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05/30/2026

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky visited with patients and staff at our Parnassus hospital this week, bringing plenty of smiles and encouragement to all! In the 1980s, Dave made an inspiring comeback to baseball after surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his pitching arm. Unfortunately, Dave’s cancer later returned, and his arm had to be amputated, ending his baseball career.
UCSF patients with serious conditions were excited to connect with Dave and learn about his challenges and moving recovery.
Thank you, Dave! ⚾

05/29/2026

🎉 Congratulations to all of our staff celebrating service milestones! This week, we came together to recognize employees with 10-40 years of service at our hospitals. 👏

05/23/2026

Please send Vencant your best wishes — she’s doing great after finishing breast cancer treatment!

In the spring of 2025, Vencant had a mastectomy with expanders (for breast reconstruction) at another facility and then came to UCSF for chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from coming back. She had four rounds of chemo at our Peninsula Outpatient Center in Burlingame using a cold-cap device to prevent hair loss. While Vencant did lose a bit of hair, it grew back quickly.

Vencant's scans are now clear, and she’s back to enjoying life! She traveled to Hawaii to celebrate finishing chemo and plans to take more trips and spend quality time with loved ones!

05/15/2026

Please congratulate Michael — he’s finally seizure-free after awake brain surgery last year to remove a large tumor.
Michael began experiencing night terrors and problems sleeping as a child, but his doctors were stumped, and he received multiple misdiagnoses throughout his life. He felt shame and fear and experienced suicidal thoughts at times.
In 2020, Michael was driving with his mother in Los Angeles when he had a seizure. Fortunately, he was able to pull over safely, and his mom immediately drove them to the hospital. Further testing revealed several tumors in Michael’s brain, one of which was plum-sized and pressing on his right eye. The tumor was causing nightly epileptic seizures, preventing him from experiencing REM sleep.
Last year Michael traveled to UCSF from Southern California to see Dr. Edward Chang, after experiencing an increase in seizures.
Nine months ago, Dr. Chang removed the tumor near Michael’s eye in a 7-hour surgery, which he performed while Michael was awake to preserve speech abilities.
Michael has been seizure-free ever since — his last seizure was just before our team wheeled him into the operating room on surgery day! Today, Michael has regained most of his language skills and is back to playing golf, a sport he has loved since age 12!

05/14/2026

Congratulations to our heart team on another successful procedure for the EMPOWER Trial at UCSF!
The multi-center clinical trial is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of a new device designed to help treat functional mitral regurgitation (heart valve disease) in patients with heart failure.

05/13/2026

👏 CONGRATULATIONS to all the incredible nurses who received honors at our Nurse Excellence Awards!!
They walked the red carpet in recognition of their hard work, compassion and dedication to our patients every day. 🙌

05/08/2026

Please congratulate Andrea — she’s doing great and is seizure-free after brain surgery to remove a tumor!
Andrea experienced some smaller seizures in her early teens but eventually had a more serious seizure called a tonic-clonic or grand mal, which caused her to lose consciousness and collapse in 2016. After further testing, doctors determined Andrea had epilepsy and a non-cancerous brain tumor called a ganglioglioma near her left temple.
Andrea came to our Oakland children’s hospital for monitoring and brain surgery with Dr. Kurtis Auguste. In the year following her surgery, Andrea experienced a couple of more seizures, but with the right medications and care she has remained seizure-free since 2017!
Since her surgery, Andrea graduated from high school and earned her bachelor’s degree. She also got married and gave birth to a healthy baby boy! She continues to receive care at our adult neurology and brain tumor clinics and is doing great!

05/06/2026

Happy to all the nurses who care for our patients with exceptional skill and compassion every day of the year!

05/01/2026

Please send Michelle and Kate your best wishes — they’re both doing great after Michelle donated a kidney on Kate’s behalf! Since 1998, Michelle wanted to become an organ donor. Her grandmother spent time on dialysis, and after working for the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation and learning how the disease impacted families, she decided to donate a kidney to a PKD patient. One day a friend reshared a social media post that caught Michelle’s eye: Kate, a PKD patient in her 20s, needed a kidney. Without telling Kate, Michelle decided to apply to be her donor and was a match!

When Kate was 7, she began experiencing painful gastrointestinal issues and struggling to finish meals. Her pediatrician, Dr. Cynthia Hann, referred her to a GI specialist at our Oakland children’s hospital. Ultrasounds revealed an uncommon and aggressive form of polycystic kidney disease, and Kate began seeing a nephrologist for monitoring. Unfortunately, her kidneys continued to decline, and in 2024, Kate returned to UCSF and joined the transplant list. Her friends and family got tested but were not a match, so she created a social media campaign to find a living donor.

After learning that she was a match, Michelle reached out to Kate with the good news, and they exchanged emails and met over Zoom. So Kate could receive a kidney closer to her age (Michelle is in her 50s), the National Kidney Registry worked with Michelle to donate to another person, and she quickly matched with a recipient. Michelle traveled to UCSF from her home state of Missouri to donate and was thrilled to meet Kate in person!

Because of Michelle’s donation on Kate’s behalf, a kidney became available for Kate extremely fast. Coincidentally, Kate learned that her old pediatrician, Dr. Hann, would be receiving a donated kidney at UCSF on the same day as her surgery!

Dr. Shareef Syed performed Kate’s transplant, and Dr. Chris Freise did Michelle’s donor surgery. “It was a privilege for me to do this,” Michelle says. Both women had surgery at UCSF within a week of each other, visiting each other during recovery. They are now doing great and love keeping in touch!

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