Message from the Chair
The Department of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco is one of the leading surgical departments in the world with a rich history of scientific, educational, and clinical advancements. Although our care is primarily dedicated to the people of the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the state of California, our reputation draws patients nationally and internationally. We are one of the largest clinical services at UCSF, performing a high volume of procedures, many among the most complex and technically challenging, and for rare conditions seldom seen in community practices. This allows our surgeons to continually improve their skills, resulting in better outcomes for patients.
To better care for patients, we have six major San Francisco Bay Area hospitals: UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus, UCSF Medical Center at Mt. Zion, UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG), San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC), and Highland Hospital, in Oakland through our UCSF East Bay Program. Both ZSFG and Highland are Level 1 Trauma Centers.
The Department of Surgery is comprised of eleven divisions with over 70 clinical, research and education programs. Our faculty are preeminent, nationally, and internationally, with many serving as officers of major surgical societies, specialty boards and NIH study sections. Faculty development is a high priority for the Department. Faculty are recruited based on clinical strengths, research potential, teaching interest and aptitude. Basic and clinical research is fundamental to our mission. NIH funding of departmental research has increased for most of the past decade garnering the second highest level of NIH funding among all departments of surgery nationwide. Funding from extramural sources (federal, industry, foundations, and gifts) has grown steadily.
Training the leaders of academic surgery is our mission and integral to much of what we do at UCSF. Here, Education and Training span the entire spectrum of learning in surgery, from surgical training in UME (undergraduate medical education), to GME (3 Residencies and 13 fellowships), to a robust and active skills and simulation program. Further, following the strong UCSF tradition of inquiry, UCSF Surgery has a strong surgical education research program and investment in faculty-educational development.
Our three residencies, UCSF General Surgery Residency program, Integrated plastic surgery residency, and integrated vascular surgery residency, are among the top programs in the country. These programs are comprised of diverse resident trainees, reflecting our strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. Our non-residency GME training program offers a broad menu of ACGME and non-ACGME clinical fellowships.
For UME, UCSF was recently ranked No. 2 nationally for the surgical training of all medical students, not just those bound for surgical specialties. This places UCSF SOM (Liked) in the top 3% of schools surveyed by U.S. News & World Report.
Lastly, our Surgical Skills Center and education research program is among the strongest in the nation, with annual presentations at Surgical Education Week (ASE-APDS), and is part of the extensive network of the ACS-AEI simulation centers. Our simulation lab continues to be one of the most active, with now a dedicated rotation for PGY 1s in the lab that offers extensive complex open, complex laparoscopic, robotic, and endoscopic training to help lessen the learning curve and increase operative autonomy.
The UCSF Department of Surgery is internationally recognized as a research powerhouse, committed to improving the quality of local and global health through discovery at every level, from basic to translational to clinical science, health services and policy, surgical educational, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Led by faculty who are robustly supported by extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, research activities permeate through all Divisions on all campuses while vigorously engaging the complete spectrum of learners.
I invite you to explore our websites and experience the depth and scope of our surgical specialties, research labs, and educational programs all reflecting our abiding commitment to excellence.
Julie Ann Sosa, MD, MA, FACS, FSSO
Chair, Department of Surgery
Leon Goldman, MD Distinguished Professor of Surgery
Professor, Department of Medicine
Affiliated faculty, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
University of California, San Francisco
