A Monthly Digest of Noteworthy Activities and Achievements

The past year tested us, and it also highlighted what makes the Department of Medicine strong: collaboration, resilience, and a shared commitment to patients, science, and each other. As we enter 2026, we do so with clarity and confidence in what we can build together.

Honors and News

Gato Gourley is the new manager for the Division of Clinical Informatics and Digital Transformation (DoC-IT), in addition to his Division of Health and Society role.

Marlene Martin has been appointed the physician chief of care experience at at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

2026: The Next Phase of Clinical Growth

UCSF Health is entering a period of significant change with the expansion of its clinical footprint across the Bay Area. Bob Wachter discusses the strategy behind this growth and the key questions that it raises for the DOM. Read more here.

Other Honors and News

Carolyn Calfee and Michael Matthay launched the UCSF Center for Precision Research in Critical Care to advance data-driven, precision care for critically ill patients, with a focus on recovery and quality of life.

Danielle Chammas received the Award for Humanities in Palliative Care from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (correction to a previous newsletter).

Jessie Holtzman was named a 2025 Cardiovascular Clinical Trials (CVCT) Research Scholar by Women As One, recognizing her leadership in advancing equity and innovation in cardiovascular clinical research.

Division Chief Survey

In early February, you will receive an email from Heather Nye, Neil Powe, or Bob Wachter, depending on your divisional site, inviting you to complete a very brief survey on your division chief’s performance. The survey is intended to gather feedback from faculty and staff in support of our chiefs’ leadership growth. Your input will be important to this effort, and we thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. Details will be provided in the email.

DOM in the News

Kendall Beck explained that rising inflammatory bowel disease diagnoses among adults over 65 prompted UCSF to launch a first-of-its-kind clinic, offering integrated geriatric care (San Francisco Chronicle, KCBS Radio, Hoodline).

Neal Benowitz detailed how “thirdhand smoke,” toxic tobacco residue that lingers on indoor surfaces, can be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed and poses particular risks for children and other vulnerable groups (Medical Xpress, New York Post).

Allison Bond noted that shared spaces and surfaces drive the spread of norovirus and flu, emphasizing handwashing to reduce risk as cases rise in the Bay Area (KCBS Radio).

Peter Chin-Hong described how norovirus spreads and how to prevent it (New York Times, Los Angeles Times). He stated that vaccination can still reduce severe illness as a new flu strain circulates (ABC News) and cited the safety of the hepatitis B (CBS News, CNN, Fox News) and COVID vaccines, noting that a proposed FDA “black box” warning for the latter could increase hesitancy (Scientific American).

Steven Deeks and Rachel Rutishauser highlighted how a multi-part immune therapy helped some people with HIV suppress the virus for months after stopping daily medication, pointing to immune cells that may enable longer-term control (Washington Post, Science, Newsweek, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner).

Monica Gandhi said NIH funding cuts have disproportionately slowed HIV research, jeopardizing hard-won progress in prevention and treatment for communities at highest risk (KQED Forum).

Chi-yuan Hsu described how a new approach to acute kidney injury could help more patients safely come off dialysis and recover kidney function (San Francisco Chronicle, Medscape).

Sarah Kim discusses how blood sugar can spike around holiday eating and when continuous glucose monitors may be useful for people with prediabetes (NPR Short Wave).

Margot Kushel said Housing First works best when people are housed earlier, and that expanding affordable housing is crucial to preventing homelessness and improving health (New York Times). She pointed to Santa Clara County’s success stabilizing homelessness through prevention and permanent housing, despite high housing costs (Mercury News).

Chaz Langelier stressed that antibiotic resistance is accelerating faster than new ones can be developed, underscoring the urgent need for novel antibiotics to combat deadly superbugs (San Francisco Chronicle).

Amir Munir said it may be possible to reduce the risk of rare post-vaccine myocarditis while preserving the strong protective benefits of COVID vaccines (KQED).

Pamela Munster emphasized that NIH funding underpins nearly every major cancer therapy, fueling the early discoveries that make new treatments possible (KQED Forum).

Diana Thiara noted that ending Medi-Cal coverage for weight-loss drugs will be harmful to patients, as out-of-pocket costs will remain prohibitive (Los Angeles Times) and advised those on weight-loss drugs to stay consistent with healthy routines during the holidays (San Francisco Chronicle).

Robert Wachter said AI is improving diagnosis and accelerating discovery in medicine, but stressed the need to keep clinicians “in the loop” (CBS News). He urged cautious optimism around ChatGPT Health, noting that while personal medical data can add useful context, AI is no substitute for clinical judgment (Time Magazine).

Recent Grants of Note

Tatsuya Tsukui: a grant of $3.2M over five years from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for a project entitled, “Role of pathologic fibroblast subsets unique to silicosis.”

Noah Younger: a grant of $1.2M over four years from the DOD Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) for a project entitled, “Investigating the Canonical Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (cPRC1) as an Intrinsic Mechanism of Resistance to Enzalutamide in Advanced Prostate Cancer.”

