UCSF Health

03/13/2026

Bill is doing well almost 35 years after his kidney and pancreas transplants — please congratulate him!
In 1989, Bill began feeling very tired, and his eyes developed a yellow-ish tint. A visit to a nephrologist revealed that Bill's kidneys were functioning poorly, due to his lifelong type 1 diabetes. For the next two years, Bill modified his diet, but unfortunately his kidneys continued to worsen.
Bill came to UCSF in 1991, and our team placed him on the transplant list. Just 42 days later, he got the call that donor organs had become available. The surgery was a success, but unfortunately Bill had a stroke while recovering. After physical therapy at our hospital, Bill was able to get all function back!
Bill’s transplanted organs are doing well, but he may have a revision surgery with Dr. Peter Stock in the future to take advantage of newer surgical techniques!

03/07/2026

💙 San Francisco City Hall went blue for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month! At the lighting, we announced the launch of our Young Onset Colorectal Cancer Program at UCSF.
Colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths for people younger than 50, and our program offers specialized care for younger patients.
More about the new program ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/3PkIhFI

03/06/2026

👏 We're proud to be the No. 1 organ transplant center on the West Coast and in California for the fourth consecutive year! We performed 738 transplants in 2025 — that's more than two lives saved every day of the year!
More about our transplant program ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/46Crh3S

02/28/2026

🎊Happy Lunar New Year! We celebrated with festive decorations and delicious food in our cafeterias.
Big shoutout to the UCSF Asian Pacific American Systemwide Alliance for handing out red envelopes filled with dumpling keychains and wishing everyone a prosperous Year of the Horse! 🐴🧧

02/28/2026

👏 Happy to all the exceptional residents and fellows who care for our patients every day of the year!

02/26/2026

Please congratulate Charles — he’s feeling great and is back to his active lifestyle after heart and brain surgeries at our hospital!
Five years ago, a routine physical revealed a murmur in Charles’ heart, which he mentioned over dinner to his friend and now-cardiologist Dr. Donald Grandis. Dr. Grandis suggested a yearly echocardiogram, and the following year the test revealed Charles had mild aortic stenosis.
After a cycling accident on a wet street in 2023, Charles received emergency care at another hospital and initially felt fine. Later he began having trouble lifting his legs, and Dr. Grandis advised him to go to our emergency room immediately and was waiting for him when he arrived. Testing revealed Charles had a subdural hematoma (persistent bleeding on the brain’s surface) on both sides of his brain, along with a midline shift, which occurs when the brain shifts past its center line. The same day, Charles had a successful brain surgery with Dr. Luis Savastano.
Charles spent two days in our Parnassus hospital and was happy to join friends for dinner a few days later!
Unfortunately, his heart condition continued to worsen, and our cardiology team eventually classified it as severe aortic stenosis. Last February, he had a successful transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure with Dr. Sammy Elmariah. “When I woke up, I felt amazing,” Charles says, adding that his legs felt lighter and his vision had improved. “I haven’t jogged in 40 years, and I’m jogging now,” he says.
Charles is an avid collector and lover of Bordeaux wine and has traveled to France several times since his recovery!

02/21/2026

Please join us in congratulating Cassie — she and her baby are both healthy and doing great after heart problems during her pregnancy!

Cassie was born in 1988 at Mount Zion Hospital (before it was part of UCSF) with a rare and complex congenital heart defect. As a baby, Cassie had two open-heart surgeries in Boston as a baby and toddler. She later had an additional heart surgery as a toddler at UCSF, followed by a valve replacement in 2011 in the South Bay.

In early 2024, Cassie became pregnant and returned to UCSF for care in our high-risk pregnancy program. Her replaced valve had been working well until midway through her pregnancy, when our team determined it was deteriorating and she would need another replacement.

Our heart and OB teams worked together and monitored Cassie carefully to keep her and her baby safe for the rest of the pregnancy.

After welcoming her son, Luke, in October 2024, Cassie had a successful heart surgery at our hospital to replace her valve with a bioprosthetic valve. Cassie is now doing great and enjoying motherhood! Her baby, Luke, is healthy and hitting all his milestones!

02/19/2026

🎻 Our Berkeley Outpatient Center performed a CT scan on an unusual patient: a rare ~300-year-old stringed instrument.
Patient “Viola Pomposa” is a 5-stringed instrument somewhere between a viola and a full-sized cello, which famed German luthier (an artisan who makes stringed instruments) Johann Christian Hoffmann built in 1731.
Our radiology team scanned the instrument for the UC Berkeley music department, so music historians can better understand its internal construction and Hoffmann’s methods before they restore it.
The school plans to use the beautiful instrument in a master class and for performances and further study!

02/14/2026

Congratulations to our patient, Martell, and our cardiac surgery team!
Martell is the first UCSF patient to get a heart transplant after having a Total Artificial Heart!
TAH is a device that temporarily supports function on both sides of the heart, while patients with heart failure wait for a transplant. Our hospital has implanted the life-saving device in four patients total, and we are the only active program in Northern California using the fully mechanical heart!
Martell is doing well with his new transplanted heart and able to care for his toddler daughter again! ❤️

02/10/2026

In honor of , our hospitals are celebrating the extraordinary contributions of African Americans in medicine and science through campus displays, special events and other activities. We’re also marking the month with delicious cafeteria menus, including UCSF favorites like Mike's famous black-eyed pea salad, Eritrean platters, Ron's mac and cheese and sweet iced tea!

02/08/2026

UCSF Health nurse practitioner Jonathan Pascual was just six months away from achieving his lifelong dream of competing in the IRONMAN World Championship, when he received a devastating diagnosis: terminal stage IV cancer.
Exhausted and pushing his body to its limits, Jonathan completed the race anyways, even after he stopped for an hour on the course to help an injured bicyclist.
"Many believe that terminal cancer is a death sentence, but it’s not," he says. "It’s an invitation to live — to do whatever you want."

How hope and resilience fueled UCSF alum Jonathan Pascual’s greatest race.

02/06/2026

Please send Diana and Isabella your best wishes! Both mother and daughter are doing great after Diana was hospitalized for preeclampsia, a life-threatening blood pressure complication in pregnancy.

Diana also had gestational diabetes during her pregnancy, and a routine check-up in her hometown of Fremont at 30 weeks pregnant revealed that her blood pressure had risen sharply. In June 2025, Diana came to our Mission Bay hospital by ambulance for specialized care with our obstetrics and fetal treatment teams, who also diagnosed her baby with fetal growth restriction, a serious condition that requires careful monitoring.

Our team performed an emergency C-section in early July, delivering baby Isabella at 34 weeks gestation. She weighed just 3 pounds, 5 ounces and spent a several weeks in our Intensive Care Nursery before heading home on July 31.

Diana’s blood pressure has now returned to normal, and she continues regular kidney monitoring in Fremont. Isabella is now a happy 7-month-old who loves crinkly baby books, Bluey and Ms. Rachel!