Announcing the appointment of Dr. Jeff Kohlwes as Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the San Francisco VA

Dear Colleagues:

We are pleased to announce that Jeffrey Kohlwes, MD, MPH has accepted the position of Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine (GIM) for the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS).  Jeff is Professor of Clinical Medicine and has served as interim division chief for the GIM since July 2018.

Jeff received his undergraduate degree at the UC Davis and his medical degree from Dartmouth. Following his UCSF-SFGH Primary Care residency, he served as chief medical resident at the SFVAHCS. He subsequently received an MPH from the University of Washington as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. In 2000, we were thrilled to recruit Jeff back to UCSF, as a member of the SFVAHCS GIM and Emergency Department sections. 

Jeff has a well-earned local and national reputation as a distinguished clinician, educator, and mentor. For the past 20 years, he has served as Director of the UCSF Program In Residency Investigation Methods and Epidemiology (PRIME) – a VA-based clinical research track that provides training to almost three-fourths of categorical residents in research methods, evidence-based principles, clinical reasoning, and career development. He has also served for 15 years as an Associate Program Director for our medicine residency, and has directed the annual DOM Rector Resident Research Symposium for the past 20 years. Through these roles, he has provided research and career mentorship to innumerable VALOR students and PRIME residents, many of whom are now DOM faculty members. He has also garnered many teaching awards at UCSF, most notably the 2013 Graduate Medical Education Achievement Award and the 2018 Academic Senate Excellence in Teaching Award. Jeff has been president of the California/Hawaii region of the Society of General Internal Medicine, and currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of General Internal Medicine. He has over 60 scholarly publications in areas ranging from medical education to clinical reasoning.

We are grateful for the extraordinary leadership of Dr. Michael Shlipak, who served as SFVA GIM division chief from 2004-18. Mike has chosen to devote more time to his highly successful research activities involving the detection and determinants of kidney disease. During his tenure, Mike promoted significant growth in the division’s research and educational programs and impact.  He will remain as a member of the GIM division and Scientific Director of the UCSF-VAMC Kidney Health Research Collaborative.

We wish to thank the members of the search committee, chaired by Dr. Sunita Mutha, Professor of Medicine and member of the UCSF Health GIM division. The committee’s dedication and unwavering commitment to this successful recruitment is deeply appreciated.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Jeff Kohlwes on his new role as division chief and thanking Dr. Michael Shlipak for his many years of academic service.

Sincerely,
Kenneth R. McQuaid, MD
Chief of Medicine, San Francisco VA Health Care System
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Marvin H. Sleisenger Endowed Chair
Vice-Chair, UCSF Department of Medicine

Robert M. Wachter, MD
Professor and Chair, UCSF Department of Medicine
Lynne and Marc Benioff Endowed Chair in Hospital Medicine
Holly Smith Distinguished Professor in Science and Medicine