"Inside Surgery", The Department of Surgery Newsletter, Summer 2012

This issue of Inside Surgery describes several exciting developments that are advancing our ability to provide outstanding care for a range of patients including the new Hepatobiliary Service, under the direction of  Carlos Corvera, M.D., which provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for patients with liver and bile duct disease. Other topics include updates on  Endocrine Surgery, San Fancisco General Hospital's Wraparound Project, and notable rankings of our surgeons within U.S. News & World Report annual update.

Twenty-Five Department of Surgery Faculty Named to U.S. News Top Doctors List

In its most recent survey, U.S. News in collaboration with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. listed twenty-five (25) surgeons in the UCSF Department of Surgery, nearly one-third (1/3) of the clinical faculty, on the list of U.S. News "Top Doctors". The list, compiled from the opinion of colleagues, denotes the top 10% of physicians within a region practicing a given specialty. Fifteen of the 25 department surgeons were also named by their peers to the list of America's Top Doctors (ATD), a distinction reserved for the top 1% of physicians in the nation for that specialty. The listings are published online at U.S. News. The group rankings are intended to guide patients in selecting a doctor and physicians in making specialty referrals.

Laura Esserman & Hope Rugo Featured as Pioneers in Breast Cancer Research

UCSF breast surgeon Laura J. Esserman, M.D., M.B.A., and medical oncologist Hope S. Rugo, M.D.  are featured on PBS' "Need to Know" series as pioneers in breast cancer research. Dr. Esserman discussed the I-SPY 2 TRIAL in which pharmaceutical companies collaboratively bring multiple experimental therapies to the marketplace, allowing numerous combinations novel agents to be tested in clinical trials iteratively. Specific drug combinations are personalized to the  molecular characteristics of each patient's tumor using sophisticated biomarker assays. Dr. Rugo is leading a study to improve the quality of life in chemotherapy patients through a new treatment that cools the scalp and prevents or minimizes hair loss.

Why Women Might Not Need A Mammogram

"Last October, she (Laura Esserman, MD) and a urology colleague [Ian Thompson, MD] published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that sounded an alarm about what she calls "the elephant in the room"- the rarely-talked-about downsides of routine breast and prostate cancer screening. Routine mammograms, their article said, find too many unusual-looking clusters of cells that turn out to be benign, leading to unnecessary biopsies (and, they argued in a later editorial, needless anxiety). What's more, all of our intensive screening efforts result in many women being treated for tumors that might never have become life-threatening."

SF Chronicle Profiles Dr. Laura Esserman

Laura Esserman, M.D., M.B.A. is profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle: her upbringing in Chicago, research and operatic talents - she sings a patient's requested song as general anesthesia is being administered. The story also recounts the story of breast cancer survivor Jessica Galloway, a mother of three, diagnosed with the disease in 2005; she is now assisting Esserman in a UCSF peer-support program." 

Dr. Laura Esserman (left) meets with patient Jessica Galloway at UCSF Mt. Zion. Photo provided courtesy of  (Paul Chinn / The SF Chronicle).