Graduate Medical Education

Residency Programs

General Surgery Residency

Program Director: Kenzo Hirose, M.D.
Associate Directors: Rita Mukhtar, M.D., Wen Shen, M.D., Lan Vu, M.D.

The goals of our surgical residency program are two-fold. The first is to prepare residents to become safe, qualified, board-certified surgical practitioners. The second is to train residents to be future teachers and leaders in surgery. More than 80% of our graduates continue in fellowship programs and almost half become surgical academicians associated with university departments of surgery. We prepare residents for any career path they may choose, including Gastrointestinal, Hepatobiliary, Colorectal, Vascular, Pediatric, Transplantation, Cardiothoracic, Plastic, Trauma, and Endocrine Surgery. Residents are also exposed to other surgical specialties (ENT, Neurosurgery, Orthopedics and Urology) as well as Critical Care and Anesthesia.

Plastic Surgery Residency 

Program Director: Scott L. Hansen, M.D.

The Plastic Surgery Integrated Residency Program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is designed to provide comprehensive, integrated training including core general surgery and plastic surgery through the course of a six year clinical program. Consistent with our tradition of training leaders in academic plastic surgery, trainees will have 1 year of academic development time between the third and fourth clinical years, which can be spent conducting research or pursuing an advanced degree.

Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency 

Program Director: Michael S. Conte, M.D.
Associate Directors: Jade S. Hiramoto, M.D.

The Vascular Surgery Integrated Residency Program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is designed to provide comprehensive, integrated training including core general surgery, vascular surgery, and endovascular surgery over the course of a five-year clinical program. Consistent with our tradition of training leaders in academic vascular surgery, trainees will have 1-2 years of academic development time between the third and fourth clinical years, which can be spent conducting research or pursuing an advanced degree.

Fellowships

Abdominal Transplantation

Program Director: Shareef Syed, MBChB, MRCS

The UCSF Abdominal Transplant Fellowship Program provides comprehensive training in abdominal transplantation. This includes the evaluation of transplant candidates, management of patients with chronic and acute liver disease, and care of organ transplant patients operatively, peri-operatively, and post-operatively. The program provides exposure to deceased donor multi-organ procurement and living donor nephrectomy, and hepatectomy. There is a strong didactic program with numerous weekly meetings including a Transplant Mortality and Morbidity Conference, Kidney and Liver Selection Committees, Transplant Laboratory Group Meeting, Liver Transplant Pathology Conference, and  Transplant Seminar Series.

Breast Surgical Oncology

Program Director: Michael D. Alvarado, M.D.

The clinical breast surgery fellowship is a competitive one-year intensive clinical experience in all aspects of general and oncology breast surgery. This fellowship is offered to board eligible or certified general surgeons. The emphasis is on individuals with a proven and dedicated interest in breast disease and related research as a long-term career. It is an intensive clinical fellowship encompassing all aspects of breast surgery including diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the breast and all clinical aspects of breast oncology. These include pathology, radiology (mammography, ultrasound, and MRI and their related biopsies), and medical and radiation oncology. 

Endocrine Surgery

Program Director: Wen T. Shen, M.D., M.A.

The UCSF Endocrine Surgery Fellowship offers a high-volume experience in thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, and endocrine pancreas surgery. The breadth of cases that the fellow participates in ranges from straightforward thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal operations to complex lymph node dissections, reoperative surgery in the neck and abdomen, and advanced laparoscopic endocrine surgical operations. In addition to clinical work, the fellow is provided opportunities to pursue multiple research projects of their design and choosing, often in collaboration with non-surgical faculty and researchers at UCSF.

Limb Preservation

Co-Program Directors: Michael S. Conte, M.D., Alexander M. Reyzelman, D.P.M. 

The UCSF Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Limb Preservation Fellowship is a one-year non-ACGME fellowship program for physicians who have completed podiatric training and who wish to further specialize in limb salvage. Fellows will rotate through vascular/podiatry multidisciplinary clinics at UCSF Medical Center and San ZSFG. Our mission is to educate and train a podiatric physician as a clinically skilled podiatrist in a multidisciplinary approach to the diabetic and vascular complications of the lower extremity, as well as generating new knowledge in the treatment, management and prevention of the lower extremity amputations. 

Microsurgery

Program Director: Scott L. Hansen, M.D.

The microsurgery fellowship program at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) is designed to provide comprehensive training in microsurgical reconstruction as well as provide opportunities for fellows to pursue their own interests. The fellowship starts each year at the beginning of August and finishes at the end of July. For more details, click here.

