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Thomas Reed M.D. (1936-1922)

Thomas Reed, MD, (UCSF Naffziger 1971), a highly regarded retired surgeon and beloved husband, father and grandfather, died peacefully at home in Sebastopol, California on October 9. Tom lived an extraordinary life and was surrounded by family as he succumbed to the effects of Parkinson’s disease. 

Tom was born in Three Rivers, Michigan and was an athlete from a young age. He earned a baseball scholarship to Kalamazoo College and then spent 1 year at the the University of California Berkeley before returning home to attend the University of Michigan where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and was the proud graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. 

Tom relocated to Northern California in the 1960’s to complete his surgical residency at UCSF in 1971. He served as a U.S. Army surgeon stationed in Germany. Dr. Reed joined Dr. David Fraser (UCSF Naffziger 1973) in practice in Santa Rosa. They were later joined by Loie Sauer (UCSF Naffziger 1988) following her fellowship in vascular surgery. Tom became a leading member of the Sonoma County medical community, specializing in vascular and general surgery. He served as the elected chief of surgery at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and was an early and skilled adopter of angioplasty. Tom was a respected member of the UCSF Naffziger Society, a medical society dedicated to excellence in surgery, and was a featured speaker in 2011 honoring Drs. William Blaisdell, Donald Trunkey, and Frank Lewis.

A celebration of life is planned for Sunday, November 13th from 4 to 7 p.m. at Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa. The family welcomes donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. 

John Harold Hanson M. D. (1926-2022)

This is to inform you of the death of John Harold Hanson, MD, Class of 1954 at the age of 95, on September 23, 2022. He  completed the surgical residency program and was a member of the Naffziger Surgical Society and The Gold Headed Cane Society. After completing their residencies, he and his wife, Harriet B. Hanson, MD, Class of 1954 (Pediatrics), served as medical missionaries in northern Thailand from 1960 to 1970 under the United Presbyterian Church.

       In 1970, they moved to Fresno and practiced for 30 years. During that time and after retirement, they sent 100 sea containers of donated medical equipment and supplies to 60 hospitals in 22 third world countries. 

       He is survived by Harriet, his loving partner of 71 years, and three sons: Eric Carl Hanson MD, Orthopedic Surgeon; Mark Harold Sullivan Hanson PhD, Clinical Psychologist; Gordon Howard Hanson PhD, Professor of Economics at the Kennedy School of Harvard University; six grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Website redesigned to improve ability to network with other Naffziger members

We welcome you to explore our redesigned website. Active members will now be able to both edit their own membership information to keep the database more up to date, and will be able to search the membership for others with similar specialty/geographic/practice type/research interests. We hope this is useful! In addition, there is a place to add content to share news and photos, so that your classmates and colleagues can share in your accomplishments and the other joyous events in your lives.

Set your calendars

The annual loupes ceremony is set for Wednesday, September 21, 2022 from 7a-1pm. We hope you can join us in person or via zoom as we present the second year residents with their loupes, named for members of the Naffziger Society. Names of the residents and honorees will be announced soon, please check back here for details!

Naffziger Society celebrates the 2021-2022 graduating chiefs in Golden Gate Park

Favorable weather, tasty food from the El Alambre taco truck, and great company marked the 2022 Naffziger Welcome event, held on May 21, 2022. The chiefs were introduced by their mentors, highlighting the personalities and accomplishments of yet another outstanding UCSF Surgery class. Thank you to Drs Corvera, Stock, Varma and Wick for bringing to life the residency years of (pictured L to R): Dr Elizabeth Lancaster, Dr Andrew Wisneski, Dr Yvonne Kelly, Dr Caitlin Collins, Dr Arya Zarinsefat, Dr Michael Zobel, and Dr Anthony Squillaro. We also welcomed Dr. Virginia (“Ginny”) Litle (’97) as the incoming president of the Naffziger Society. Congratulations to all!

Virginia R. Litle (’97) Becomes 72nd President of the Naffziger Society

The Naffziger Society is pleased to welcome Dr Virginia (“Ginny”) Litle as the 72nd President of the Naffziger Society.

