A Monthly Digest of Noteworthy Activities and Achievements

The most common procedure employed by physicians is talking – and listening – to patients. Dean Schillinger, whose new book, Telltale Hearts, has received glowing reviews, describes the research on physician-patient communication and offers a roadmap for improving our connection with patients. Read more here.

Academy of Medical Educator Awards

Below are the recipients of this year’s AME Awards:

Excellence in Teaching Awards (pictured left to right, top to bottom): Ritu Bansal, Allison Bond, Sarah Flynn, Nisha Gidwani, Carolyn Hendrickson, Jacklyn Katz, Megan McGrath, Anthony Muiru, Zoe Quandt, and Zakir Safdar. (Not pictured: Christian Lee-Rodriguez)

Excellence in Interprofessional Teaching Awards (pictured left to right): Laurence Huang, Lev Malevanchik, and Arun Padmanabhan. Excellence in Mentoring Awards: Rose Monahan and Diana Thiara. (Not pictured: Christina Pham)

Other Honors and News

Michelle Albert was honored with the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Association of Black Cardiologists.

Sheiphali Gandhi and Monica Yang received the Irene Perstein Award from the UCSF School of Medicine and the Mount Zion Health Fund.

Tim Judson has been appointed interim chief population health officer at UCSF Health.

Jacquelyn Maher announced she will step down as chief of Gastroenterology at ZSFG in September, 2025.

Lisa Rotenstein was awarded the Lisa Seema Sonnad Award for an Emerging Leader in Managed Care from the American Journal of Managed Care and appointed the inaugural director of DoC-IT's new Center to Advance Digital Physician Practice Transformation (ADAPT).

Ward 86, managed by the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at ZSFG, received the Cleve Jones Leadership Award at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation Tribute Gala.

DOM in the News

John Balmes reported that wildfire smoke disproportionately affects low-income communities (Los Angeles Times) and underscored the link between wildfire smoke exposure and children’s cognitive development (KQED).

Peter Chin-Hong observed that the new COVID subvariant XEC is not drastically different from previous strains, making the current vaccine a good match for protection (ABC News, Los Angeles Times). He also advised that October is the ideal time for vaccination (NBC News, Los Angeles Times).

Monica Gandhi noted that COVID levels in wastewater had significantly decreased (ABC News), though there is concern about the potential for more transmissible strains (NBC News).

Alison Huang emphasized that incontinence is common and that hatha yoga and strength exercises could improve bladder control (KCBS).

Kelly Johnson clarified that the mpox vaccine might not offer permanent protection, but it will reduce the risk of severe illness (New York Times).

Karla Kerlikowske cautioned that citing breast density results on mammography reports could lead to unnecessary testing (Wall Street Journal).

Pamela Ling suggested using a public health framework for cannabis regulation, drawing on best practices from tobacco and alcohol control (NPR).

Gregory Marcus shared growing evidence that the caffeine in tea and coffee might improve cardiovascular health (CNN). He also described the heterogeneous effect of alcohol on the risk of atrial fibrillation (KCBS).

Neil Powe suggested removing race from kidney disease calculators to promote a change in perspective (STAT News).

Michael Steinman warned that, while gabapentin can be prescribed for various off-label uses, caution should be exercised, particularly around its long-term use (NPR).

Eleanor Bimla Schwarz found that tubal sterilization is slightly less effective than previously thought (HealthDay).

Jeffrey Tice questioned whether 3D mammograms detect cancers early enough to prevent them from progressing (NPR).

Katherine Van Loon warned that any level of alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing certain cancers (CBS News).

Eric Widera observed that certain medical practices, such as prescribing thickened liquids for dementia patients, persist despite limited evidence of their effectiveness (New York Times).

Brandon Yan suggested reducing election anxiety by mentally preparing for both possible outcomes and deciding how to respond to each in advance (KPIX).

Recent Grants of Note

Sue Lynch and team: a grant of $8M over two years from the NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs to develop the Quantitative Metabolite Analysis Center (QMAC) at the Parnassus Heights campus.