Recent Publications of Note

Ayati A, Azzam S, Ko S… Wang M… Rudrapatna VA. Quantifying Barriers to Diabetic Eye Screening: A Two-Center Study at the University of California. Diabetes Care. 2025 Nov 1;48(11):1914-1919. >> PubMed Citation

Baugh AD, Campbell J. Does Excluding Participants Improve Our Understanding of Lung Function? Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2025 Nov;211(11):1994-1995. >> PubMed Citation

Butler B, Velazquez AI, Trejo E, Huppert LA, Hsu G, Babik JM, Santhosh L. How do Internal Medicine Residents from Different Backgrounds Make Subspecialty Career Choices? A Qualitative Analysis. J Gen Intern Med. 2025 Nov 21. >> PubMed Citation

Cheng MKW, Eseigbe MO, Orozco JH... Effectiveness of Mailed Patient Activation Letters for Blood Pressure Control: A Randomized Quality Improvement Trial. J Gen Intern Med. 2025 Nov 4. doi: 10.1007/s11606-025-09946-0. >> PubMed Citation

Grady D, Inouye SK, Rittenberg E. Hormone Therapy for Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms-Better Understanding Cardiovascular Risk. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Nov 1;185(11):1340. >> PubMed Citation

Holmgren AJ. Rapid Growth in Patient Portal Messages Underscores the Need for Actionable Paths Forward. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2025 Nov;9:e2500283. Epub 2025 Nov 3. >> PubMed Citation

Lee JY, Reyes N, Woo SH, Allen NC, Kadota T, Lechner A, Biswas R… Tsukui T, Auyeung V… AS, LaFave LM, Peng T. Senolytic-sensitive p16Ink4a+ fibroblasts in the tumor stroma rewire lung cancer metabolism and plasticity. Cell Stem Cell. 2025 Dec 4;32(12):1869-1885.e8. Epub 2025 Nov 3. >> PubMed Citation

Liu KD, Siew ED, Tuot DS… Hsu CY. A Conservative Dialysis Strategy and Kidney Function Recovery in Dialysis-Requiring Acute Kidney Injury: The Liberation From Acute Dialysis (LIBERATE-D) Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2025 Nov 7:e2521530. >> PubMed Citation

McGowan SK, Gershengorn HB, Sudler A, Espejo E, Boscardin J, Li L, Smith AK… Kim S, Brender T, Vossler K… Patient Race and Preferred Language Influence the Use of Physical Restraints on Nonintubated Intensive Care Unit Patients. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2025 Nov;22(11):1729-1737. >> PubMed Citation

Peluso MJ, Sandel DA, Deitchman AN, Kim SJ, Dalhuisen T, Tummala HP, Tibúrcio R, Zemelko L, Borgo GM, Singh SS, Schwartz K, Deswal M, Williams MC, Hoh R, Shimoda M… Khalili M… Henrich TJ, Yukl SA… Deeks SG, Rutishauser RL. Correlates of HIV-1 control after combination immunotherapy. Nature. 2025 Dec 1. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Phan HV, Spottiswoode N, Lydon EC… Cuesta A, Kazberouk AD, Richmond NL, Deosthale P, Calfee CS, Langelier CR. Integrating a host biomarker with a large language model for diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infection. Nat Commun. 2025 Dec 16;16(1):10882. >> PubMed Citation

Prasad PA, Hubbard CC, Cenzer I, Boscardin J, Weerahandi H. Health service use and work related outcomes in older adults with functional and cognitive impairments during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health. 2025 Nov 7;25(1):3846. >> PubMed Citation

Salazar J, Coffey S, Bloome J, Hickey MD, Fleming L, Franco S, Suarez A, Havlir D, Sauceda JA, Gandhi M, Christopoulos KA. Outcomes of Rapid Restart Among People With Previously Diagnosed HIV at a Safety-Net HIV Clinic in San Francisco. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2025 Nov 1;100(3):256-264. >> PubMed Citation

Schinke C, Rodriguez-Otero P, van de Donk NWCJ… Chari A. Infections and parameters of humoral immunity with talquetamab in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in MonumenTAL-1. Blood Adv. 2025 Nov 25;9(22):5752-5762. >> PubMed Citation

Tieu L, Lyles CR, Kim HC, Luna I, Wong J, Lopez-Solano N, Li J, Yang A…, Nguyen OK…, Neilands TB, Khoong EC. A self-report measure of digital skills needed to use digital health tools among older adults-the Skills Measurement and Readiness Training for Digital Health (SMART Digital Health) Scale. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2025 Nov 1;32(11):1674-1684. >> PubMed Citation

See all 61 DOM-authored publications from last month.

This list is generated by UCSF Profiles. Missing publications may be due to a system lag and will be included in an upcoming newsletter.

Featured Events

Building Meaningful Community Partnerships: Navigating PCORI Funding Opportunities
Join to gain a practical overview of building strong, reciprocal community partnerships that strengthen PCORI research proposals.
Thursday, January 22 | 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Click here for more information.

Culture, Positivity, and Health: Links, Mechanisms, and Future Interventions
Join this talk on how culturally grounded strengths can inform inclusive interventions and advance health equity.
Tuesday, January 27 | 12:00 pm-1:00 pm
Click here for more information.

Follow @UCSFDOM on X (formerly Twitter). For questions, comments, or suggestions, email the webmaster.

UCSF Department of Medicine
505 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143
medicine.ucsf.edu