Dr. Litle is a graduate of the University of Vermont and received her medical degree from the Brown-Dartmouth Program in Medicine. She completed her residency in General Surgery at the University of California in San Francisco, CA, and completed fellowships in both Surgical Oncology and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She was previously Chief of Thoracic Surgery and Director of the Minimally Invasive Esophageal, Barrett’s Esophagus and Thoracic Clinical Research Programs at Boston University. As of 2021, she is sharing her skills and expertise at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah

Dr. Litle’s particular clinical interests include management of benign and malignant esophageal diseases and ablative therapies of esophageal and airway pathology. Her additional research interests include risk-stratification for prevention of venothromboembolic (VTE) events following thoracic surgery, esophageal cancer screening and healthcare disparities . Dr. Litle is a member of the AATS, ESTS, STSA, ISMICS and STS and is a past president of Women in Thoracic Surgery. Her additional interests include global surgery, mentorship of medical students and residents, motherhood and tennis.

The Naffziger Society thanks Dr Ryutaro Hirose (’97) for his presidency and leadership.

Peter A. Volpe MD, FACS, FASCRS (1936-2021)

DEBEMBER 17, 1936 – May 14, 2021

Peter Anthony Volpe was born in Columbus, Ohio on December 17, 1936. He was an enterprising boy who would make money mowing lawns, then travel by streetcar from his hometown of Worthington to downtown Columbus, where he would spend his earnings on toy trains at the popular Lazarus department store. He followed his father into a medical career, completing his pre-med studies and medical school at Ohio State University. After an internship in Milwaukee, Dr Volpe was drafted into the Navy. He was a General Medical Officer, serving aboard the Admiral’s flagship during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dr. Volpe did his residency in general surgery at UCSF, under Dr. Dunphy, and also spent one year of the residency in London. Dr. Blaisdell, a mentor and lifelong friend, recognized Peter’s admirable judgment, calling him “one of the best men we have trained.” He served an apprenticeship in colorectal surgery with the founders of a practice he later joined and managed for many years. A partner described him as having “built the practice on the basic principles of always putting the patients’ well-being first, being inclusive, being a good listener, and with compassion and humility.” Patient care was Dr. Volpe’s top concern, but he also offered his keen judgment and administrative skills to running the surgical partnership. He served on the board of governors of the American College of Surgeons, and as president of both the

American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. Peter was treasured by his patients, who continued to correspond with him long into his retirement. One patient wrote him in gratitude for “the good care you provided when I needed it and, in a far broader and more important sense, for having mastered your profession so splendidly and for having brought your highly developed skills to bear on behalf of so many for so long.” Dr. Volpe enjoyed a happy retirement playing golf, playing poker, tending his spectacular garden, and developing his incredible model railroad layout, a lifelong pursuit. His passion for the Ohio State University and their athletic teams was ferocious.
The world will be a poorer place without Dr. Volpe’s humor, his calm presence, and his good judgment. He will be missed by all.

Adapted from the article published by San Francisco Chronicle from May 21 to May 23, 2021.

Eric Bradley Jelin Passes Away (1978-2021)

We are saddened to announce the unexpected passing of a member of our Naffziger Society, Eric Jelin.  A native of New York City, Eric finished his general surgery residency at UCSF in 2013 and went on to pediatric surgery fellowship at Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC.  He became assistant professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins after finishing fellowship and was the director of the Fetal Surgery Program at the Johns Hopkins Children’s center.  He is survived by his wife, Angie Child Jelin, who also trained at UCSF in OB-Gyn and Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and two children, Max and Kyra. May Eric rest in peace.

F. William Blaisdell, MD, Past Naffziger Society President, Passes Away

F. William Blaisdell, MD

The Naffziger Society mourns the passing of F. William Blaisdell, MD (1927-2020) who served as President of the Society from 2010-11. Dr. Blaisdell was a true giant of American surgery and one of the most influential figures in the history of the UCSF Department of Surgery.

