UCSF Health

02/21/2026

Please join us in congratulating Cassie — she and her baby are both healthy and doing great after heart problems during her pregnancy!

Cassie was born in 1988 at Mount Zion Hospital (before it was part of UCSF) with a rare and complex congenital heart defect. As a baby, Cassie had two open-heart surgeries in Boston as a baby and toddler. She later had an additional heart surgery as a toddler at UCSF, followed by a valve replacement in 2011 in the South Bay.

In early 2024, Cassie became pregnant and returned to UCSF for care in our high-risk pregnancy program. Her replaced valve had been working well until midway through her pregnancy, when our team determined it was deteriorating and she would need another replacement.

Our heart and OB teams worked together and monitored Cassie carefully to keep her and her baby safe for the rest of the pregnancy.

After welcoming her son, Luke, in October 2024, Cassie had a successful heart surgery at our hospital to replace her valve with a bioprosthetic valve. Cassie is now doing great and enjoying motherhood! Her baby, Luke, is healthy and hitting all his milestones!

02/19/2026

🎻 Our Berkeley Outpatient Center performed a CT scan on an unusual patient: a rare ~300-year-old stringed instrument.
Patient “Viola Pomposa” is a 5-stringed instrument somewhere between a viola and a full-sized cello, which famed German luthier (an artisan who makes stringed instruments) Johann Christian Hoffmann built in 1731.
Our radiology team scanned the instrument for the UC Berkeley music department, so music historians can better understand its internal construction and Hoffmann’s methods before they restore it.
The school plans to use the beautiful instrument in a master class and for performances and further study!

02/14/2026

Congratulations to our patient, Martell, and our cardiac surgery team!
Martell is the first UCSF patient to get a heart transplant after having a Total Artificial Heart!
TAH is a device that temporarily supports function on both sides of the heart, while patients with heart failure wait for a transplant. Our hospital has implanted the life-saving device in four patients total, and we are the only active program in Northern California using the fully mechanical heart!
Martell is doing well with his new transplanted heart and able to care for his toddler daughter again! ❤️

02/10/2026

In honor of , our hospitals are celebrating the extraordinary contributions of African Americans in medicine and science through campus displays, special events and other activities. We’re also marking the month with delicious cafeteria menus, including UCSF favorites like Mike's famous black-eyed pea salad, Eritrean platters, Ron's mac and cheese and sweet iced tea!

02/08/2026

UCSF Health nurse practitioner Jonathan Pascual was just six months away from achieving his lifelong dream of competing in the IRONMAN World Championship, when he received a devastating diagnosis: terminal stage IV cancer.
Exhausted and pushing his body to its limits, Jonathan completed the race anyways, even after he stopped for an hour on the course to help an injured bicyclist.
"Many believe that terminal cancer is a death sentence, but it’s not," he says. "It’s an invitation to live — to do whatever you want."

How hope and resilience fueled UCSF alum Jonathan Pascual’s greatest race.

02/06/2026

Please send Diana and Isabella your best wishes! Both mother and daughter are doing great after Diana was hospitalized for preeclampsia, a life-threatening blood pressure complication in pregnancy.

Diana also had gestational diabetes during her pregnancy, and a routine check-up in her hometown of Fremont at 30 weeks pregnant revealed that her blood pressure had risen sharply. In June 2025, Diana came to our Mission Bay hospital by ambulance for specialized care with our obstetrics and fetal treatment teams, who also diagnosed her baby with fetal growth restriction, a serious condition that requires careful monitoring.

Our team performed an emergency C-section in early July, delivering baby Isabella at 34 weeks gestation. She weighed just 3 pounds, 5 ounces and spent a several weeks in our Intensive Care Nursery before heading home on July 31.

Diana’s blood pressure has now returned to normal, and she continues regular kidney monitoring in Fremont. Isabella is now a happy 7-month-old who loves crinkly baby books, Bluey and Ms. Rachel!

01/31/2026

Please congratulate Matthew – he’s feeling great almost a year after his liver transplant!
In April 2024, Matthew noticed ankle swelling and fatigue, which he originally attributed to stress and the sedentary nature of his job as a 911 dispatcher. His symptoms continued, and in June he became dizzy and exhausted, falling on the way to his son’s high school graduation. A visit to his local ER in Visalia unfortunately revealed end-stage liver disease and cirrhosis.
Matthew came to UCSF for care and started improving his diet and exercising to prep for a transplant. He lost 140 pounds (!) and joined the transplant list in October 2024.
In March 2025 a liver became available, and Dr. Christopher Freise performed a successful surgery.
“Dr. Freise was so professional, and Dr. Hillary Braun visited me every day,” Matthew says. “The entire liver team would come in to check on me. There was so much support and care.”
Matthew is back to enjoying the outdoors, camping and traveling! He's planning his retirement and looking forward to downsizing and traveling around the country!

01/24/2026

Please congratulate Tracey! She’s doing well 3+ years after surviving a ruptured aneurysm and having brain surgery at our hospital!
In July 2022, Tracey experienced a sudden, severe headache and called her husband, Garrick, for help. He immediately contacted paramedics, and Tracey arrived in the emergency room at our affiliate health system, Sonoma Valley Hospital. After several tests, doctors discovered Tracey had suffered a ruptured aneurysm and quickly transferred her to UCSF for advanced care.
Our team stabilized Tracey and stopped the bleeding in her brain, placing her in a medically induced coma for several weeks. Tracey had four angiograms with us before her discharge.
Tracey continued healing through physical, occupational and speech therapy and returned for surgery with our cerebrovascular neurosurgery team to remove the tangle of abnormal blood vessels (AVM) from her brain.
Tracey is now doing well and is regaining strength and cherishing life with her husband. The aneurysm unfortunately affected Tracey’s memory, but things are improving, and she recently experienced a wonderful milestone while visiting Jenner with Garrick: She was able to remember being there before on their honeymoon four years earlier!

01/07/2026

A UCSF milestone: We had an all-woman team of surgeons and other physicians taking care of our liver transplant patients on Christmas!
In 1988, Dr. Nancy Ascher, the first woman to perform a liver transplant, founded our Liver Transplant Program. In the nearly 40 years since that day, our transplant and surgery programs have welcomed more and more women doctors, making this moment possible.

01/05/2026

Welcome to the world, June! She was the first baby born at our hospital in 2026, arriving at 5:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and measuring 20.5 inches.
Congratulations to proud parents, Lila and James, on their healthy New Year’s baby! 🥳

01/01/2026

🎆 Happy New Year from everyone at our hospitals! 🥂

12/24/2025

Happy holidays from everyone at our hospitals! ☃️❄️