News & Events

UCSF News reports on the award of a $2 million grant by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to a team led by Claus Niemann, MD, Associate Professor in the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care and co-Director of the Ischemic Organ Injury Lab to improve outcomes in organ donor transplantation.  The grant was awarded to Niemann and his collaborators including John Feiner, MD, as well as Ryutaro Hirose, MD, and John Roberts, MD, chief of the UCSF Transplant Service. Also collaborating on the project are the California Transplant Donor Network and Darren [...]

UCSF has been accredited by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) as a Level 1 Accredited Bariatric Center (ACS BSCN). The American College of Surgeons Bariatric Surgery Center Network Accreditation Program (ACS BSCN) accredits facilities in the United States that have undergone an independent, voluntary and rigorous peer evaluation in accordance with nationally recognized bariatric surgical standards. This adds to the prestige of the program which previously also earned the Blue Distinction for Bariatric Surgery   from Blue Shield of California and was designated a Blue Cross "Center of [...]

"Fatty liver disease is an increasingly prevalent condition that is poorly understood," Weiss said. "We knew that growth hormone had been linked to fatty liver, but previous reports showed that it both causes and cures the condition. We set out to figure out why that happens."

Dr. John Roberts, UCSF professor and chief of transplant surgery, has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (OPTN/UNOS) Board of Directors. Roberts will serve a one-year term beginning in June 2011 and will become the organization's president in June 2012.

Last year, a team led by Dr. Peter Stock of UCSF reported on results from a large multicenter study testing the safety and feasibility of transplanting kidneys where both the donor and recipients were infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The results, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the recipients survived nearly as long as non-HIV infected recipients of kidney transplants. As a result of the Stock-led trial, and a just-published paper from Johns Hopkins projecting that 500 to 600 H.I.V.-infected livers and kidneys would become available each year if the [...]

"Previously, Uruguay had tried to go it alone, but high mortality rates soon caused doctors to shut the program down. After their initial visit, the UCSF transplant team, including anesthesiologist Claus U. Niemann, MD (pictured first), and surgeons Ryutaro Hirose, MD (pictured second), and Peter Stock, MD, PhD, (pictured third) continued to consult with the team in Uruguay, guiding them through everything from patient selection procedures to the use of immunosuppressive medications following surgery. When it came time for Uruguayan doctors to conduct their first liver transplant [...]

"John Roberts, M.D., chief of the UCSF Transplant Service and a leading expert in liver transplant surgery for adults and children, recently talked with Andrew Schorr of Patient Power about the risks and benefits of living donor liver transplant surgery. Liver transplants provide patients a chance for a longer, more active life in the final stages of liver disease or end-stage liver disease. At UCSF Medical Center, the majority of organs for transplantation are obtained from people who have died and whose families have given permission for their organs to be donated. But today, an increasing [...]

"People infected with the AIDS virus can safely receive a kidney transplant, researchers reported on Wednesday. The finding, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, is good news for people with HIV who are more prone to kidney disease, in part because of the drugs they must take to stay healthy. Before drug cocktails turned HIV from a death sentence to a chronic condition, patients were not eligible to receive a kidney. But now they can. 'Patient and graft survival are really pretty good and it approximates the general population,' Dr. Peter Stock of the University of [...]

UCSF scientists have received two large grants from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to refine their human embryonic stem cell-based strategies for treating neurological diseases and liver failure. A team led by Mark Zern, MD, of the University of California, Davis, and including co-principal investigator Holger Willenbring, M.D., (pictured left) Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Transplant Surgery at UCSF will use their $5 million grant to develop therapeutically effective liver cells, or hepatocytes, from human embryonic stem cells. According to [...]

On Saturday August 7th, UCSF will held its annual Pediatric Transplant Picnic at McNears Beach in San Rafael, CA. Hundreds of children and their families will attended this yearly celebration of the Transplant Service at UCSF. A space-themed party included a costume contest, music, dancing, kayaking, face-painting and more.  