F. William Blaisdell was born in 1927 and grew up in nearby Watsonville, California. He came from a family of physicians: both of his grandfathers, as well as his father and uncle were doctors. Blaisdell attended Stanford University for his undergraduate and medical school education. He completed his internship at Philadelphia General Hospital and 2 years of military service with the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He completed his surgery residency at Stanford, which at the time was clinically based in San Francisco, at both the San Francisco General Hospital and the Presbyterian Hospital (now part of CPMC). He spent one year of training during his residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital under Francis Moore, and an additional year of postgraduate training with Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley in Houston.

In 1960 Dr. Blaisdell started his first faculty position as Chief of the Surgical Service at the San Francisco VA Hospital. In 1966 he became Chief of Surgery at San Francisco General Hospital. Under Blaisdell’s leadership, the Surgical Service at SFGH would become the pre-eminent Trauma Surgery program in the country. In 1968, Blaisdell formally established the Trauma Surgery service at SFGH, which would become the model for urban trauma surgery systems worldwide. Blaisdell also oversaw the development and modernization of Emergency Services, Outpatient Surgery Clinics, and the Intensive Care Unit at SFGH, transforming the concept of the safety-net hospital and forever changing the care of San Francisco’s most vulnerable populations.

Blaisdell built the Surgical Research program at SFGH, and throughout his career made many contributions to the investigation of trauma, critical care, and vascular surgery. He was the first surgeon to perform axillo-femoral bypass for patients with occlusive aorto-iliac disease, and was a thought leader in the early research on ARDS and trauma coagulopathy.

One of Dr. Blaisdell’s most important legacies was his long list of trainees, comprised of many future leaders of the UCSF Department of Surgery and of American surgery as a whole. A partial list of Blaisdell trainees from his time leading the SFVA and SFGH includes Robert Lim, Robert Allen, Lawrence Way, George Sheldon, Ted Schrock, Don Trunkey, Brent Eastman, Jerry Goldstone, Frank Lewis, Orlo Clark, Tom Russell, Cliff and Karen Deveney, and Bill Schecter. Blaisdell was also an early advocate for women in surgery; one of his first acts as Chief of Surgery at SFGH was to hire Muriel Steele to a faculty position, making her the first female surgeon in the history of that hospital.

In 1978 Dr. Blaisdell became the Chair of Surgery at UC Davis, where he continued his distinguished career until his retirement in 2002. He served as President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma in 1991, and was the recipient of one of the American College of Surgeons’ highest honors, the Distinguished Service Award, in 2002. Even after leaving SFGH, Dr. Blaisdell kept close ties with his former colleagues and trainees in San Francisco. He was a loyal mentor and friend to many UCSF Department of Surgery members and he will be dearly missed.

A biography of Dr. Blaisdell written by Dr. Robert Lim can be found here. A book by Dr. William Schecter and colleagues, “The History of the Surgical Service at San Francisco General Hospital,” found here, also contains many wonderful stories about the Blaisdell years at SFGH.

We will be forever grateful to Dr. Blaisdell for the lasting impact he had on the advancement of surgery, not only in San Francisco, but around the world.

Edward P. Chen, MD Leads UCSF Naffziger Surgical Society as its 70th President

Edward P. Chen, MD

The Naffziger Society is pleased to announce that Edward P. Chen, MD has assumed the leadership reins as the 70th President of UCSF Naffziger Surgical Society for the term 2019-2020 term.

Dr. Chen is Professor of Surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. He is also Director of Thoracic Aortic Surgery and Executive Director of the Aortic Center. 

Dr. Chen has had a distinguished career as a cardiothoracic surgeon, as a valued educator, clinician, author, and presenter. He is world-renowned for his pioneering work in aortic surgery.

Dr. Chen has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors throughout his career. Most recently, he received the 2019 Socrates Teaching Award from the Thoracic Surgery Residents’ Association.

Dr. Chen follows in the footsteps of Dr. Mika Varma of UCSF, who served ably as the Society’s President for the 2018-2019 term. Notably, under her outstanding leadership, the most recent class of graduating UCSF Plastic Surgery Chief Residents were celebrated as members of the Society alongside their General Surgery Chief colleagues.