News & Events

Simon N. Chu, M.S., has been awarded the 2018 Dean's Prize in Research and Scholarship by the UCSF School of Medicine for his molecular medicine research. Chu, a senior medical student in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Fellow, will present his research on the immune response following transplantation in the HIV infected recipient at the upcoming 2018 Inquiry Symposium on Wed. May 2nd at the Milberry Gym on the Parnassus campus between 10:00 am and 11:30 am.  The symposium showcases award-winning research from the four UCSF [...]

Molecular immunologist and human genome engineer Leonardo M.R. Ferreira, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratories of Dr. Qizhi Tang (Department of Surgery) and Dr. Jeffrey Bluestone (Diabetes Center) at UCSF, recently gave a captivating talk about his research at the Future of DNA, Blockchain, and Synthetic Biology Symposium on March 7th at Galvanize SF.  The symposium brought together scientists, entrepreneurs, and angel investors to discuss the latest advances in research and opportunities for founders. Dr. Ferreira discussed using genome editing to control the immune response in [...]

Transplant surgeons Sandy Feng, M.D., Ph.D. and Peter G. Stock, M.D., Ph.D. continued their stellar records of accomplishment in garnering NIH funding for their cutting-edge clinical research, ranking in the top 20 of all NIH-Funded principal investigators in the category of surgery nationally for 2017. Stock ranked 8th and Feng 20th out of 534 investigators nationwide, both in the top 4%, this according to survey data analyzed by the highly respected Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. Blue Ridge utilized data from the Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT) to survey U.S. [...]

Kidney failure is a debilitating and ultimately deadly illness, and a health policy crisis. With 468,000 people on dialysis in the U.S., costing the government $31 billion dollars a year, very little money is spent on researching alternatives to current treatments. Wired magazine's Megan Molteni visited Shuvo Roy, PhD, to check in on the progress of the implantable artificial kidney, which has been in the works for more than 20 years. Roy is a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and [...]

UCLA, UCSF and City of Hope have received a five-year, $8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study how a common virus called cytomegalovirus may provoke the immune system to reject transplanted kidneys. Minnie M. Sarwal M.D., Ph.D., FRCP, DCH, professor and director of Precision Transplant Medicine in the UCSF Department of Surgery, is co-leader and principal investigator on the grant, which will investigate how a common virus called cytomegalovirus (CMV) may provoke the immune system to reject transplanted kidneys. Sarwal is an internationally [...]

The Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators presented seven Department of Surgery faculty with the Excellence in Teaching Award for 2017 at a ceremony on September 11th at the UCSF School of Nursing, held in conjunction with the Academy's induction of new members. The Academy's Excellence in Teaching Awards are peer-nominated, and honor outstanding front-line teachers of medical students, residents, and fellows who often go unrecognized. These teachers create and encourage an intellectually stimulating environment that promotes critical thinking and learning.       Warren J. [...]

The Atlantic reports on the difficulties in the current climate of conducting donor-intervention research due to issues of informed consent, disagreements over what constitutes human subject research, and conflicting views of Institutional Review Boards (IRB) spread across multiple centers with patients putatively impacted by the research protocol. Moreover, doctors must test the experimental interventions designed to improve outcomes within the crucible of a short time window, given that a donated organ is suitable for transplantation for only a limited mumber of hours.  Doctors have a [...]

James M. Gardner, M.D., Ph.D. and Nicole Conkling, M.D. have been awarded prestigious research grants by the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) for its 2017 funding cycle.  Dr. Gardner, who just completed his Chief Residency in General Surgery at UCSF and is a rising fellow in the Division of Transplant Surgery, was the only transplant fellow in the country to receive the prestigious ASTS-Astellas Fellowship. The award will fund Dr. Gardner's research, which he pursued throughout his residency with the support of Department of Surgery funding, during his clinical fellowship [...]

Leonardo M.R. Ferreira, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar and molecular immunologist in the Tang Lab and Bluestone Lab at UCSF, received the "Best Poster Award" from the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) at the organization's 2017 annual meeting in Chicago. The Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) exists to improve human health through immunology by fostering interdisciplinary approaches to both understand and treat immune-based diseases.  Dr. Ferreira also received a travel award from the FOCIS Center of Excellence and was selected to present his work at the [...]

Holger Willenbring, MD, PhD is the receipient of a Discovery Stage Research Project award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The project "Preclinical development of AAV vector-mediated in vivo hepatic reprogramming of myofibroblasts as a therapy for liver fibrosis" was approved for $1.6M in funding through the Discovery Quest Awards Program, which promotes the discovery of promising new stem cell-based technologies that could be translated to enable broad use and, ultimately, improve patient care. Dr. Willenbring's project aims to develop a therapy for liver [...]