GI Minimally Invasive/Bariatric Surgery

Program Director: Jonathan Carter, M.D.

By the end of this fellowship, fellows are able to perform all advanced laparoscopic/robotic foregut, bariatric, and general surgical procedures. This experience includes Nissen fundoplication, paraesophageal hernia repair, Ivor-Lewis esophagectomy, gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, LapBand removal, revisional bariatric surgery, robotic inguinal hernia repair, and robotic ventral hernia repair (including roboIPUM+, roboTAR, roboRives-Stoppa), and other MIS procedures. Bariatric surgery accounts for about 150 cases. About half of all the cases are performed on the Intuitive Xi robotic platform, the other half are performed with conventional laparoscopy. Fellows also perform about 50-60 upper endoscopic procedures, the majority of which are therapeutic (such as dilations, stenting, and Apollo endosuture). There are also ample opportunities to train in esophageal manometry and pH testing. Fellows engage in clinical research projects and present their results at national meetings. Fellows play an active role in the education of surgical residents and medical students. This program rocks - it offers tremendous breadth of training in advanced MIS/robotic surgery in unbelievably awesome San Francisco!

Patient Safety and Quality

Program Director: Lygia Stewart, M.D.

Pediatric Surgery

Program Director: Hanmin Lee, M.D.
Associate Director: Aaron Jensen, M.D.

The first year of this two-year ACGME fellowship will include rotations in the NICU, PICU, Urology and OHNS while year two will concentrate solely on general pediatric surgery. The faculty at BCHSF have long been leaders in complex areas of pediatric surgery such as neonatal surgery, minimally invasive surgery, fetal care and surgical oncology.

The Division of Pediatric Surgery also has a rich history of scholarship in clinical and translational research as well as basic science research. In clinical research, BCHSF has innovated particularly in the areas of fetal surgery and minimally invasive surgery. 

Surgical Critical Care

Program Director: Andre Campbell, M.D.

The Surgical Critical Care Fellowship has been in existence at the University of California, San Francisco for well over two decades. Surgeons, Anesthesiologists, and Internists have trained in the program over that period of time. The fellow serves as the principal surgical liaison to the trauma multidisciplinary service rounds, and participates in the full range of performance improvement activities of the ZSFG Trauma Program. 

Thoracic Surgery

Program Director: Johannes R. Kratz, M.D.
Associate Director: Melissa Coleman, M.D.

The UCSF Thoracic Surgery Residency is an ACGME fellowship providing broad exposure to cardiothoracic surgery as practiced in quaternary-care academic medical centers as well as community-based / managed care settings. There is a strong emphasis on traditional open surgery as well as the latest minimally-invasive techniques such as robotic-assisted VATS surgery as well as minimally-invasive mitral valve repair. A strong didactic curriculum is integrated into the fellowship experience in order to solidify a lifelong foundation of knowledge and technical expertise in cardiothoracic surgery. Each of our fellows also participates in clinical or translational research projects throughout their fellowship with the expectation that their work will be presented at regional and national meetings.

Acute Care Surgery

Program Director: Ronald B. Tesoriero, M.D.

This Fellowship is a 12-month, non-ACGME, structured clinical experience designed to equip a Board-Eligible or certified general surgeon with the clinical and administrative skills necessary to assume a leadership role in trauma surgery. The Fellow is a member of the active medical staff at ZSFG and effectively functions as a junior attending. The fellow has oversight responsibilities for the care of the trauma patients hospitalized on the trauma service at ZSFG, augmenting the continuity of care in the current environment. In addition to taking trauma and emergency surgery call and participating in the care of the most complex surgical patients, the fellow is expected to engage in new or ongoing programs in clinical research, injury prevention, and trauma systems development.

Vascular Surgery

Program Director: Michael S. Conte, M.D.
Associate Directors: Jade S. Hiramoto, M.D.

The UCSF Vascular Surgery Fellowship is a two-year, ACGME program with one fellow per year.  The program provides comprehensive clinical training in the management of vascular disorders and is dedicated to the development of future leaders in vascular surgery.  Both years are spent on the vascular surgery service and clinical rotations provide extensive treatment, and non-invasive diagnosis. Vascular fellows are exposed to approximately 1000 cases performed annually including complex cerebrovascular, thoracoabdominal aortic, visceral, renal, and lower extremity procedures using both open surgical and endovascular techniques.