Monthly Newsletter | February 2026

DHM faculty, staff, and fellows kicked 2026 off with some great events! The annual after-the-holidays holiday party was on January 9 at The Vault Garden.

On January 15, we held our annual all-division retreat, with special guest speakers Drs. Katie Raffel and Jeff Glasheen from the University of Colorado Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety, and Efficiency who led a workshop on leadership and change management.

On January 20, we had a visiting delegation from Chi Mei Medical Center.

Meet DHM

Get to know our division by reading our faculty and staff interviews!

Adeena Khan will be taking over the formal role of advising on Preliminary Medicine applications starting in April.

Sunny Kishore was named a Senior Physician Advisor in Population Health, UC Office of the President.

Community Corner

Welcome to the heart of DHM! This spot is all about keeping you in the loop on all things community — highlights from last month's events, snapshots of fun moments, and a heads-up on what's coming up next month. Keep an eye here for dates, details, and photos that celebrate our DHM community spirit! Reach out to Rosemary Yau to share yours.

Upcoming Event:

Let's debrief the Olympics, prep for March Madness, and talk details for Nashville at our February Happy Hour! Bites are funded by DHM CBC, but drinks will be self-pay.

Date: Thursday February 26th 4-6 pm (tab closes at 6 pm but you're welcome to stay longer)

Location: Underdog Tres,1224 9th Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94122

Join the CBC team or suggest an event here!

Equity & Belonging in Hospital Medicine

We'll have time in the February 23rd Monday Social Medicine Noon Meeting to go over and practice the protocol listed here.

If federal law enforcement officials, including ICE officers, visit any UCSF office, here are the recommended steps to take:

First Steps If You Are Frontline Staff & Faculty

In non-clinical settings

• The first call should be to the UCSF Police (415-476-1414) to let them know that immigration officers are on campus.

In the hospital:

• Contact the House Supervisor, Nursing Supervisor, or Resource Nurse On-Call according to site:

Parnassus

• Voalte Role: Hospital Supervisor Parn
• Voalte Phone: 415-353-8036
• Office Phone: 415-353-1964

Mission Bay

• Voalte Role: Adult MBCRN and RRT
• Voalte Phone: 415-502-0562
• Office Phone: 415-885-3833

Mount Zion 

• Voalte Role: Adult MZCRN and RRT
• Voalte Phone: 628-248-9911
• Office Phone: 415-502-9134

Stanyan

• Voalte Role: SMH Nursing Supervisor
• Voalte Phone: 415-297-1798 

The supervisor on-call will contact the Administrator-On-Call. If required, you can also contact the AOC directly:

• West Bay AOC Pager: 415-443-9097
• Notify Nerys Benfield when contacting AOC at Parnassus, or Lauren Linett when contacting AOC from Stanyan.

Next Steps:

1. Remain calm. Tell the agents that it is University policy to cooperate with legal requests from law enforcement.
2. Show the law enforcement official to a conference room, preferably away from any immediate patient care area, and inform them that you must contact your manager or house supervisor and University counsel for assistance and that you will do that right away.
3. Politely ask that they wait until your manager and University counsel are present before continuing with their duties.
4. Immediately contact your manager and University counsel and inform them that law enforcement agents are on the premises.
5. While waiting, ask for and review each official’s badge/identification and write down the information (you may not copy a badge or ID without consent) and also ask for business cards from all persons.
6. If you receive pushback, explain to the official that you are not obstructing their process but need to contact your manager and University counsel for assistance.
7. Once they have been notified, the manager or house supervisor will contact the AOC. The AOC, in turn, will contact the UCSF Chief of Police, the Vice Chancellor for Communications, and the Office of Legal Affairs.
8. More information on these steps here.

If a student is detained:  

• Please reach out to UC Immigrant Legal Services Center (UCIMM)
• Point of contact, Staff Attorney: Grace Alano

Email: grace.ucimm@law.ucdavis.edu

Additionally, please make yourself aware of the following resources provided by UC: 

• An FAQ about responding to potential situations on UCSF property.
• A "Know Your Rights" card that has been updated for 2025.

The PFAC: Updates

Guinn Dunn visited the PFAC to get feedback on the phone script that Connie Li uses in the patient discharge logistics phone call that is moving from the pilot phase. There was lots of positive reinforcement from the PFAC on how important this new process is for patients and families, with many wishing they could have experienced this call with Connie. 

If you'd like to visit the PFAC as a guest or presenter, email Martha to be added to the next available meeting!

- Signed, the PFAC facilitator team, Jeannie, Martha, and Mia

Photo of 3 PFAC members, Darryl, Harry, and Michelle

Himali Weerahandi coauthored a recently published study in BMC Health Services Research that explored whether hospitals with disparities in readmissions were more likely to invest in equity efforts, finding instead that hospital characteristics (e.g., location, teaching status, etc.) were stronger predictors of equity initiatives.

Himali Weerahandi is the lead author of a recently published study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine that examined hospitalist perspectives on transitions of care programs. The study found that many hospitals favor disease-specific programs, which are effective at reducing rehospitalizations for narrow conditions but may inadvertently contribute to inequities and care fragmentation, particularly for patients with multimorbidity and health-related social needs.

Sunny Kishore published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine titled "The Hypertension Control Paradox - Why is America Stuck?" The article reviews gaps in incentives, information and care delivery to explain why the US has stalled.

Liz Dzeng, Julia Axelrod, Sofia Weiss Goitiandia, and Amber Martin, as well as former DHM members Sharifa Brooks-Smith-Lowe, Catthi Ly, and Lorraine Pereira, published a paper led by former UCSF internal medicine resident, Natalie Sohn, on hospital staff perspectives and experiences of racism and its impact on care of hospitalized Black adults in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. 

Madison Sui

"Maddi, thank you so much for all of your support for the wards service, including helping us stay organized for faculty orientations, Big Sib matching, and expectations for rotating students. We really appreciate your support! … I hope you know how much we value your assistance and organization, it is a tremendous help in keeping us on track!"



-Molly Kantor