Message From the Chair
The Value of Science and Research
UCSF was once again the #1 ranked school of medicine in the country for NIH grants, a position it has held for many years. As always, the quality and power of research at UCSF is extraordinary. In that vein, our department has been restructuring its own research footprint due to recent retirements of elite and amazing scientists. I am very pleased that Zach Steinhart, PhD, who works with CRISPR technology, has just joined our department from the Gladstone Institute. His new lab is in the Diller Building of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, an NCI-designated center. We hope to have several other new scientists in the department in the near future – both in the Cancer Center and in the Coleman Central Auditory Processing Laboratory in the Sandler Building at Mission Bay.
Departmental authors have published several new books. Daniel Knott and Rahul Seth finished their landmark textbook, Gender Affirming Surgery of the Face and Neck, which was published by Springer and is available now. Jennifer Grandis has a book available for preorder: Harsh Medicine: Why Women Can’t Get Ahead in Science and Health Care. I also must mention Jeffrey Sharon’s new book, The Great Balancing Act, which is widely available.
As you will read elsewhere in this issue of Heads Up!, UCSF is starting an ACGME-approved Neurotology Fellowship, thanks to the hard work of Charles Limb and the rest of his division, especially Song Cheng. This fellowship is in addition to those we offer in Facial Plastic and Microvascular Surgery; Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery; Laryngology and Professional Voice and Swallowing; and Pediatric Otolaryngology.
Last fall we welcomed Michael Chow, MD, to the department. Michael is a head and neck oncologic surgeon with expertise in microvascular free flap reconstruction. After completing residency training in OHNS at NYU, Michael became one of our fellows last year. We are very pleased to see him join our faculty team in a seamless fashion.
Another recent addition to our faculty, Nikki Jiam, MD, is off to an amazing start in our Division of Otology/Neurotology. She was just named a Chen Scholar Award recipient.
This year's Otolaryngology match drew the highest number of applicants in recent history, which makes us appreciate even more how much it took for these incoming residents to get here. Please join me in welcoming Isaac Alter, MD, from Columbia University; May Gao, MD, from Duke University; Sarah Hughes, MD, from the University of Michigan; Rachel Kutler, MD, from Columbia University; and Hannah Weinstein, MD, from Columbia University.
We will be offering a number of CME course in the near future, and I urge you to please join us at one or more of the following: Bradley Marple, MD, from the University of Texas, Southwestern, will be our Sooy visiting professor on June 20, and Sam Selesnick, MD, from Weill Cornell Medical College, will be our Schindler visiting professor on October 1. The Pacific Rim Otolaryngology Update with Tripler Army Hospital will be held in February, 2027 at the Moana Surfrider and is now run by Charles Limb, Steve Pletcher, and Bovey Zhu. The UCSF/Penn Sleep Update will also be in February, 2027.
Finally, I look forward to seeing you at the Academy meeting in Los Angeles in October.
Warmly,
Andrew H. Murr, MD, FACS
Professor and Chair
UCSF Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery