News & Events: Muriel Steele Society

The Department of Surgery is excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Lucy Z. Kornblith as the Department's inaugural Director for Gender Equity!   Lucy Zumwinkle Kornblith, M.D., is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Her clinical practice includes trauma surgery, surgical critical care, and acute care surgery. Dr. Kornblith received a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her medical degree from the University of Colorado. In addition, she completed her General [...]

"The story of women in surgical leadership in the Bay Area begins with Dr. Nancy Ascher, who became Chair of Surgery at UCSF in 1999, making her one of just four female chairs in the United States at the time. A world-renowned transplant surgeon, revered for her sharp clinical acumen and technical prowess in the operating room, Dr. Ascher led UCSF by example from 1999-2016. During this time, she also grew the Department into an oasis for female surgeons, with women currently representing more than 30% of the faculty and over 50% of the trainees in the surgical residency. In 2018, Dr. Julie [...]

This spring, the Muriel Steele Society announced the inaugural recipients of its two annual awards honoring pioneering and influential women in surgery. Please join us in congratulating all of these inspiring women! The Muriel Steele Society Award The Muriel Steele Society Award is voted on by the senior residents and given annually at the Chief Resident Graduation to a woman faculty member who embodies the spirit of Muriel Steele - a woman working to identify and address the unmet needs among our surgical patients and whose research and/or clinical work is shifting the paradigms within our [...]

We are pleased to announce that the Muriel Steele Society website has officially launched! The Muriel Steele Society (MSS) was established in honor of Muriel Steele, MD, the first woman surgeon at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) — now Zuckerberg San Fransisco General (ZSFG). Throughout her career, Dr. Steele experienced significant prejudice and overcame enormous obstacles on the road to becoming a phenomenal surgeon. MSS is an inclusive community dedicated to inspiring, supporting, and promoting women surgeons so they can thrive at all stages of their careers. We are comprised of [...]

Deborah Kuhls, M.D., FACS, a professor of surgery and chief of the section of critical care in UNLV School of Medicine's Division of Acute Care Surgery, was the Inaugural Muriel Steele Society (MSS) Visiting Professor at today's UCSF Department of Surgery Grand Rounds. Dr. Kuhls is also medical director of University Medical Center's Trauma Intensive Care Unit.  Introduced by Madhulika Varma, M.D., Professor & Chief of the Section of Colorectal Surgery and co-Chair of the MSS, Dr. Kuhls gave a scintillating and wide-ranging talk on the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. and the use [...]

Fourth year medical student Brittany Robinson has been selected as a Fulbright-Fogarty Fellow in Public Health to conduct research in Malawi. Brittany will spend the next year in Malawi conducting research to identify the potential causes for in-hospital delays to emergency surgical care at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Robinson is a charter member of the Muriel Steele Society and sits on the Medical Student Committee. The Fulbright-Fogarty Awards are offered through a partnership between the Fulbright Program and the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National [...]

We are pleased to announce the establishment of the Muriel Steele Society (MSS), founded in honor of Muriel Steele, MD, the first woman surgeon at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) — now Zuckerberg San Fransisco General (ZSFG). Dr. Steele experienced significant prejudice and overcame enormous obstacles on the road to becoming a phenomenal surgeon. Led by co-chairs, Mika Varma MD, Professor and Chief of Colorectal Surgery, and Lucy Kornblith MD Assistant Professor, ZSFG Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, MSS is an inclusive community dedicated to inspiring, supporting, and promoting [...]

The Muriel Steele Society invites you to celebrate International Women's Day at UCSF by recognizing our fantastic women surgeons and supporting initiatives that help us achieve gender equity that enable all of us to excel.  To stimulate frank discussions about gender parity, inclusion and diversity, we'd like to share the lecture of Joan Reede, MD, MS, MPH, MBA, delivered at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress in 2018.  Olga M. Jonasson, MD, Lecture: A path toward diversity, inclusion, and excellence | The Bulletin  Each time a woman stands up for herself, without [...]

UCSF trauma surgeon Lucy Kornblith, M.D. has been awarded a 5-Year $1M National Institutes of Health (NIH) K23, Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Award to study to post-injury platelet biology. The award, through the National Institute of General Medical Studies, will support Dr. Kornblith's research through 2023.  The grant titled "Post-Injury Platelet Biology: Mechanisms and Outcomes", supports translational patient-oriented research. Specifically, Dr. Kornblith will investigate causal pathways, mechanisms, and associated outcomes of altered post-injury platelet biology in a prospective [...]