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Please congratulate Ben! He’s finally pain-free and sober, after years of chronic pain and addiction. As a teen, Ben loved snowboarding and moved to Colorado to become an instructor. Doctors there diagnosed him with sciatica after an accident, and he reluctantly started opioid painkillers, after physical therapy and other treatments failed to help him. Ben developed an addiction, and his life spiraled, and he eventually lost his job, home and relationship. His back pain also worsened, and after several years of homelessness in San Francisco, he needed a wheelchair and was unable to push himself without assistance. Ben’s friends never gave up on trying to get him help, and in May 2022, his friends Liz and James convinced him to go to the hospital. Within 24 hours of his admission at UCSF, Ben had surgery to treat an ulcer in his leg. Our surgeons were able to save Ben’s leg muscle, and he also had major spine and stomach surgeries. Ben spent several months in the hospital recuperating, while also working with spine surgeon Dr. Theologis and a pain management team on weaning off medications. He began walking again, with help from our physical therapists. “What they did was nothing short of a miracle,” Ben says. “I’m in better condition than I was in my twenties.” After his hospital stay, Ben went through rehab and was well enough to travel to Spain in early 2023 to hike the Camino de Santiago with a friend, while gradually tapering down on his methadone, with a goal to be methadone-free. Ben now loves hiking and running and practicing yoga. He was a preschool teacher in his twenties, and is now working full-time as a camp counselor teaching 1st and 2nd graders in Portland!

Happy Infection Prevention Week to our Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Prevention team! This dedicated group of preventionists, doctors, nurses, analysts and admins helps protect patients and staff from infections in the hospital — and advances the field locally, nationally and globally! 👏 👏 👏

Congratulations, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals!

Imagine tracking Parkinson’s progression with just your phone. UCSF researchers have developed an AI system that uses smartphone videos to measure and monitor motor symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease patients right from home. By analyzing hand and walking movements, the AI transforms simple videos into precise, measurable data. This early-stage tech could allow doctors to personalize care, adjusting medications and pacemakers based on AI-analyzed videos captured by patients. https://lnkd.in/gDk3AhkQ UCSF Health

We're proud to open two new retail pharmacies at Mission Bay and Parnassus! Both are open to the public, accept most insurances and offer pickup, mail order and home delivery. Soon they'll offer vaccines and other clinical services too! 🎉 The Mission Bay pharmacy opened earlier this month, and Parnassus will open on Oct. 29. More about the pharmacies ➡️ https://ucsfh.org/3Yn9N7B

As an emergency physician in Colorado, UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine's Dr. Christopher Colwell responded to two mass shootings: Columbine High School and Aurora. At the time, he assumed Columbine was a once-in-a-lifetime event. “It was lonely,” he says of responding to a mass shooting. “It is not lonely anymore.” Now an expert in emergency preparedness and disaster planning, Dr. Colwell discusses the impact mass shootings can have on health care workers. “Recognize that some of your people are going to respond immediately and be clearly in need of help then, and others are going to look like they are absolutely fine,” he says. “Months later, they will start to really be impacted. Be aware of your people. Watch them.” https://ucsfh.org/3Y3eX7t

UCSF Department of Emergency Medicine's annual CME conference, High Risk Emergency Medicine Hawaii, returns to Honolulu from March 9-13, 2025, for its milestone 25th anniversary!    Highlights include:  🔹World-class speakers on essential, anxiety-provoking, high-risk topics  🔹Learning labs (airway, ultrasound and EKG) with keynote speaker Dr. Amal Mattu  🔹Picturesque location    Who is the conference for?  Practitioners who encounter high-risk conditions in their daily medical practice, including:  🔹Practicing emergency physicians  🔹Internists  🔹Family practitioners  🔹Others who practice in urgent care, high-risk, or emergency department settings  More info ➡ https://ucsfh.org/3YjYD3s

Brian’s scans have been cancer-free for 10 years—please send him your best wishes! In 2014, Brian came to UCSF, after receiving a stage IV melanoma diagnosis, with tumors in his lung, bladder and small intestine. He did immunotherapy treatment with Dr. Daud and then medication and surgery. Brian is a retired Alameda teacher, and during his hospital stay, he learned that Tina Calvo, the mother of one of his 5th-grade students at the time, was also his charge nurse. “She was so perfectly calm and perfectly UCSF,” he says. “She even checked on me afterwards, and at every appointment after that!” Brian currently has checkups every few months, and his doctors have been thrilled that no detectable melanoma has returned! Brian loves sailing and is his nephew’s primary caregiver—the two love taking bike rides together!

Thank you, NASA Ames Research Center and Johnson Space Center, for visiting the kids at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals! 🚀

Congratulations, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals! 👏