Annie Luetkemeyer and team: a grant of $7.6M over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project entitled, “The Doxy-PEP Impact Study: a multi-city US longitudinal cohort to evaluate doxy-PEP field effectiveness, investigate associated antimicrobial resistance, and establish doxy-PEP to need ratios.”

Lekshmi Santhosh, Michael Peluso, Vivek Jain, and Edwin Charlebois: a grant of $5M over five years from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for a project entitled, “Broadening the scale and impact of a comprehensive Long COVID clinic to serve diverse patient groups with multidisciplinary care and research access.”

Matthew Spinelli: a grant of $4M over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project entitled, “Randomized directly observed therapy study to interpret clinical trials of doxy-PEP.”

Recent Publications of Note

Ahmad Y, Reddy RK, Mehta SR. Myocardial infarction and multivessel disease: completing the story. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2024 Aug 22. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

Darboe F, Reijneveld JF, Maison DP... Suliman S. Unmasking the hidden impact of viruses on tuberculosis risk. Trends Immunol. 2024 Sep;45:649-661. >> PubMed Citation

Hessler DM, Fisher L, Guzman S... Masharani U. EMBARK: a randomized, controlled trial comparing three approaches to reducing diabetes distress and improving HbA1c in adults with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2024 Aug 1;47:1370-1378. >> PubMed Citation

Loeb, G.B., Kathail, P., Shuai, R.W. Variants in tubule epithelial regulatory elements mediate most heritable differences in human kidney function. Nat Genet 2024 Jun 22:2024.06.18.599625. >> PubMed Citation

Mannon RB, Vincenti F. Poised for innovation: considerations for end points for new drug development in kidney transplantation. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2024 Aug 05. Epub ahead of print. >> PubMed Citation

McMahan RD, Sudore RL. Making advance care planning easier for adults with kidney disease and their clinicians. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2024 Sep;20:564-565. >> PubMed Citation

Moslehi JJ. Cardio-oncology: a new clinical frontier and novel platform for cardiovascular investigation. Circulation. 2024 Aug 13;150:513-515. >> PubMed Citation

Sprague BL, Ichikawa L, Eavey J... Kerlikowske K. Performance of supplemental US screening in women with dense breasts and varying breast cancer risk: results from the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. Radiology. 2024 Aug;312:e232380. >> PubMed Citation

Tsao T, Qiu L, Bharti R, Shemesh A... Greenland NY...Hays SR... Singer JP... Looney MR, Greenland JR, Calabrese DR. CD94+ natural killer cells potentiate pulmonary ischemia-reperfusion injury. Eur Respir J. 2024 Sep 26;64:2302171. >> PubMed Citation

Weinstein HNW, Hu K, Fish L... Song H... Huang FW. RPL22 is a tumor suppressor in MSI-high cancers and a splicing regulator of MDM4. Cell Rep. 2024 Aug 27;43:114622. >> PubMed Citation

Writing Committee, Hollenberg SM, Stevenson LW... Teerlink JR. 2024 ACC Expert consensus decision pathway on clinical assessment, management, and trajectory of patients hospitalized with heart failure focused update: a report of the American College of Cardiology Solution Set Oversight Committee. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2024 Sep 24;84:1241-1267. >> PubMed Citation

Zeme EL, Van Loon K, Kelley RK, Gordan JD. Emerging therapies for the management of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-/ERBB2- altered advanced biliary tract cancers. J Clin Oncol. Sep 20;42:3170-3176. >> PubMed Citation


See all 227 DOM-authored publications from last month.

Featured Events

Core Fair
Learn more about equipment and services available for your research and meet with Core directors, managers, and staff for in-depth insights.
Tuesday, October 22 | 1:00 pm-3:30 pm
Click here for more information.

New Faculty Orientation Session
The orientation provides an opportunity to meet DOM leadership and hear from a panel of early-career faculty on their top tips for thriving at UCSF.
Wednesday, October 30 | 9:00 am-1:00 pm
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