Madhulika Varma, M.D., Professor & Chief of the Section of Colorectal Surgery, Division of General Surgery at UCSF, has assumed leadership of the Howard C. Naffziger UCSF Naffziger Surgical Society as its 69th President for the 2018-2019 term.
Dr. Varma earned her medical degree at Brown University School of Medicine and completed her General Surgery Residency Training at UCSF, graduating as Chief Resident in the Class of 1998, a group that also included Anthony Azakie, MD, CM, Holly L. Williams, MD, Richard F. Grossman, MD, Adella M. Garland, MD, Nora Jaskowiak, MD, James Constant, MD, Gregg H. Jossart, MD, Sareh Parangi, MD.
After completing a fellowship at the University of Minnesota in colon and rectal surgery, Dr. Varma returned to UCSF where she completed a Clinical Outcomes Research and Epidemiology fellowship and was appointed to the faculty. Her research interests include the assessment of clinical outcomes and quality of life for patients with colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases, and defecation disorders.
Julie Ann Sosa, MD, MA, FACS has been named the new chair of the UCSF Department of Surgery. She will begin her tenure as Chair on April 1, 2018. Dr. Sosa will also hold the Leon Goldman, MD, Distinguished Professorship in Surgery. Dr. John P. Roberts, who has led the department as interim chair since October 2016, will continue in his leadership role until Dr. Sosa’s arrival.
Dr. Sosa is currently a professor of Surgery and of Medicine (Oncology) and chief of Endocrine Surgery at the Duke University School of Medicine. She also serves as director of the Surgical Center for Outcomes Research (SCORES), leads the Endocrine Neoplasia Diseases Group, and co-leads the Solid Tumor Therapeutics Program at the Duke Cancer Institute and the Duke Clinical Research Institute.
Dr. Sosa was born in Montreal and raised in upstate New York. She received her AB at Princeton, her MA at Oxford, and her MD at Johns Hopkins, where she also completed the Halsted residency program and a fellowship. Her clinical interest is in endocrine surgery, with a focus in thyroid cancer. She is widely published in outcomes analysis, as well as cost-effectiveness analysis, meta-analysis, and survey-based research. She has served as PI for a number of therapeutic and correlative clinical trials, largely centered around the development of novel small molecule therapies for advanced thyroid cancer and understanding environmental risk factors for the development of the disease. She has mentored more than 70 students, residents, and fellows, and has made surgical education a focus of her science, co-directing the multi-year, prospective National Study of Expectations and Attitudes of Residents in Surgery (NEARS) in conjunction with the American Board of Surgery.
Her large research group is multi-disciplinary, and she has collaborators in epidemiology, health services research, biostatistics, endocrinology, oncology, pathology, radiology, pharmacology and cancer biology, environmental science, and stem cell research. She has published more than 280 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 50 book chapters, and has authored/edited 4 books. Dr Sosa has been the recipient of grants from the NIH/NCI, Paget Foundation, the Association for Academic Surgery, the Donaghue Foundation, the American Geriatrics Association/Hartford Foundation, and the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Fund.
Dr. Sosa is the newly elected editor in chief of the World Journal of Surgery, having served previously as deputy editor of JAMA-Surgery and associate editor of the Journal of Surgical Research. She is on the editorial boards of the Annals of Surgery, Surgery, Annals of Surgical Oncology, Endocrine, Hormones and Cancer, Journal of Thyroid Research, and the International Journal of Endocrine Oncology. She is Treasurer of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) and serves on the Board of Directors/Executive Council of the ATA, Society of Surgical Oncology, International Thyroid Oncology Group, and Association for Academic Surgery Foundation. She has served on ATA guidelines committees for hyperthyroidism, thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer, and on the NCCN guidelines committee for neuroendocrine tumors.
Renowned endocrine surgeon Gerard M. Doherty, MD will be the featured guest lecturer at the 2nd Annual UCSF Naffziger Surgical Society Day symposium on Friday, May 11, 2018. Doherty is Moseley Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Surgeon-in-Chief at Brigham Health & Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Crowley Family Distinguished Chair in the Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Doherty has dedicated his career, focused on surgical oncology, to advancing the care of patients with endocrine tumors.
Naffziger Surgical Society Day brings together multiple generations of UCSF surgeons, from its most distinguished senior alumni to our current trainees. The goal is to generate substantive discussion of the history and future of surgical training and practice, while celebrating the common lineage of graduates of the UCSF Department of Surgery. The symposium will consist of a series of talks and panel discussions with Naffziger members from throughout the country, as well as UCSF faculty and residents, participating, capped off with a celebration dinner.
Wen T. Shen, M.D., M.A. recently assumed the leadership reins as 67th President of UCSF Naffziger Surgical Society for 2016-2017. Dr. Shen, an endocrine surgeon, specializes in procedures for thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal gland surgery. He also has a strong interest in the History of Medicine.
Dr. Shen graduated magna cum laude at Harvard College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history and science. He received his medical degree at UCSF where he also completed a general surgical residency and research fellowship in endocrine surgery. Later Dr. Shen earned a Master’s degree in the History of Medicine, also at UCSF.
Dr. Shen has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Esther Nusz Achievement Award from the UCSF Department of Surgery, Resident’s Prize from the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, William Osler Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine, and Rothschild Prize from the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University.
Theodore R. Schrock, M.D., who had a storied career at UCSF, as a medical student, then a surgery resident, faculty member, Department of Surgery Chair and Chief Medical Officer for UCSF Medical Center, recently passed away at age 76.