UCSF recently hosted the dedication of the Connie Frank Transplant Center, bringing into reality an idea that philanthropic visionary, Connie Frank, first conceptualized in 2006. Designed around the patient, the facility co-locates all staff and services to provide a comfortable and familiar home. Throughout the Center, the design welcomes patients and encourages family involvement in the healing process through ample visitors' space. The Connie Frank Transplant Center is an instrument of giving that will continue to support patients and their families for years to come. A 10,300 square [...]

Sharon Blaschka, a Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Research Coordinator in post-liver and kidney transplantation in the UCSF Department of Surgery, is the 2010 recipient of the International Transplant Nurses Society (ITNS) Award.  The award came by virtue of a nominating essay submitted by Jeanette Forbes McLaughlin, a patient in the UCSF liver transplant program. In her winning essay, Jeanette described Sharon as the "ultimate professional", a "stellar Ambassador for the ITNS", and  "invaluable" as her clinical care nurse and and as a  coordinator in the "A-Wish" liver transplant study at [...]

UCSF Medical Center's Liver Transplant Program exceeded all standards for adult transplants in an annual review by the Kaiser Permanente National Transplant Network. Outcomes data, including national benchmarks of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), were used in the review. Dr. Ronald Potts, quality performance medical director at Kaiser, recognized UCSF for the "statistically high patient and graft survival outcomes."  UCSF outcomes for adults have been consistently higher than national averages. For example, liver transplant patients at UCSF Medical Center have a survival rate of 94 [...]

Laurie Carlson, MSN, RN, was recently honored at the American Nephrology Nurse's Association's (ANNA) 40th National Symposium, held from April 26 - 29, 2009 in San Diego. ANNA was established in 1969 for nurses to share knowledge and best practices and to introduce novel treatments for the benefit of patients with kidney disease. The annual symposium is also a forum to distribute awards for excellence in patient care and research as well as grants to members seeking to further their education.

On Saturday August 1st, UCSF held its annual Pediatric Transplant Picnic at McNears Beach in San Rafael, CA . Hundreds of children and their families enjoyed burgers and hot dogs and celebrated the work of the Transplant Service with face painting, music, crafts and more.

San Francisco International Film Festival, Thirteen years ago, Pat Spurgeon of the indie pop band Rogue Wave received a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, just as the band started to take off, the kidney began to fail. The feature documentary "D Tour" chronicles Pat's experience as a UCSF kidney patient  including his search for a living organ donor. The film also features Dr. Sang-Mo Kang of the UCSF Division of Transplantation, the surgeon who took care of Pat.  * Image of Pat Spurgeon courtesy of "The independent, SF"  and provided under a creative commons attribution license.

Nancy Ascher, MD, PhD on NPR's Forum with Michael Krasny Each day in the U.S., 19 people die waiting for donated organs. To help increase supply, some health experts and economists want to legalize the market for human organs. We take up the issue with a panel of experts.

"International Stem Cell Corporation  announced today that its human parthenogenetic stem cell lines will be used in studies aimed at creating liver cells to treat human liver disease. ......Holger Willenbring, MD, UCSF assistant professor of surgery, will direct the research. "The fact that Dr. Willenbring and the University of California at San Francisco are testing the ability of ISCO's human parthenogenetic stem cells to form liver cells is a strong validation of their potential value in creating therapeutic cells that have significant immune rejection advantages and significant ethical [...]

Dr. Nancy Ascher and Dr. Holger Willenbring were interviewed by PBS NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michaels about the transformation of embryonic stem cells into new liver cells as a treatment for patients.

UCSF News reports on the the difficult choices that patients, families and doctors face because of the shortage of donated organs for transplantation. A difficult conundrum for the nation's transplant patients was aired September 22 when the news program California Connected featured UCSF's Liver Transplant Program. The story, produced by Jon Dann for public television stations KQED and KCET, highlights the difficult choices that patients, families and doctors face because of the shortage of donated organs for transplantation. Reporter Bob Jimenez pointed out that this shortage in one [...]