 30, family sources told The Sports Xchange on Thursday. Madden moved to an in-patient Oakland rehabilitation facility Wednesday and will reside there the next couple of weeks, but is described as "already well along the road" to a full recovery. Madden, who will be 80 years [...]

UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital have launched a new publication, "Transplant News", providing "a more comprehensive approach to communicating the latest breakthroughs available to the patients and families we serve" in the words of John P. Roberts, M.D., Professor and Chief of the UCSF Division of Transplant Surgery and the Transplant Service at UCSF Medical Center.  The inaugural issue includes the following stories: A Passion for Quality: An Interview with Transplant Surgeon Ryutaro Hirose UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco Opens at Mission [...]

The San Francisco General Hospital Foundation announced on Yahoo Finance/Marketwired "its public-private partnership to ensure high quality health care for all San Franciscans, a milestone marked with the dedication and ribbon cutting at the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center".  SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - November 21, 2015) Today, San Francisco General Hospital Foundation was joined by Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Mayor Ed Lee, city officials, hospital staff, patients and hundreds of San Francisco residents to celebrate [...]

UCSF News reports on new research of the Pomerantz Lab suggesting that future efforts to regrow or regenerate human tissue may require blocking the activity of a tumor-suppressor gene, ARF. The research involved adding the human ARF gene to a zebrafish, which prevented its normal ability to regenerate tissue, here the fish's tail fin that had been cut off. The research was led by Jason Pomerantz, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Surgical Director of the UCSF Craniofacial Center, and Director of the Pomerantz Lab. The lead author on the [...]

The Department of Surgery recently launched a new website for the Pomerantz Lab. The site showcases the laboratory's research focused on harnessing regeneration biology to drive clinical advances in reconstructive and craniofacial medicine. Led by Jason Pomerantz, MD, Associate Professor in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Surgical Director of the UCSF Craniofacial Center, the laboratory studies basic and translational aspects of tissue regeneration. Its research is closely intertwined with regenerative medicine. With foundations in muscle and cancer biology, it [...]

UCSF News reports on a new science image and video competition, the first of its kind at UCSF.  An image submitted by Xiaoti Xu, M.D., UCSF Plastic Surgery Resident and alumni of the Pomerantz Lab, developed with the help of Hua Tian, Ph.D., a specialist in the lab, was among the top 15 finalists out of more than 140 entries and appeared in the accompanying slideshow to the story. A mouth forms as a single celled animal prepares to multiply, a mutant heart stutters and within a lung, a cell shatters into fragments that keep blood healthy. These are only a sampling of the stunning visuals [...]

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 [...]

UCSF News reports on the latest developments in the quest to create a surgically implantable artificial kidney and the award of a $6 million NIH grant to a research team led by Shuvo Roy, Ph.D., Professor of Bioengineering & Surgery, Director of the Biodesign Laboratory at Mission Bay, and Engineering Director of the UCSF Surgical Innovations Program, and Vanderbilt University nephrologist William Fissell, MD. Development of a surgically implantable, artificial kidney – a promising alternative to kidney transplantation or dialysis for people with end-stage kidney disease – has received [...]

The Chico News and Review reports on the journey of Richard Wodrich to the double lung transplant he received at UCSF Medical Center for treatment of irreversible and incurable chronic lung disease. The transplant was performed by Dr. Jasleen Kukreja, Surgical Director of the UCSF Lung Transplant Program.  Longtime local bluegrass musician Richard Wodrich loves to sing and play guitar, but that became progressively more difficult over the last decade or so, to the point where he had trouble just breathing—let alone playing music. About four years ago, he was formally diagnosed with chronic [...]

Exome, an online journal of biotech, healthcare, and life sciences, reports on a new clinical study in breast cancer patients led by Jasmine M. Wong, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery in the Division of General Surgery, Section of Breastcare Surgery. The clinical trial at UCSF will be evaluating, AVB-620, a diagnostic agent that helps surgeons differentiate cancerous tissue from healthy tissue in real time. San Diego's Avelas Biosciences says today that UC San Francisco has begun enrolling women who face breast cancer surgery in a clinical trial for AVB-620, a diagnostic agent [...]

Minnie M. Sarwal M.D., Ph.D., FRCP, DCH will speak at the 10th annual PMWC Conference in San Francisco that runs from January 24 - 27, 2016. Her talk will be on the use of molecular diagnostics in organ transplantation to better detect rejection, and improving the management of transplant patients  through proactively to preserve organ function. Dr. Sarwal has over 30 years of clinical experience and 25 years of research experience in translational immunogenetics, genomics, proteomics and informatics. She holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics from Cambridge University, under the mentorship of [...]

Two (2) Department of Surgery research teams were awarded seed funding totaling $40,000 to accelerate their medical device innovations. The Roboimplant device, an expandable rod for orthopaedic surgery applications, took top honors, with the Sentinel Bandage, a non-invasive technology for wound monitoring, taking second place. The awards were given at the UCSF Surgical Innovations Program's inaugural Shark Tank competition on September 24th at UCSF Mission Bay.  Four teams of finalists pitched their innovations to a panel of experts in regulatory affairs, product development, and venture [...]

The 6th UCSF-Caltech Innovation Symposium will be held on Saturday, November 7, 2015 at Caltech in Pasadena. UCSF faculty across the campus are encouraged to bring innovative ideas that need technical collaboration from Caltech scientists with expertise in polymer chemistry, engineering, imaging, chemical engineering, and microfluidics. UCSF faculty will present a potential innovation to the Caltech group to form a collaborative effort designed to create a novel device or diagnostic. Initial feasibility testing would occur in the labs at Caltech, and subsequent preclinical studies would be [...]

The UCSF Division of Transplant Surgery is pleased to announce that Garrett R. Roll, M.D., FACS, recently joined the division as Assistant Professor Of Clinical Surgery. Dr. Roll is a transplant surgeon specializing in kidney, liver and pancreas transplantation, and in hepatobiliary surgery. Dr. Roll attended Boston College as an undergraduate and received his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine. He completed his general surgery residency at UCSF, where he also completed a fellowship in abdominal transplant surgery. During his residency, Dr. Roll served as chief resident [...]