Theodore (Ted) Schrock was born and raised in Berne, Indiana. He lettered in three sports during high school and was noted for scholarship. He attended Indiana University in Bloomington where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was named “Premed Student of the Year”. His A.B. degree with Highest Honors was obtained after the first year of medical school at UCSF, where, as a senior, Ted was President of the Student Body of the UCSF campus. He was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, and upon graduation in 1964, received the Gold Headed Cane as the student who most exemplified the qualities of the true physician. He served as President of the Gold Headed Cane Society for 12 years.
Dr. Schrock entered residency in surgery at UCSF, spent two years as a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, and completed residency in 1971. He was immediately recruited to the surgical faculty at UCSF, where he would spend his entire 33-year career in academic medicine. During this time, Dr. Schrock developed an international reputation for excellence in the surgical management of inflammatory bowel disease, serving as a guest lecturer and visiting professor around the globe. His academic milestones included nearly 200 articles, book chapters and abstracts, membership in sixteen professional societies, editorship of two journals: Perspectives in Colon and Rectal Surgery, and of Colon and Rectal Surgery Outlook, and several distinguished service awards.
In 1993, Dr. Schrock was appointed Interim Chair of UCSF Department of Surgery. In three short years, his effective leadership culminated in his permanent appointment as Chair of the Department in 1996. Two years later, he became Chief Medical Officer for UCSF Medical Center, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2004.
Early in his career, Dr. Schrock was a pioneer in the use of colonoscopy as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool for diseases of the colon and rectum, gaining national and international renown for his work. He was a founding member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons and became its President in 1988. He was also a key figure in organizing the First World Congress of Surgical Endoscopy in Berlin in 1988, and was an invited participant to numerous world conferences and congresses on these subjects.
Dr. Schrock was also honored as the Gerald Marks Lecturer by the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons. He was the first surgeon to become President of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and was invited to deliver the Distinguished Lecture to the annual meeting of that society in 1993.
Among his numerous roles at UCSF Medical Center and UCSF School of Medicine, Dr. Schrock was Chair of the Credentials Committee, Vice-President of the Medical Staff, and President of the Medical Staff. He also served as President of the UCSF Howard C. Naffziger Surgical Society for its 1987-88 term.
After retirement, he and his wife bred Arabian horses in Montana, later moving to Scottsdale, Arizona where they lived at the time of Ted’s passing.
Celebration of Dr. Schrock’s Life
There will be a celebration of Theodore (Ted) Schrock’s life on October 2, 2016, details of which are available at the family posting on CaringBridge.org. Those wishing to attend should visit the family page (registration required).
Dr. Schecter joined the UCSF faculty in 1980 as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery. He then served as the Chief of Surgery at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center, Pago Pago, American Samoa (1981-1983) and as a Lecturer in Surgery at the University of Natal, Durban, RSA (1983-1984). Dr. Schecter returned to UCSF in 1984 where he was appointed Chief of Surgery at the San Francisco General Hospital and Vice-Chair of Surgery at UCSF in 1993 serving that capacity until 2008.
The celebration began with a luncheon and scientific session at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center moderated by M. Margaret Knudson, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the UCSF Department of Surgery at Zuckerberg SFGH. This was followed by a dinner celebration at AT&T Park in San Francisco. In honor of Dr. Schecter’s dedication and service to SFGH, UCSF has established the “Trauma Resident of the Year” award.
Marjorie Stanley Albo of Piedmont, California passed away peacefully in Orinda, California with her family by her side. Marjorie “Marge” was the beloved wife of the late Dr. Robert Albo, well known bay area surgeon and former team physician of the Oakland Raiders and Golden State Warriors for many years.
The 28th Annual J. Engelbert Dunphy Resident Research Symposium was held on March 11, 2015 at Toland Hall. Jennifer Grandis, MD, Associate Vice Chancellor of Clinical and Translational Research, Director of Clincial and Translational Science Institute, and Professor of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, gave the keynote presentation.
Among the winners was Bian Wu, M.D., the UCSF General Surgery Resident Liaison to the Naffziger Society and member of the executive council. Dr. Wu tied for the Best “Quick-Shot” Presentation.
Featured Image: Left to right: Bian Wu, Carlie Thompson, Peter Stock, Gavitt Woodard, Jennifer Grandis, Nancy Ascher, Jessica Cohan, Lily Cheng, Benjamin Howard
Laurence F. Yee, MD, FACS, FASCRS has been elected the 66th President of the UCSF Naffziger Surgical Society for the 2015-2016 term. Dr. Yee is a general and colorectal surgeon and Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery at UCSF. He also serves as Director of the Laparoscopic Gastrointestinal Surgery Program at CPMC. Dr. Yee is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, and active in numerous professional societies .
Dr. Thomas Russell is that once in a lifetime person and personality.
The 1 in a billion person.
And it was my great luck to be associated with him.
It is virtually impossible properly thank Dr. Russell for all of the teaching and mentorship he has personally provided me and all the hundreds of UCSF medical students and surgical residents who have had the privilege of working with him.
You have had a career and family that every surgeon aspires for.
Dr. Russell served as a US Navy surgeon during Vietnam, finished as Chief Resident in surgery at UCSF under Dr. William Blaisdell and Dr. JE Dunphy, recruited to join Dr. Peter Volpe in practice of colon and rectal surgery in San Francisco at age 33, succeeded Dr. Carlton Mathewson as Chairman of Surgery at California Pacific Medical Center at age 37, and left his surgical practice in his absolute prime at age 59 as he was recruited to become the Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons in Chicago succeeding Dr. Samuel Wells.
But to me, even more important than what you accomplished as a surgeon, was how you treated all people, whether they were patients, students, nurses, doctors, or even complete strangers.