President Barack Obama signs the HOPE Act legislation in November 2013. Peter Stock (far left) had earlier testified before Congress in support of the legislation, which overturned a federal ban on HIV-to-HIV transplants. Photo by Evan Vucci UCSF News reports on the epic battle, led by UCSF transplant surgeon Peter G. Stock, M.D., Ph.D., to repeal long-standing federal and state laws banning HIV-to-HIV organ transplantation, this after having served as lead Principal Investigator on a landmark clinical trial demonstrating the feasibility and clinical benefit of such transplants, and, in [...]

ABC News San Francisco (KGO) reports on the case of a Utah man, recovering from a lung transplant in Pennsylvania after a Utah hospital refused to put him on their transplant list because of past marijuana use. (The man subsequently died after the airing of the KGO story.) UCSF transplant surgeon, Ryutaro Hirose, M.D., was interviewed by KGO and regarding the policy on this is issue at UCSF. "We've recently liberalized our criteria regarding marijuana," said Dr. Ryutaro Hirose who is a transplant surgeon at UCSF, the country's busiest transplant center. Unlike the hospital in Utah, UCSF [...]

UCSF News Reports on a novel surgical approach to transplanting cells into diseased organs developed by Tammy T. Chang, MD, PhD, a gastrointestinal and acute care surgeon and principal investigator in the The Chang Laboratory for Liver Tissue Engineering, and Boris Rubinsky, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley. The technique is called irreversible electroporation, or IRE, and enables newly transplanted clusters of liver cells, or hepatocytes to thrive and proliferate in a mouse liver. The research, reported in the May issue of the journal BioTechniques, could one day [...]

The UCSF Division of General Surgery announces the launch of a new website for The Chang Laboratory for Liver Tissue Engineering. Tissue engineering and regeneration are the next evolutionary step in surgical practice. The lab's goal is to make significant contributions to bringing regenerative surgical therapies from the lab into the operating room. The lab focuses on a complex and vital solid organ, the liver to address the great clinical need to develop alternative therapies for end stage liver disease, currently treated by liver transplantation and severely limited by the shortage of [...]

Becker's Hospital Review reports that the UCSF Kidney, Liver, and Lung Transplant Programs each received the highest score "5", "Better than Expected" for transplant outcomes*, based on the most recent data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). These scores were evaluated using SRTR's new "5-Tier Outcome Assessment".  The number of organ transplants performed in the U.S. hit a record high in 2016, with 33,606 transplants performed, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. But not all transplant centers were created equal — some have much better patient [...]

Andrew Posselt, MD, PhD is a transplant and bariatric surgeon and professor of surgery at UCSF.  Dr. Posselt performs kidney, liver, pancreas and islet transplants. He is also among a handful surgeons in the country who also performs bariatric surgery for patients who would otherwise be transplant candidates, but for their BMI and weight.  Dr. Posselt is also director the pancreatic islet transplantation program and as a surgeon-scientist conducts breakthrough research in islet transplantation, tolerance or rejection of transplanted tissue, and the metabolic and biochemical changes seen in [...]

The NIH has awarded the UCSF Department of Surgery a T32 training grant, "Filling a Void of Research Training for Transplant Surgeons" (FAVOR). The grant, awarded in August 2016, provides annual funding in the amount of $156,602 for in-depth training of three general surgery residents with an interest in transplant surgery during their two research years, the training to be focused on translational immunology. The program is led by Professors Peter G. Stock, M.D., Ph.D. and Minnie M. Sarwal M.D., Ph.D., the principal investigators on the grant. A diverse and distinguished faculty will [...]

September 29 - 30th at Hotel Nikko - San Francisco, CA Course Chair John P. Roberts, M.D.Professor and Chief, Division of Transplantation, UCSF Course Co-Chairs Michelle McMahan, BAHelen Christensen, RN, BSN, MHA, CPTC Heart • Lung • Liver • Kidney • Pancreas  The two-day conference is designed to provide a unique opportunity to hear UCSF Transplant experts present a comprehensive review and update on recent advances in adult and pediatric transplantation. Leaders in the field will share their medical and surgical expertise in solid organ transplant and living donor [...]

Natera, a genetic testing and diagnostics company with proprietary bioinformatics and molecular technology, has announced that it has formed a collaboration with the Sarwal Lab at University of California San Francisco to study DNA markers of kidney transplant rejection.The Sarwal Lab has been focused on using precision medicine techniques to better diagnose and predict acute rejection (AR) in kidney transplants, a finding that eventually could replace the need for biopsies and lead to earlier detection of AR and treatment. Principal investigators in the lab include Lab Director Minnie [...]

Kerry Decker, MSN, RN, NP, co-Director of the UCSF Surgical and Critical Care Nurse Practitioner Fellowship, recently discussed the challenges NPs face in assimilating into high-acuity environments such as neurosurgery, intensive care units (ICUs) and transplant service in "Science of Caring", a UCSF School of Nursing's publication. Also interviewed for the article was Sheila Antrum, RN, BSN, MHSA, President UCSF Medical Center, Senior Vice President, Adult Services UCSF Health, and Chief Nursing Officer, UCSF Medical Center. Decker underscored the importance of programs like the Surgical [...]