Global health faculty
Joanne Czechowitz, MD
Dr. Czechowitz is a pediatric otolaryngologist with clinical and research interests center on improving surgical care and outcomes for children in underserved communities. Dr. Czechowitz has ongoing collaborations in Peru centered around ear and hearing care and is a part of organizations include the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation Humanitarian Efforts Committee, the Global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Initiative, and the UCSF Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia.
Andrew Goldberg, MD
Dr. Goldberg directs the Division of Rhinology and Sinus Surgery. He has supported rhinology and sinus surgery capacity building in Tanzania at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre and Muhimbili National Hospital through both onsite and remote mentoring.
Lia Jacobson, MD
Dr. Jacobson is a pediatric otolaryngologist and Co-Director of UCSF’s CHESA Fellowship, a multidisciplinary global surgery fellowship program that supports emerging international leaders in perioperative health equity. She works directly with ENT training programs in East Africa and Southeast Asia, focusing on the development of fellowship-level pediatric otolaryngology training paradigms, residency training through long-term, bidirectional academic partnerships, and capacity-building in pediatric airway safety. She was awarded UCSF's Early Global Health Scientist Award in 2025.
Jeffrey Sharon, MD
Dr. Sharon has an ongoing collaboration supporting the Hospital de La Familia Foundation through surgical care trips and virtual case conferences. Additionally, he has provided ongoing mentorship for otologic surgical development at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania, teaching multiple temporal bone lab courses and hosting faculty from Tanzania at UCSF.
Jordan Virbalas, MD
Dr. Virbalas is part of the pediatric otolaryngology division at UCSF. He participates in a multidisciplinary craniofacial outreach program in Ica, Peru that represents a collaboration between Universidad de San Martín and Healing the Children (a non-profit, volunteer organization). In this setting, Dr. Virbalas works with a team to provide craniofacial surgery, speech therapy, and on-going medical care to children from around Peru. Dr. Virbalas also works in collaboration with Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to grow their pediatric otolaryngology program.
Mary Jue Xu, MD
Dr. Xu is a head and neck surgical oncology, endocrine, transoral robotic, and microvascular surgeon working at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. She works with collaborators in Tanzania, Rwanda, and in San Francsico studying interventions to improve access to quality of cancer care in resource-constrained health systems. Additionally, Dr. Xu co-founded the Global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Initiative, an international research collaboration, supporting projects such as a global otolaryngology-head and neck surgery workforce assessment.